Volleyball

For ISU libero Caitlin Nolan, earning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week has almost become routine.

The junior from Southlake, Texas, earned her fourth honor of the season, the conference announced Nov. 17.

Nolan was a cog for Iowa State’s defense in two wins last week. First in a 3-2 victory at then-No. 24 Oklahoma where Nolan recorded 34 digs, her fourth match this year with 30-plus digs, tying her with Steph McCannon in 1995 and Kristen Hahn in 2012 for the most matches with 30 or more digs in one season.

Against Texas Christian at home Nov. 15, Nolan posted 27 digs to lead the Cyclones to a 3-2 victory over the Horned Frogs.

For the season, Nolan leads the Big 12 with 5.63 digs per set.

Her teammate, freshman Alexis Conaway, also has a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honor to her name from week three and was recognized this week as the Big 12 Rookie of the Week.

At Oklahoma, the Orange City, Iowa, native recorded a career-high 15 kills and posted a .560 hitting percentage.

Against Texas Christian, Conaway followed up her career performance with nine kills and a .571 hitting percentage. With her nine kills, Conaway became the third freshman in program history to record 100 or more kills in a season.

An ISU player has earned Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors in four straight seasons and on eight occasions since the award’s inception in 2008.

Conaway, Nolan and the rest of the Cyclones’ next match will be against Kansas at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in Lawrence, Kan. 

Women’s basketball

ISU freshman center Bryanna Fernstrom has been named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week, the conference announced Nov. 17.

Fernstrom scored 25 points in the team’s season opening win over University of South Carolina Upstate on Nov. 16. Fernstrom scored 12 of Iowa State’s first 14 points in the game, leading the Cyclones to a 98-76 victory.

The Minnesota native’s performance was enough to break the ISU freshman record for most points in a career debut, and she had the second highest output of any Big 12 player this week.

The Cyclones will take the court 7 p.m. Nov. 18 when they host Drake in Hilton Coliseum.