AMES – Iowa State battled against Toledo in its home opener Thursday night and came away with a 3-0 sweep against Toledo to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Thursday also marked the first home win of Christy Johnson-Lynch’s 20th season as the Cyclones’ head coach. She was presented with a framed poster commemorating some of her biggest moments as head coach.
“That was cool to be recognized and I hate being the center of attention, so I probably looked really uncomfortable,” Johnson-Lynch said.
Despite Iowa State sweeping the match, it was an earned win. The first set included a 6-0 run that gave the Cyclones a 21-18 lead, with Iowa State eventually holding on to win it 25-20.
The second set was much closer all the way to the end. The Rockets had two opportunities to win the set, but Iowa State persevered with a long rally that ended in a kill from sophomore Nayeli Gonzalez that knotted it up at 24 apiece. The Cyclones went on to win the set 28-26.
Iowa State led the third set wire-to-wire and put Toledo down without a chance. The Cyclones ended it with a Lilly Wachholz kill to win it 25-17.
McCune and Hendricks-Walker Dominate the Net
Middle blockers Pam McCune and Amiree Hendricks-Walker controlled the net the whole night for Iowa State. They each had three blocks and were huge in shifting the momentum in the Cyclones’ favor.
McCune spoke about her confidence and being able to play in front of a home crowd again, which she loves doing.
“My confidence was pretty high at the net today, you know, first home game so I really wanted to show out for the fans,” McCune said. “Having them back us definitely gave me confidence.”
Two of McCune’s blocks came in the exhilarating second set, including one that kept Iowa State alive. Toledo led 25-24 and had a chance to tie the match at one set apiece, but the block from McCune flipped the tide of the set toward the Cyclones.
Schmitt and Gonzalez Lead the Way with Kills
During Iowa State’s trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, outside hitter Kiersten Schmitt played in only three of the 10 sets during the UNLV invite. She matched that number Thursday and played a huge role in the Cyclones’ success.
Schmitt was successful all night in terms of getting to her spot and putting the ball out of reach from the Rockets’ blockers. Being a redshirt sophomore, Schmitt felt good about being able to set the tone and play like that in their first home match, since she has been around for a while.
“I felt like it was nice being that leader out there,” Schmitt said. “I didn’t know what to expect going out there, but I’m just glad I could be there for my team.”
Schmitt more than tripled her kill total for the year, giving her 13 through six sets.
Gonzalez, who has led Iowa State in kills for its first two matches, started the match on the bench and was nursing a sore shoulder before entering the match. Gonzalez still ended the match with a team second-high of 9 kills.
“We’re just trying to keep her shoulder fresh, as fresh as we can,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We rely on her a lot but we felt like she needed to play and she was ready to go.”
Things to build upon heading into the rest of the weekend
Johnson-Lynch spoke a week ago about improving on the defensive end and although the Cyclones did well tonight, there are still opportunities to grow. Johnson-Lynch knows her team did not perform to their full potential despite the win.
“I’m not super pleased with our play,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I just did not think we were anywhere near the level we need to be playing at. We’re still really trying to figure some things out, you know you saw a couple of different looks tonight and we are still a work in progress.”
One of the goals in the off-season was working towards limiting the opponents’ hitting percentage, and they did that Thursday.
“I feel like we did a better job picking up,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Last week we had a lot of tips and rolls fall that I felt were easy basic balls. I think they let us off the hook with hitting errors, so if they would hit those balls in more, we would have dug them.”
Iowa State plays again at 6:30 p.m. Friday against Wake Forest in its second match of the Cyclone Invitational.
