LAWRENCE, Kansas – The Iowa State volleyball team could never recover from an early deficit and fell to Kansas 3-1 (17-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-25) Wednesday night at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The loss dropped ISU to 15-10 overall, 7-7 in the Big 12. Kansas is now 20-7 overall, 8-5 in the Big 12.
Ciara Capezio led the Iowa State offense with 16 kills at a .444 hitting percentage while Caitlin Nolan recorded 25 digs in defeat.
Story of the Match
The Jayhawks led the entire way in the first set, scoring the first three points of the frame and building a 9-3 advantage. Iowa State did battle back briefly, as the reduced the KU lead to 12-11 with Ciara Capezio getting three kills during the run. However, Kansas used some strong blocking and took advantage of some poor Iowa State passes to pull away. Capezio recorded her fourth kill of the set to hold off the first set point, but she then saw her ensuing serve sail long and KU took the first 25-17.
It looked like it was going to be more of the same in the second as Kansas stormed out to a 5-0 lead. Once again, The Cyclones battled back, eventually taking its first lead of the match with a Victoria Hurtt kill to make it 11-10 ISU. From there, both teams battled out a set which featured nine ties and six lead changes. KU pulled back ahead to 18-16 via kills from Tayler Soucie and Tiara Dockery, but ISU hurried back ahead at 20-19 after a Sara McClinton attack error. KU ran off five of the next seven points to reach set point. Again, Capezio held off the set with a kill, but Dockery closed it out the next point with a kill of her own to take it 25-23 and a 2-0 KU lead.
The two teams fought out a fairly even third set, with both teams enjoying early leads. With the set tied 15-15, Iowa State stormed ahead via a 7-2 run behind some strong serving from Suzanne Horner and Morgan Kuhrt. Capezio get a kill to set up a set point for ISU, which took three tries to convert, but eventually Capezio got the needed kill to continue the match with ISU winning it at 25-20.
Kansas again got the early separation in the fourth set, eventually taking a 10-7 lead in the frame. The Cyclones worked hard to find their way back, reducing the Kansas lead to 15-13, but the Jayhawks pulled away again and restored a four-point lead at 17-13. The Cyclones scored the next two points, but those would be their final two points of the night as KU rattled off an 8-0 run via some strong serving from Maggie Anderson and some good offense from Sara McClinton and Tayler Soucie. Hurtt was blocked on the final point by McClinton and Soucie to give KU the set 25-15 and the match 3-1.
Cyclone Notes
*Caitlin Nolan became the 14th player in Iowa State history with at least 1,000 digs. She now has 1,022 digs for her ISU career.
*Nolan’s 25 digs marked her 14th match with at least 20 digs in 2014, and her third in a row with at least 20.
*Monique Harris posted her third double-double of her career with 23 assists and 12 digs.
*Ciara Capezio’s 16 kills came at a season-high .444 hitting percentage.
*Capezio’s 16 kills marked the 13th time in 2014, 27th of her career, with at least 10 kills.
On Deck
Iowa State has a bye this weekend and will be in action again next Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum against Texas Tech. First serve will be at 6:30 p.m.
