ISU Sweeps UW-Milwaukee in First Round
Media Relations
MADISON, Wis. – Iowa State used a balanced attack and its trademark solid defense to sweep Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3-0 (30-21, 30-10, 30-21), in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in Madison, Wis.
The Cyclones (21-10) held UWM (24-6) to a .016 hitting percentage behind 13 team blocks and 48 team digs.
“I thought we played really well tonight,” said
ISU head coach Christy Johnson. “Before the match we talked about how important serve and pass would be and I think we did that about as well as we have all year.”
Katie Jessen had 11 kills and Erin Boeve and Jessica Klein each posted 10 in the Cyclones’ second ever NCAA Championship win. Iowa State’s other NCAA Championship win came in 1995, when
ISU defeated Idaho, 3-0.
Defensively, Katie Churm was outstanding, recording 16 digs and passing at a high level for the Cyclones. Klein had six block assists to lead the Cyclones, who also got two solo stuffs and four block assists from Lauren Cummings.
Boeve, a junior from Steen, Minn., added to her growing legacy, breaking her own single-season school-record for block assists. The all-Big 12 first team selection had four on the night to run her total to 158 on the season.
The Cyclones, who finished first in the Big 12 in blocks in the regular season, outmatched the Panthers from the start, using their size and physicality to wear down their Horizon League opponent.
“I think it was a huge factor playing in the Big 12,” said Johnson. “Its so different when you are used to seeing big blocks night after night. It certainly gives us an advantage to see the teams we do each night in the Big 12.”
The Cyclones hit .290 and Churm had seven digs as
ISU cruised to a 30-21 win in the first game.
The Cyclones trailed 7-3 before scoring nine of the next 12 points to go up 12-10. Following a Panther timeout, the Cyclones went on a 7-3 run and took the game to go up 1-0 in the match.
Iowa State was even better in game two, blistering the ball at a .484 clip and went on to win, 30-10, marking its largest single-game win in the rally scoring era. The Cyclones, who had no second game hitting errors on 30 attempts, were led by Jessica Klein, who had four kills on seven attacks to go along with two block assists. As a team,
ISU out blocked the Panthers, six to zero, in game two.
Game three looked as though it was going to go the same way with
ISU charging out to a 7-3 lead following a Jessen kill and extending it to 10 on a kill by Klein to make it 21-11. But Wisconsin-Milwaukee had other plans, scrapping back to close it to a four-point margin at 23-19. The Cyclones were able to hold off the Panthers, scoring seven of the final nine points to coast to a 30-21 win.
Iowa State will face No. 10 Wisconsin, which swept Notre Dame, Saturday at 7 p.m. The winner of Saturday’s match will advance to the round of 16 in Austin, Texas.
ISU Sweeps UW-Milwaukee in First Round 
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