Cyclone volleyball defeats Iowa 3-1 in spring exhibition

Members of the Iowa State Volleyball team Shake hans with members of the Princeton Volleyball Team before their first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa Dec. 01. The Cyclones defeated the Tigers in three consecutive sets. 

Spencer Suckow

An unofficial Cy-Hawk battle went the way of the Cyclones on Friday night.

Mirroring the result of its battle last fall, Iowa State volleyball defeated Iowa three sets to one in Iowa City.

Following a slow start last weekend at the Iowa State spring tournament, the Cyclones came out of the gates hot by taking the first two sets. Set number one was a back-and-forth affair much of the time, with both teams trading leads for a good chunk of the set.

Iowa State was finally able to pull away toward the end, however, when sophomore Izzy Enna gave the Cyclones a solid run of serves that gave the team a 22-17 lead. Iowa State went on to take the set by a score of 25-19 shortly after.

The second set followed a similar theme, and ultimately provided a similar result with Iowa State winning 25-23. After Iowa State went up by five midway through the set, Iowa came storming back to tie things at 15.

Iowa State briefly took the lead back with a nifty no-look kill from Piper Mauck, but Iowa responded by opening up a 20-17 lead late in the set.

From there, the Cyclones stormed back thanks to a nice stretch from senior Grace Lazard, who gave Iowa State three kills and a key block to help propel the comeback.

Iowa would go on to win the next set without much trouble, as the Hawkeyes bounced back from an early Iowa State run to take set three by a score of 25-17. After Iowa took a 14-8 lead, the closest the Cyclones would get was within two before Iowa eventually pulled away late.

However, Iowa State was able to avoid their second tie of the spring season by taking the final set 25-21. Once again, things didn’t come easy for the Cyclones as the two teams played things even for a good chunk of the set.

However, Iowa State was able to get a little breathing room after aces from Jess Schaben and Grace Lazard gave the Cyclones leads of 14-12 and 16-13. From there, the Cyclones didn’t look back and the team earned its second win of the spring.

Iowa State will close out its spring season next Friday against Illinois in a neutral site game at Bettendorf High School in Bettendorf, Iowa. The match is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.