In years past it has been all about defense for the ISU volleyball team, but this season the team has had to rely less on defense, as the offense has started to make some noise of its own.

With just five regular season matches left to be played, the Cyclones have racked up 14.26 kills per set on a .251 hitting percentage, which puts them at third and fourth in the conference, respectively. Last season Iowa State relied heavily on its dominant defense, ranked ninth in the nation in blocks, and an inconsistent offense hit just .211, good enough for ninth in the Big 12.

“This is the best we have been, offensively, since I’ve been here,” said coach Christy Johnson. “And that’s kind of fun, because it’s the stat that determines who wins the majority of the time. Before, we always had to work so hard on our defense and be so good at other parts of the game in order to catch a team that we may have been behind, offensively.”

The offensive surge has come in large part to the emergence of redshirt sophomore Victoria Henson, who has reached double-digit kills in 12 straight matches, hitting more than .250 in the last 10 of that streak. In those 10 matches, Henson is averaging 4.65 kills per set on a .331 hitting percentage, and also broke the single-season sophomore record for kills and is twelfth on the all-time list for kills in a single-season.

After staying above the .250 mark in just five of the 17 conference matches she played in 2007, Henson has hit above 250 in 11 of 15 Big 12 matches this season.

“We’ve had some nice surprises this year,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know that Vic [Henson] would hit this well over such a long period of time, and [Diane] Kieger has really been coming on strong lately.”

The junior Kieger has helped to fortify an already improving offense of late, as her season hitting percentage rose to .302 after hitting at .375 or above in three of her last four matches.

Closing in on another milestone

While sophomore Ashley Mass became the fastest Cyclone ever to reach 1,000 digs in a career on Saturday against Texas, junior setter Kaylee Manns was closing in on an impressive milestone of her own. Manns needs just 72 digs to become the second player in ISU history to record both 1,000 set assists and 1,000 digs in a career. The only other was Lisa Burke, who accomplished the feat from 1988 to 1991.

Taking the weekend off

Saturday will mark the Cyclones’ second and final bye of the conference season, as Iowa State will spend this weekend away from Big 12 competition. The Cyclones won both matches they played before and after their previous bye, with a 3-0 home win against Oklahoma and a 3-1 victory over Baylor on the road.

Without a doubt

As the 2008 season moves into its final month and the NCAA Tournament is on the horizon, there is little room for debate on who has been the best team in the country all season. As of Saturday, the Penn State Nittany Lions are 26-0 (14-0 Big Ten), and have yet to drop a set to their opponents. That’s 26 matches, 26 sweeps, and a 78-0 record in sets played. In those 78 sets, their opponents have managed to score 20 points or more just 15 times.