With a 16 kill outing against Texas Tech on Friday, junior Brooke Andersen set a career-high in kills in an Iowa State win.

Her performance was one of two stellar individual performances by upperclassmen, led the 13th ranked Iowa State Cyclones to a 3-1 victory over Texas Tech.

Andersen hit a career-high and a team-high 16 kills, while junior right-side player Eleanor Holthaus posted a .650 hitting percentage, which is tied for third-best single-match hitting percentage in her career.

For Andersen, Friday’s match is the second match of the year where she has posted a career-high in kills, as she had a 13 kill performance against the Kansas State Wildcats on Sept. 25.

Andersen said it’s a cool feeling posting a career-high and that she kind of had an idea during the match that she would post her career-high but that she had to stay focused on the team winning. 

“It felt really good,” Andersen said. “I was just trying to stay focused, keep doing what I was doing and not worry too much about everything else.”

Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch says Andersen is developing into one of the Cyclones’ most important offensive weapons.

“She’s becoming a go-to player, no question,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I keep saying it and it continues to be true, but she’s a different player than she was a year ago.”

In an interview on Tuesday, Andersen said the biggest difference in her play from last season to this season is the aggression she is playing with.

Johnson-Lynch agreed with that but added that she is making “good attack choices,” and is “managing her swing” better this season.

Johnson-Lynch said Andersen is playing as well as she’s seen her and that Andersen has had to fight through adversity, mainly injuries, but is now playing at a high-level.

In the summer, Andersen had a hand injury, but made a full recovery by August, according to Johnson-Lynch. 

Andersen also had a .293 hitting percentage, third-highest amongst Cyclones on Friday.

Holthaus had the second-most kills by Cyclones on Friday with 13.

Andersen and Holthaus’ individual kill totals on Friday ranked first and second amongst Iowa State and Texas Tech players.

“We just hit really smart shots and mixed up our shots well,” Holthaus said.

A volleyball team can mix up shots by aiming higher and targeting the back out the court, aiming lower and finding a gap in the middle of the defense, or splitting the defense’s block (hitting a shot between the opponents middle blockers).

Andersen says the team was doing a good job of mixing up its shots enough, so Texas Tech didn’t know where the ball would go.

Andersen and Holthaus had these impactful performances in part due to junior setter Jenna Brandt posting 46 assists, one shy of her career-high that she set against Kansas State on Sept. 25.

“Jenna [Brandt] did a really nice job of balancing the offense so that we either had a split block (a gap between Texas Tech’s middle blockers) or we had a good enough set off her hands that they (Texas Tech) couldn’t defend (the shot),” Andersen said.

Andersen and Holthaus had a match-high in individual points scored against Texas Tech with 17.5 points.

Holthaus recorded a double-double as in addition to hitting 13 kills, she recorded 13 digs.

As a team, Iowa State had a hitting percentage of .293, while Texas Tech had a .142 hitting percentage.

With its win on Friday, Iowa State improves to 2-1 this season and Texas Tech falls to 1-2.

Texas Tech has its rematch against Iowa State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum.

Saturday’s match is available via live streaming on the ESPN+ app.