AMES – Iowa State (7-5) continued to ride its offensive depth, except this time, freshman Rachel Van Gorp and sophomore Nayeli Gonzalez returned. Both of these two were instrumental in giving the Cyclones much-needed rest during lengthy sets. The rest may have been the deciding factor in taking down Cincinnati (10-2) in four sets. [25-19, 25-13, 21-25, 25-23.]
“It’s great having more options to help the players,” head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “When [Gonzalez and Van Gorp] were out we just didn’t have a lot of subs.”
It seemed like Iowa State might run into the problem it has dealt with a couple of times this season: not being able to finish. The Cyclones jumped up to a 2-0 set lead before the Bearcats battled back to take set three.
Johnson-Lynch has been preaching urgency to her players over and over again. Her words resonated with them tonight when Iowa State finished them off in four sets.
“We are focusing a lot on urgency, especially after set two,” senior Brooke Stonestreet said. “It’s tough for a team to be 0-2 because they are fighting for everything to stay in the match, so that third set is really a battle.”
Stonestreet contributed four aces, the most of the Cyclones in the match, and shined defensively with 24 digs. This is her 4th straight match of 20+ digs, and could be looking at another Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week award soon.
Gonzalez made a statement in her return to the lineup and finished with six kills. She helped tremendously on the offensive attack in the first set slamming four kills, including the first and the last point for Iowa State.
Set two was utter domination by the Cyclones. Iowa State started to pull away when sophomore Pam McCune recorded back-to-back blocks to get the defense rolling. The Cyclones defense rode this momentum into holding Cincinnati to a total hitting percentage of -.100.
Set three gave Iowa State some trouble. It was back-and-forth until the Bearcats were able to pull away due to multiple attack and service errors. The Cyclones finished with 15 total errors in this set.
To finish off the Bearcats, Iowa State used multiple aces and clutch kills to propel them to victory in set four.
Junior Morgan Brandt continued her stellar play with 42 assists, 14 digs and five kills. This is her fifth double-double of the season. Since she plays both on the offensive and defensive side, she spoke on how defense can lead to offense.
“Defense really generates offense because of the momentum you get,” Brandt said. “When the play is going on and you’re in the heat of the moment and Brooke [Stonestreet] or the defense are making great digs, it makes everyone want to get it that much more.”
With 42 assists on the night, Brandt moves into 11th all-time in Cyclones history.
Junior Maya Duckworth and redshirt sophomore Lilly Wachholz extended their double-digit kill streak to six matches, with Duckworth totaling 15 and Wachholz with 12. Redshirt junior Amiree Hendricks-Walker also hit in double digits totaling 10.
Iowa State will travel to Kansas State to continue conference play at 4 p.m. Saturday. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
