AMES, Iowa – The No. 11 Iowa State volleyball team suffered its first setback off the season against No. 14 San Diego Friday night at Hilton Coliseum, falling 3-1 (17-25, 17-25, 30-28, 13-25). The loss drops the Cyclones to 4-1 on the season while the Toreros improve to 3-1 on the season.
During the loss, Kristen Hahn recorded 16 digs for her 45th straight match with at least 10 digs, surpassing the previous school record set by Ashley Mass across the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
Turning Point of the Match
After dropping the first set, Iowa State looked to have regained its footing, tying the match at 12-12 in the second set. San Diego started a run via two Katie Hoekman kills and a Tory Knuth error. A 15-12 media timeout opened the door for Christy Johnson-Lynch to made adjustments without burning a timeout. However, back-to-back Victoria Hurtt attacks were blocked by Hoeckman and Rachel Alvey to put USD up 17-12 in the second en route to a 25-17 second-set win.
If Iowa State would have been able to get back in the match and win, the turning point would have no doubt been the five San Diego match points they fought off. The Cyclones converted their third set point with a three-player block of a Taylor Hollins back-row attack by Hurtt, Knuth and Natalie Vondrak to close out the set 30-28 and continue the match.
Cyclone Match Ball Goes to …
Tory Knuth. After not playing at all in Iowa State’s five-set victory over UNI on Wednesday, Knuth was back in the rotation from the first serve Friday night. On an evening when very little was working for the Cyclone offense, Knuth proved a challenge for the San Diego defense to figure out. She tied for a team-high with a career-best 11 kills. She also posted two service aces and four block assists, including being part of the trio that denied USD a three-set sweep.
Honorable mention to Kristen Hahn for taking down one of Ashley Mass’ many school records for her 45th straight match with double-figures for digs. However, after two sets Hahn’s chance at number 45 looked bleak as she only had six digs to her name.
Quoting Christy Johnson-Lynch
“We are disappointed with that match. I don’t feel like I prepared us very well. That offense was very fast, faster than I expected. The serving and passing, which had been a strength for us, struggled tonight. A big part of the game was the serve and pass which we struggled with and then it was combined with the speed of their offense.”
