AMES — After falling down two sets to one, things looked bleak for the Cyclones, but in the fourth set after falling behind 16-12, they flipped a switch and never looked back, winning the match in five sets and moving to 12-2 on the season.
“It was not looking good, I think the serve and pass looked a lot better. We couldn’t hold the serve, but once we started serving tougher, that put more pressure on them,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said.
Senior Annie Hatch was a big reason why the Cyclones improved on their serve.
“She’s a really good server, she has been so good for us, she was a critical part of that win,” Johnson-Lynch said.
However, the star of the match was freshman Nayeli Gonzalez. Gonzalez led the team with a whopping 24 kills and a stellar hitting percentage of .475.
When Johnson-Lynch was asked about what she liked about Gonzalez’s performance, she simply said “everything.”
“She was in the zone tonight, especially as the match went on and she took over in sets four and five,” Johnson-Lynch said.
Taking over might have been an understatement as 13 of Gonzalez’s 24 kills came in the final two sets when the match was on the line. When she needed to clutch up, she did.
“I wanted everyone to see how good we are. I wanted to swing high, we knew they were gonna be the biggest blockers we’ve seen. I just tried to play my game and go for it,” Gonzalez said.
The Cyclones will not have much time to celebrate the win as they have a rematch coming Sunday afternoon.
Two matches in two days can be tough to navigate, especially when facing the same team.
“That was a long hard match. Both teams are going to have to try to rest and recover before tomorrow,” Johnson-Lynch said. “You aren’t going to make a lot of adjustments, but what few adjustments can you make and what do you think they are going to do? We have to try to figure out what their adjustments will be.”
In the midst of the comeback, star player Maya Duckworth exited the game with an apparent injury and her status for Sunday’s match remains uncertain.
“I’m not quite sure,” Johnson-Lynch said about Duckworth’s status. “We’ll have to find out the update on her, but we hope she’s healthy and ready.”
The Cyclones will look to start Big 12 play 4-0 Sunday as they take on Baylor again. The match will tip off at 2 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+, and nationally televised on ESPN2.
