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ISU volleyball could not find enough magic in its bag of tricks

Saturday in its first-ever regional final Saturday to take down

conference foe and third-ranked Texas.

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night after coming back from down 2-0 to beat Oregon to move on,

the Cyclones’ (22-13) were not able to turn that trick again and

their unprecedented run ended one match short of the Final Four

with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 17-25, 25-12) loss to the host Longhorns

(29-3).

<p class="MsoNormal" style=

“margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal”>“I

definitely did not expect this and this was such a great

opportunity,” freshman Rachel Hockaday said. “Everybody has just

been great this season, the team and the coaches. It’s just been a

lot of fun.”

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“Calibri”>Despite the loss, coach Christy Johnson said she was

proud of everything her team did to get to the Elite

Eight.

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“Calibri”>“It’s never fun to end the season on a loss,” Johnson

said. “I think we not only reached our potential but also maybe

overachieved a little bit. I think that’s why we’re here and that’s

the most you can ask of your team.

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“Calibri”>Iowa State was done in by a slew of hitting errors, some

of which were caused by some uncharacteristic passing troubles.

Those errors contributed to a .273-.062 Longhorn advantage in

hitting percentage as well as big runs in each of the sets that

Texas won. The Cyclones held an 11.5-7 advantage in blocks and a

5-2 advantage in service aces, while the Longhorns had a 42-40

advantage in digs.

<p class="MsoNormal" style=

“margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal”>“We

weren’t passing very well,” junior Kaylee Manns said. “Texas did a

great job and got us out of rhythm completely.”

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“Calibri”>Johnson said many of the errors did have to do with the

Texas block.

<p class="MsoNormal" style=

“margin: 0in 0in 0pt; line-height: normal”>“We

actually blocked more balls than they did, but mentally, you know

the size of the person on the other side of the net,” Johnson said.

“It forces you to make different decisions than you normally

would.”

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“Calibri”>Sophomore Victoria Henson led the Cyclones with 14 kills

and was joined in double figures by Hockaday with 12. Manns ended

up with 35 assists and five digs and sophomore Ashley Mass had a

match-high 15 digs. Texas was led by 13 kills each from Destinee

Hooker and Juliann Faucette.

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“Calibri”>Iowa State was able to get key sideouts and hang right

with the Longhorns for much of the first set, which included 13

ties and four lead changes. The Cyclones held their biggest lead of

the first set at 16-13 after an ace by freshman Caitlin Mahoney but

made six errors in the 15 points following as Texas finished the

set on a 12-3 run.

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Cyclones took another early lead in set two, going up 8-4 after a

block from Manns and senior Jen Malcom. Texas then won 12 of the

next 14 points, with four of those 12 coming on blocks. Iowa State

drew within 22-19 on a block from freshmen Debbie Stadick and

Kelsey Petersen. Hooker had kills on two of the three next three

points to end the set, however.

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“Calibri”>“Going into the break, we told ourselves that we could do

this again, just like last night,” Manns said. “Once we won the

third game, we kind of thought that we might have a

repeat.”

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that third set, the Cyclones did get their first set victory over

Texas in three matches this season. The set was tied at seven until

Iowa State was able to take five of six points with a kill from

Stadick making it 12-8. The Longhorns drew within 16-13 but the

Cyclones went on a 6-1 run to make it 20-14. With the set at 24-17,

Petersen stuffed Faucette to make it two sets to one.

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“Calibri”>Iowa State stayed hot and won the first four points of

set four but Texas won the next four to tie it up. Texas held a

10-9 lead before going on a 14-1 run that included several hitting

errors by the Cyclones. Faucette sent the Longhorns to the Final

Four with a kill two points later.

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“Calibri”>Reflecting on the season, Manns said the tournament run

was somewhat unexpected but it was the culmination of the team

peaking at the right time.

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“Calibri”>“When we started this year, everyone was hoping that we

would just make the tournament,” Manns said. “Towards the end of

the season, everybody just started playing their best

volleyball.”

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“Calibri”>Before talking about what his team had accomplished,

Texas coach Jerritt Elliott talked about how impressed he was with

Iowa State and its mental toughness.

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“Calibri”>“What a tremendous run they had; I told the team I felt

like they were going to be the toughest team in our conference in

terms of mentality,” Elliott said. “They’re fighters, they compete

extremely well and they have a never-say-die attitude.”

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“Calibri”>Henson and Manns were named to the Austin Regional

All-Tournament team.