The ISU volleyball team found the importance of starting off strong in Saturday’s home match against Missouri at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones (14-8, 6-5 Big 12) swept Missouri (25-18, 25-15, 25-20) after losing in five sets to the Tigers just a few a weeks ago.

Iowa State came ready to play in the first set, hitting 0.263 as a team and putting up three blocks against the Tigers. Rachel Hockaday had five kills in the first set alone and Kaylee Manns tallied 10 assists in the first set.

“We wanted to come out big and get a good start,” said middle blocker Jen Malcom. “I think we did a great job of coming out.”

Coach Christy Johnson talked before the match about the importance of coming out strong and aggressive right away.

“I just felt like they were really ready to play, they were eager and ready to go,” Johnson said.

Saturday’s matchup against the Tigers was night and day to Iowa State’s match in Missouri. The Cyclones put in a dominating performance in all three sets, unlike the previous matchup where the team couldn’t seem to get things rolling.

“We didn’t have anybody put in a good performance [in Missouri],” Johnson said.

Iowa State’s main plan was to come out stronger than usual and be ready to go from point one. In the first set the Tigers hit a low 0.135 as a team while the Cyclones hit 0.263. Iowa State started off with a solid serving game against the Tigers with three aces in the first set alone.

Victoria Henson came out swinging in set two with seven kills. As a team, the Cyclones dominated on offense again hitting 0.400 as a team in comparison to Missouri’s 0.032 combined percentage.

Mixing up the attack was a huge advantage to the Cyclones offensively against the Tigers.

“That was the game plan tonight,” Johnson said.

In the match, Henson was all over the court hitting from the outside, hitting slides and attacking from the middle as well.

“She’s just a special athlete so you can be a little more creative with someone like that,” Johnson said.

Henson led the team in kills yet again with 15 on the day.

“We gotta make sure we’re taking advantage of her athleticism,” Johnson said.

Iowa State’s defense contributed to the win with seven blocks and 58 digs, resulting in Missouri hitting its conference low in the season. Their previous low was 0.111 against third-ranked Texas.