Iowa State volleyball began the weekend victorious after taking down the previously 7-0 Ball State Cardinals three sets to one. The team was boosted by a team hitting percentage of .301 and Eleanor Holthaus, Annie Hatch, Candelaria Herrera and Kenzie Mantz each finishing with nine or more kills.

The first set began with just one point for each side before Annie Hatch subbed in and recorded four of Iowa State’s next six kills to take a 7-5 lead. Ball State then came back with a 4-0 run to flip the lead to 9-7 in favor of the Cardinals. A trio of kills from Avery Rhodes fueled a 6-0 Cyclone run that put them up 18-12. Just when it appeared that Iowa State was going to take the set with ease, Ball State made one last push to cut the lead to 22-21 heading into a Cyclone timeout. The tightly contested set would eventually go to Iowa State with a score of 26-24.

Annie Hatch led the team during the set with seven kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Hatch finished the match with 14 kills on a .281 percentage. Kenzie Mantz also made her presence felt coming off of the bench with four kills of her own to begin the match.

Ball State was active early on in the second set, opening with a 13-6 lead. The Cyclones were able to crawl back into the set, making the score 16-13 in favor of the Cardinals, thanks to balanced offensive play. Ball State managed to wrap up the second set 25-18. 

The Cardinals finished the second set with a hitting percentage of .500, which played a major role in their second set win. On the flip side, Iowa State posted a hitting percentage of .294, which is considered very good, but is not enough to compete with the .500 from Ball State.

Iowa State jumped out to a 10-6 lead to kick off the third set, after three consecutive kills by Eleanor Holthaus. The rest of the set went back and forth, as the Cyclones ended up taking it 25-19 ending with Allie Petry’s first career ace. Holthaus had an outstanding performance in the third set, scoring ten kills for the Cyclones.

Ball State got going early on to start the fourth set, recording a pair of aces to take a 4-1 lead heading into an Iowa State timeout. Iowa State then took a 12-7 lead thanks to a 5-0 run led by a pair of kills by Candelaria Herrera. The team then went on an 8-0 run to build a 22-10 lead, sealing the set and the match with a 25-13 set win.

Holthaus and Herrera each played a major factor in the team’s attack, finishing with 19 kills on a .359 percentage and 12 kills on a .478 percentage respectively. Setter Jaden Newsome finished with 48 and 11 digs, and Marija Popovic finished with nine assists and 22 digs.

With the win, the Cyclones improved to 5-1 early on in the season. Iowa State will wrap up its day against 7-0 Syracuse at 4 p.m.