The Iowa State volleyball team finished the season with a win and a loss this past weekend against Kansas and Kansas State.

Friday night, the Cyclones took on the Kansas Jayhawks and won in a three-game match, 15-11, 15-11, 15-11.

The games were fairly close, as the Cyclones went point for point against the Jayhawks, who had the lead at times in all three of the games.

ISU Head Volleyball Coach Jackie Nunez was excited about the win.

“Kansas is pretty good, and I am glad that my team won the match in three,” Nunez said. “I really do think that player for player, I thought that we were a better team than Kansas, and I thought that when we lost to them at Kansas,” Nunez said. “We knew that if we just executed well, and focused on the aspects of execution, that Kansas was trying to exploit against us, that we would win.”

The match also gave an encouraging future for the team.

“I think that my younger players are playing well. I thought that Andrea Thul and Jodi DeVries played excellently. Colleen Henican has moved outside and is doing a lot of good things for us,” Nunez said. “Just in terms of our future as we close our season, I am very encouraged by the performance of my younger players.”

Four players nailed the double digits in kills, with senior Sonya Van Helden leading with 14, freshman Jodi DeVries with 12, and senior Rachelle Van Scoyoc and sophomore Colleen Henican each adding ten. DeVries had a career high .611 hitting percentage (12k-1e-18a), that ranks ninth in Cyclone history. Sophomore Staci Smith had a career high hitting percentage also, with .667 (4k-0e-6a). Henican led the team in digs with 16, and Van Helden added 13. Jen Lansink had 42 assists for the night.

Some felt that the night’s performance was one of their best all season.

“I think that we played one of our best matches all season,” Thul said. “We all came together even when we were down, and chipped away at Kansas. We had a really good win tonight.”

“I think at times, some of the areas of our game let down, but we always came back, and didn’t let them get too far ahead,” Thul said. “I thought that we handled ourselves really well, and came back when we needed to.”

Many of the players felt that the match showed the team was headed in the right direction.

“I am excited about next year,” DeVries said. “We have a lot of good match players, and everybody works really hard, and I think that with a lot of hard work and commitment in the off season, we’ll have a good team next year.”

The Cyclones finished off the season Saturday night against the nationally 20th ranked Kansas State Wildcats, falling in a three game match, 15-12, 15-2, 15-11.

In the first and third games, the Cyclones went point for point, having the lead at times right up to the end.

Even with the loss, Nunez felt that the team was beatable. “In games one and three, we played well, but we had played like this all season,” Nunez said. “We could get to double digit points, but just couldn’t get over the hump to go on and win the game. That plagued us all season.”

The second game had the Cyclones totally unprepared.

“They changed the matchups on us, and we just did not adjust at all. Every aspect of our execution broke down,” Nunez said. “Our defense fell apart, and Kansas State was able to rattle off a lot of points.”

Nunez said that after a talk in the locker room after the second game, things turned around. She said that the team ended up putting together a much more competitive game for the third game.

“Basically, we had the same matchups in game three as we had in game one — a much more successful matchup with who we were blocking and who we were hitting against,” Nunez said.

Sonya Van Helden lead the team in kills with 11, and Colleen Henican was close behind with eight. Henican lead the team in digs with 11, and Andrea Thul added 10 digs. Jen Lansink had 27 assists.

Many of the players agreed that they gave it their all out on the court.

“I felt that in the first and third game that everyone had left it all out there. We didn’t get the win, but it was a good feeling knowing that we can compete with the Big 12 teams,” said senior Rachelle Van Scoyoc. “It’s been a tough season, a long, hard season. Everyone was just giving it their all, and if you can’t get the win, you at least have to ask for that.”

The Cyclones finish their first season in the Big 12 conference with a 7-25 overall record, and 3-17 in Big 12 play.