AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State volleyball team went 2-1 on Saturday with wins over Nebraska-Omaha and UNI, before falling to Minnesota. The Cyclones hosted the round-robin spring tournament in Hilton Coliseum.
It was all Iowa State in the first match of the day, as the Cyclones defeated Nebraksa-Omaha in a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-14, 15-8), led by redshirt freshman Morgan Kuhrt, who put up a team-high 13 kills while swinging at a .550 clip. Kuhrt also had two service aces in the match. Andie Malloy followed with nine kills, while redshirt freshman Natalie Vondrak had six kills and four blocks.
The Cyclone defense was the story of the the second match of the day, a three-set sweep of UNI (28-26, 25-17, 15-5), and Iowa State held the Panthers to just a .025 hitting percentage. Iowa State had eight team blocks in the match, including one solo block and four block assists for Vondrak and two solo blocks to go with two block assists for Malloy. Sophomore Mackenzie Bigbee led the Cyclones offensively with 12 kills on just 21 attempts.
Iowa State dropped its final match of the day in a back-and-forth battle with Minnesota, losing both sets (27-25, 28-26). Sophomore setter Jenelle Hudson did a little bit of everything for the Cyclones in the final match, registering 24 assists, a pair of service aces and two solo blocks to go with one block assist. Minnesota’s Tori Dixon led all players with 16 kills and added two solo blocks and three block assists for the Gophers, who tallied 11 total blocks in the match.
The Cyclones will be back in action on April 20 when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to take part in a tournament at the University of Minnesota. Match times are TBA.
