Cyclones to the Sweet 16

The Iowa State volleyball team swept Wichita State on Saturday night (27-25, 25-21, 25-18) and will now advance to the Sweet 16 to meet Nebraska at the Qwest Center in Omaha this Friday at 7 p.m.

For more information on Iowa State’s upcoming match, please visit our good friends at www.cyclones.com.

Here are some quotes from Saturday’s victory, courtesy of Iowa State athletic communications.

Christy Johnson-Lynch on the match… “I felt like it was a tough match. We never felt totally in control. Wichita State played well. They’re a tough team, well coached and caused a lot of problems for us. I don’t think we’ve been aced that many times. They served very tough, and put pressure on us, especially with #21 causing problems blocking-wise. I think it forced our outside hitters to make different decisions. She blocked really well. Although it wasn’t always pretty, we found a way to grind it out and get it done. We hung in there and again it was not pretty, but we found a way to keep digging the ball and find the win that we wanted. We’re certainly happy to be advancing.”

(On blocking) “We talked about that. They are a strong blocking team, #21 in particular. I thought it would be a repeat blocking performance [from last night] from them blocking us early on. I told the attack- ers to make decisions and put the ball somewhere else so we’re not hitting at her.”

(On whether she is satisfied with ISU’s play) “I don’t know that coaches are ever satisfied. I feel good about this weekend; we’re in a new place this year. We’ve never come into a NCAA Tournament with a seed, never hosted a (NCAA) Tournament. It’s a different place for us; it takes some getting used to. It’s a different feeling with something to lose, as op- posed to being the underdog. We’re getting better and better and getting a win against good teams when you’re not playing perfect is the sign of a great team. At times we got tentative and that comes a little bit with coming into the tournament with high expectations.”

(On playing Nebraska) “It will be a huge challenge for us. We’re going to have to give it everything we’ve got. We have to practice hard this week and come out to play.