Iowa State volleyball coasted to a 3-0 sweep over St. Thomas during the first of two matches played in the Diet Coke Classic in Minneapolis on Friday. The win brought the team’s record to 8-2 with just one non-conference game to play.

A pair of kills and two blocks from Candelaria Herrera helped the Cyclones get off to a hot start, scoring 12 of 14 points to take a 12-5 lead. The Cyclones went on a 6-0 run fueled by a pair of combined blocks from Eleanor Holthaus and Candelaria Herrera. Iowa State would not hesitate, claiming a 25-12 set win to open the match.

Eleanor Holthaus was a force to be reckoned with during the first set, recording six kills, three blocks and five digs. She scored four consecutive kills for the Cyclones in the middle of the set. Iowa State recorded a hitting percentage of .452 to begin the match compared to a .000 percentage from St. Thomas.

To kick off the second set, Avery Rhodes came off the bench to record a trio of kills to lead a 6-0 run. This run gave the Cyclones a 6-2 lead. UST kept the score much closer during the second set, taking an 18-16 lead. Iowa State called a timeout late in the set that helped them to take a 26-24 set win.

Brooke Andersen led the team in the second set, racking up seven kills, including the one that ended the set. She totaled 10 kills with a .562 hitting percentage over the first two sets. The Cyclones were plagued by attack errors during the set, commiting ten compared to just two from St. Thomas.

These errors played a major role in how tightly contested the set was, as Iowa State did not commit an attack error during the dominant first set.

Back-to-back service aces by middle blocker Candelaria Herrera boosted the Cyclones early in the final set, as they took a 9-6 lead. The team went on to score seven of eight points to build a comfortable 16-7 lead. Similar to the opening set, Iowa State took the final set comfortably by a score of 25-15.

Setter Jaden Newsome put on a strong performance, finishing with seven kills, 26 assists and nine digs. Brooke Andersen led the Iowa State attack with 13 kills on a .480 hitting percentage to go along with nine digs.

Iowa State will return to play on Saturday to play in its final match of the Diet Coke Classic against Minnesota at 7 p.m.