IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 25 Iowa State volleyball team was required to show some fight Saturday night against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. However, the Cyclones were able to rise to the occasion and took the match 3-1 (25-11, 27-29, 25-23, 25-20) over the rival Hawkeyes.
The win improved Iowa State to 6-4 on the season, while Iowa fell to 9-3. The result, part of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, narrowed the series score to 5-2 in favor of Iowa.
Turning Point of the Match
After Iowa State came from behind to take the third set 25-23, Iowa showed they had the potential to take the match to five sets as they pulled ahead 14-13 in the fourth. An Iowa error tied the set at 14-14, then head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch decided to keep Mackenzie Bigbee in the match to serve. The decision was an extraordinary one as the Cyclones ran off an 8-0 run, which included three Bigbee aces, to get ahead 21-14 before eventually closing out the match at 25-20 in the fourth.
Cyclone Match Ball Goes To…
Mackenzie Bigbee. Playing about 30 miles from her hometown of Williamsburg, the sophomore put on a show for the big cheering section that made the trip to see her. Bigbee led Iowa State with 16 kills at a .394 hitting percentage. In the fourth set, Bigbee made her most surprising contribution when she recorded the first three service aces of her career during an 8-0 ISU run to help close out the match.
