Iowa State dropped its fourth straight match in a close 3-2 loss to No. 18 TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday night.
The Cyclones dropped to 9-12 on the year, and are searching for their first win since Oct. 18, when they swept Texas Tech. The loss also gives Iowa State a 3-7 conference record and a 1-8 road record.
In the first set, the Cyclones stuck with the Horned Frogs all the way to trailing 8-9. TCU went on a 4-0 run to pull away, and they got up 23-19, led by a strong offense from senior outside hitter Melanie Parra. Finally, TCU junior outside hitter Jalyn Gibson had two kills to put Iowa State away 25-20.
The second set was very similar to the first, including a final score of 25-20 in favor of TCU. Four straight errors for the Horned Frogs early gave the Cyclones a 7-5 lead.
Junior outside hitter Faith DeRonde led the way in the set with three kills, but it was not enough for the Cyclones. A pair of TCU runs put Iowa State away.
Iowa State turned it around in the third set. The Cyclones got a 14-9 lead behind two kills from DeRonde and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lilly Wachholz. The Horned Frogs worked their way back into it and tied things up at 20. Freshman libero/outside hitter Rachel Van Gorp took over and had the final three kills for Iowa State, winning 25-22.
After bringing it to a fourth set, Iowa State decided it may as well run the table. Two 4-0 runs and a 5-0 run fueled the Cyclone offense in the fourth set, and they won it 25-19. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Kiersten Schmitt added four kills for Iowa State in the set.
The Cyclones could not quite complete the comeback after once being down 2-0, as TCU took the fifth set to win the match 3-2.
Slow offensive start
Iowa State dropped the first two sets due to struggling offensive efforts. The Cyclones averaged a .081 hitting percentage over the first two sets and totaled 19 kills over the two sets.
Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has talked about the offense coming out flat and hurting the chances for the rest of the matches. Tonight was one of those nights.
The errors hurt the Cyclone offense a lot in both sets. Five attack errors and eight in the second set, in addition to three service errors in the first set and six in the second.
Strong defense at the net
After the Cyclones loss to Baylor, redshirt junior middle blocker Amiree Hendricks-Walker talked about how much the team had been practicing blocks and the block line during practice. In Friday’s match, Iowa State proved that it had been working on it.
The Cyclones had 11 total blocks against the Horned Frogs, their second-highest total in the last six matches.
Schmitt and Hendricks-Walker led the way for Iowa State with five total blocks each, while junior middle blocker Tierney Jackson had four. In Iowa State’s last outing against Baylor, it only had four total blocks.
Defense at the net will continue to be a key factor for Iowa State if it hopes to get back in the win column and have a chance to compete late in the year.
Urgency in favor of the Cyclones
One of Johnson-Lynch’s biggest talking points in five-set matches for the Cyclones is the urgency her team needs to have after they go up 2-0 in matches. Against TCU, her team was urgent when it needed it most.
The Cyclones went down 2-0 and looked like the offense would not have been able to produce anything, but they took advantage of the opportunity and pieced together two strong sets.
Although they fell short, the Cyclones found a way to make it a competitive match and bring a ranked team to five sets. Iowa State is still looking for its first-ranked win of the season.
The Cyclones will be back in action at home against Houston at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
