No. 8 Cyclones stun No. 2 Texas at Hilton
AMES (ISU) — No. 8 Iowa State handed No. 2 Texas its first loss of the season with 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 15-12) win Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum, running its winning streak to 11 matches. Texas is the highest-ranked opponent Iowa State has defeated in the history of the program.
“I have to think this is our best home win, that is for sure,” ISU head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “This is big. But we’ve still got a lot of matches left. We can’t stop here. We need to keep going.”
Johnson-Lynch credited the mental toughness of the Cyclones, who have tied a school record with its 12th Big 12 win of the season.
“We’ve got a very mentally tough team. We stayed very composed and that made them a little uncomfortable. Their outsides couldn’t quite figure out where they could hit to score. They are a great team with a lot of weapons. (Texas) actually changed their lineup in the fourth game. We forced them to have to make a lot of changes.”
Iowa State (20-3, 12-2 Big 12) held the Longhorns (18-1, 13-1) to a season-low 0.189 hitting percentage and fought off a career-high 27 kills from All-American Destinee Hooker to beat the Longhorns for just the third time in school history.
The Cyclones were led by Victoria Henson’s 15 kills, while Rachel Hockaday added 13 and Jamie Straube finished with 11.
Debbie Stadick finished with nine kills and Kelsey Petersen had seven in the Cyclones’ first win over the Longhorns since 2005.
Defensively the Cyclones were everywhere, digging 92 balls, including a career-high 25 from Hockaday.
Ashley Mass added 23 digs and Kaylee Manns recorded her 62nd career double-double with 47 assists and 15 digs. Caitlin Mahoney added 15 digs.
The Cyclones also were solid at the net, getting 11 blocks and a number of good touches on the bigger Longhorns. Stadick tied her season-high with six block assists and Straube had two solo blocks and two block assists.
During the decisive fifth set, ISU trailed 9-6 but used a 9-3 run to close the match, snapping the Longhorns 27-match regular season winning streak.
Trailing by three, a kill from Hockaday and an errant swing by Rachel Adams forced a Texas timeout at 9-8.
Hooker recorded her 27th kill of the match, but Henson responded with her 15th kill to give the Cyclones three match points.
After Juliann Faucette blasted a kill, Straube’s 13th kill of the match gave the Cyclones the victory.
The Longhorns won the first set 25-22 but for the third time this season ISU rallied back to win after dropping the opening frame.
The Cyclones won the second set 25-22 before taking the third in convincing 25-15 fashion. ISU hit .452 in the third set.
After Texas took the fourth set 25-20, ISU hit .346 to win the final set.
Iowa State will host No. 10 Nebraska Saturday evening at Hilton Coliseum. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m.
