AMES — The Cyclones took on West Virginia on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum and escaped with a 3-2 win to start Big 12 play for Iowa State.
The win gives the Cyclones a 7-5 record and a 1-0 Big 12 record. Following a narrow 3-2 loss to Syracuse, Iowa State was able to finish the job against the Mountaineers on Saturday.
Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has had West Virginia’s number her whole career, improving her record to 22-3 and five straight wins against the Mountaineers. The five sets were a little closer than the past three showings against West Virginia, as the rest ended in sweeps for the Cyclones.
“West Virginia played so many errors that they just kind of coasted, and when they started playing better, we weren’t ready, we didn’t respond,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’ve talked a lot about that. We gotta figure that out in practice and learn how to play with a sense of urgency.”
Saturday’s match started well for Iowa State. They had 17 kills at a .500 hitting percentage in the first set, dominating 25-14. The second set was a lot of the same, with 12 kills at a .550 hitting percentage.
Through two sets, redshirt sophomore Lilly Wachholz and redshirt junior Amiree Hendricks-Walker had eight and six kills, respectively, leading the way for the Cyclones.
Wachholz spoke earlier in the week about the team needing to click, and it looked like they were doing just that to start Big 12 play.
“If you are scouting us, you can’t scout just one person,” Wachholz said. “We have so many weapons, so we trust anyone to go out there and get that big kill if we need it.”
The third set is where things went downhill for Iowa State. A drastic change in hitting percentage, with .219, had much to do with the 25-18 loss in the set. The Mountaineers had also flipped a switch and were playing much better offensively.
Late in the fourth set, the Cyclones had a 21-19 lead with an opportunity to put West Virginia away for good. However, the Mountaineers bounced back and had three kills, along with a few Iowa State errors, giving them the fourth set and knotting it up at two apiece.
The fifth set looked very similar to the third after West Virginia took a significant lead 11-6. The Cyclones were not yet out of it, though. Three quick points cut the deficit to two and a Mountaineer kill stopped the run.
Iowa State then went on a 4-1 run to tie things up at 13 apiece. Similarly to how the match started, Wachholz and Hendricks-Walker were the two that put things away for the Cyclones.
Hilton Coliseum was on its feet, awaiting the finish of a match that could have been put away in three sets.
Wachholz followed a West Virginia point with her 16th kill of the match, tying it back up. Hendricks-Walker put down two impressive kills that were split by a Mountaineer point, putting Iowa State up 16-15. An attack error that went into a booth review confirmed the Cyclone win.
Sophomore Nayeli Gonzalez, who is second in kills for Iowa State, was out for her third straight match on Saturday. Despite this, six Cyclones had five or more kills to contribute to an all-around offensive effort.
“All of us have the ability to absolutely crush it, so that is a huge thing for us,” Hendricks-Walker said. “That also creates so much energy. We are able to keep ourselves up with that type of electricity.”
Hendricks-Walker ended with a career-high 18 kills and was key to the Cyclones coming out with a win. Redshirt sophomore Kiersten Schmitt, who played minimally in the first two sets, was important down the stretch as she finished the game with seven kills and three digs.
“You know, [Schmitt] came off the bench and played really well down the stretch,” Johnson-Lynch said. “[Hendricks-Walker] probably had the best match I’ve seen her have this year, so we’ve got some flashes and pieces and we just got to put it together.”
