Two evenly matched squads and a crowd of fascinated young girls provided an air of excitement Saturday at Hilton Coliseum during the ISU volleyball team’s first public scrimmage of the season.

The scrimmage was followed by a youth clinic hosted by the players and coaches. Would-be volleyball novices 14 and under swarmed the court after the final match.

Kate Crow, 8, of Ames, summed up her participation in the event: “I like to watch the games and cheer a lot, she said.”

“This is my first time at a volleyball game, and I like to see them score.”

Crow’s cheering partner, 8-year-old Anna Herman of Ames, said she “liked how they play” and that No. 12, Ashlie McWee, was one of her favorites.

The Cyclones were split into Cardinal and Gold teams. What looked like a sweep by the visiting Gold team was eventually pushed to five games.

The ISU squad is nearly injury-free, and the Cyclones are striving to stay that way. The only player out was senior Kelly Melohn, who is currently in rehabilitation. Former player Renae Pruess and practice player Ben Barnes added bodies to the rotations.

After a 30-21 trounce on the Cardinal team in the first game, Gold again ended on top with a 30-26 match. Cardinal retaliated with a 30-23 win and then squeaked another victory in 30-28. A back-and-forth match in the fifth found the Gold team with the match win in a 16-14 thriller.

Associate head coach Amy Farber Knowles, coach of the Cardinal squad, said she was pleased with the efforts of both teams.

Knowles is handling head coaching duties while head coach Linda Crum is on maternity leave.

“The [Cardinal] team started passing weak, and they needed to be aggressive in their serving and passing,” Knowles said. “They were not aggressive in the first two games.”

Knowles said she also wants to see the team attacking balls with more aggression and not relying so much on a tipping game.

Quick and accurate transitions on free balls and the middle players getting to the ball were successful areas for the squads.

Sophomore Nicole Lorenzen echoed her coach’s concerns with the team’s passing.

“Our contacts and passing were not aggressive, and we really struggled with that,” Lorenzen said. “Our setter doesn’t have much to work with when we give her those bad passes.”

Outside hitter Katie Jessen, a redshirt sophomore, said she felt her Gold team attacked early and efficiently.