In Saturday’s volleyball match, the Oklahoma Sooners swept the Cyclones in a three-game match.

“I was pleased with our performance tonight. We went out and played very well tonight. We served very, very well, and we passed exceptionally well, and Iowa State had a lot of problems passing,” said Miles Pabst, head coach of Oklahoma’s volleyball team. “I think that the difference in the match was about serving and receiving.”

“It was a lot easier match than I expected,” Pabst said. “I expected a really tough match, but it didn’t turn out that way.”

Many of the Iowa State players looked inward for the cause of the defeat.

“We have been practicing really hard this week. We played very well against Missouri, which helped prepare us. We just didn’t execute very well tonight,” said sophomore outside hitter Colleen Henican. “Oklahoma is a very good team, but that does not mean that they aren’t beatable. We could have put up a better fight.”

“We just didn’t play well tonight. I don’t think that anyone performed exceptionally well tonight,” Henican said. “We can be competitive; there is no reason for us not to be.”

Henican’s views were shared by many of the members of the team.

“The game was pretty upsetting. We practiced really hard. We played really flat,” said senior outside hitter Steph Dohrn. “We know that we can play a lot better than that, and it’s frustrating when you can’t reach that potential.”

“Oklahoma didn’t really do anything that spectacular. They had a good outside hitting game, and we just couldn’t defend it that well,” said senior outside hitter Sonya Van Helden. “It just came down to execution.”

“Definitely our weak points were our blocking and our defense. At times we were hurt by our passing,” Van Helden said. “We didn’t have very good ball control.”

“I think that we started out with some pretty good passing and ball control, and that way we were able to generate a decent offense, but as soon as our passing broke down, we were limited to our outside hitting, and that is when you are going to run against a double block every time,” Van Helden said.

Many felt that they were properly prepared for the challenge that Oklahoma presented.

“I think that we scouted them really well. We knew their tendencies, and it was just a matter of executing and doing our jobs, and we just didn’t get it done,” Dohrn said. “We were prepared. We saw scouting reports and films in practice, it just didn’t transfer to the match.”

“We knew what they were running. A lot of the times we didn’t adjust very well,” Van Helden said. “We really tried to adapt to their outside hitting game. At times we did that well, and at times, we didn’t.”

Head Volleyball Coach Jackie Nunez was not available for comment after the game.

In the beginning of the first game, ISU looked like they had Oklahoma beat. But the Sooners managed to pull themselves together while ISU fell apart. The final score was 15-5.

ISU wasn’t together at the beginning of the second match, either, letting Oklahoma get a seven-point lead early in the game (2-9) and hold on to it. ISU tried to close the gap, but the Sooners consistently defended the lead, finishing 15-8.

In game three, the Sooners took advantage of the Cyclones’ downed spirits and crushed them 15-4. Oklahoma was able to put five points on the board before the Cyclones scored their first.

Sonya Van Helden lead the team in kills with 12. Adding to the kills were Colleen Henican with seven and Staci Smith with five.

Oklahoma had three players in the double digits in kills — Sunny Spoonland leading with 18, Patrice Arrington adding 16 and Melissa Peterson adding 15. Oklahoma more than doubled the total kills of Iowa State, 55-26, and almost came as close with assists, 43-25.

After Saturday’s match, ISU’s record is now 5-17 overall, and 1-9 in the Big Twelve. Oklahoma is now 12-9 overall, and 3-7 in the Big Twelve.

The Cyclones play at home this weekend against Texas A&M on Friday and Texas on Saturday. Previously in the season, ISU had played and lost to both of them in three-game matches.

“We just have a lot of work to do this week in practice. We are going to have to have some rocking practices, high intensity, focus on the things that we did well the last time that we played [Texas and Texas A&M],” Van Helden said. “We played pretty well against them last time, but after tonight’s game we have a lot of work to do in practice.”

“I just hope that we keep getting support because we will turn this season around,” Dorhn said.

Both games start at 7:30 p.m. and are at Ames High.