AMES — The Iowa State volleyball team kicked off its spring season with a three-game slate against Drake, Northern Iowa (UNI) and Iowa. With a young roster led by experienced coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, the tournament was a measuring point to see how the Cyclones stack up against top competitors.
A majority of the playing time and focus was distributed among the new players and freshmen. The first set in each match was primarily the starters and the following sets were to get the new players experience.
The format of play was a best-of-three match, instead of the usual best-of-five, with the first two sets played to 25 points and a tiebreaker set to 15 if needed. In three hard-fought matches, Iowa State lost to Drake and UNI in three sets and beat Iowa in two sets.
“It was definitely good to play other teams again,” junior Morgan Brandt said. “We’ve been scrimmaging against ourselves for a couple of months.”
The long day did not phase Iowa State. The Cyclones waited for this day for a while to have an opportunity to play and learn about themselves.
“It’s a lot of volleyball, but it’s just fun to be back,” redshirt junior Lilly Wachholz said. “A lot of us, we’re hungry to go play. We’re hungry to prove ourselves.”
Johnson-Lynch and Wachholz agreed that the new middles and true freshman Emily Bobbitt had a good first day on the team. Bobbitt enters Iowa State as a setter and showed abilities similar to Brandt in ball movement.
Bobbitt found redshirt sophomore Kiersten Schmitt many times throughout the matches for some big kills. Both Cyclones are ones to keep an eye out for when the fall season comes around, Bobbitt as she progresses throughout her freshman season and Schmitt as a force by the net.
“[Schmitt] is such an incredible athlete,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Now, she’s starting to become a really nice, just all-around player. When she is one-on-one, when we can get her some split blocks, she’s pretty unstoppable.”
The tallest player on the team, junior transfer Tierney Jackson, stands at 6-foot-4. Jackson spent her first two seasons at West Virginia, where she led the Mountaineers in blocks as both a freshman and sophomore.
Jackson was a force at the net in all three matches and will be one to watch when the fall season comes around. The height of the Cyclones helped them at the net, much in part from Jackson. Eight of the 13 players on the Iowa State roster are six feet or taller.
“The nice thing is, we have some depth,” Johnson-Lynch said. “You just never know what you need people to do, so I like experimenting, especially in the spring.”
Once again, Nayeli Gonzalez shined. The sophomore from San Antonio played in her first matches since her breakout freshman season.
Gonzalez was named to the All-Big 12 First Team and Rookie Team and claimed the Big 12 Rookie of the Year honor. Even though she is entering her second season, Gonzalez will be one of the team leaders this upcoming season.
In the tournament matches, Gonzalez was either in for an entire set or out. The reason was to see how the team played with her and without her on the court to get a better feel of her impact and how others could step up.
“We’re just trying out people in different spots,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Maybe even spots they don’t play a ton of. Just kind of looking for information.”
The other Cyclones that will have a large leadership role include the lone senior on the team Brooke Stonestreet, Brandt and Wachholz. All three have been at Iowa State for the entirety of their collegiate careers.
With the first big chunk of the spring season done, Iowa State will have three more matches to gain information to prepare for the fall.
“Finding our potential is really fun,” Brandt said.
