AMES — After its previous match against UCF was canceled due to Hurricane Milton, Iowa State returns to Ames to face No. 24 BYU in another conference matchup Wednesday night.
During the road trip to Kansas State and Houston, the Cyclones dealt with multiple injuries, including star sophomore Nayeli Gonzalez, and still battled to five sets in each match.
After starting 2-0 in conference play, Iowa State has dropped its last two. Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch talked about the rough road trip and what they need to do to get back on track.
“It was an emotional trip seeing Nayeli [Gonzalez] go down and having other people out,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It was a rough 24 hours. It’s a little bit of everything. One depends on our lineup and who’s available to play because that changes what your focus is. Is our focus on being good defensively and having low errors? That is something we will probably continue to do. I think we have been playing better defense lately.”
Gonzalez’s injury is not great, according to Johnson-Lynch.
Freshman Rachel Van Gorp, senior Brooke Stonestreet and junior Morgan Brandt have brought their play to the next level.
Van Gorp, known for her defensive prowess, transitioned her skills to the offensive end. She recorded a season-high eight kills and had her 10th double-digit dig match with 12 against Houston.
Against the Cougars, Stonestreet moved into the top 10 all-time in program history for digs with 1,236. Brandt also continues to impress. She had her third straight double-double where she had 45 assists and 14 digs.
With injuries to Gonzalez and junior Maya Duckworth, the Cyclones turned to junior Faith DeRonde to help on offense. DeRonde did not disappoint, tallying a career-high 17 kills at a .529 clip.
With the UCF game being canceled because of the hurricane, Iowa State saw an extra week of rest.
“We got a little more rest which is something we needed, being a little banged up,” Johnson-Lynch said. “A little bit more physical and mental rest is what they needed.”
BYU is led by sophomores Claire Little and Brielle Kemavor and freshman Elli Mortensen. Little and Mortensen have been forces to be reckoned with on offense.
Little has 254 kills at 4.03 kills per set and Mortensen has 162 kills at 2.70 kills per set. Kemavor has been a stone wall on defense with 85 blocks at 1.35 blocks per set.
“They’re pretty physical in the middle especially,” Johnson-Lynch said. “One of Pam’s [McCune] old teammates is one of their middles and she is physical.
BYU enters the match after a tough five-set loss to No. 17 TCU.
The game will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum, and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
