The following is a press release courtesy of Iowa State athletics communications.
AMES, Iowa – In front of one of the best crowds in program history, the Iowa State volleyball team gave its all before falling to No. 5 Texas, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 13-25, 14-25) Sunday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones fall to 11-9 overall, 3-6 in Big 12 play while Texas is now 16-1 and atop the Big 12 with an 8-1 record.
The crowd of 4,345, the fifth-largest in ISU volleyball history, saw Ciara Capezio lead the ISU offense with 13 kills while Caitlin Nolan recorded her eighth-consecutive match with at least 20 digs, posting 22 for the match.
Story of the Match
The first set saw both teams swap leads and ties in the early proceedings. A Capezio kill gave the Cyclones a 9-8 edge, but on the strong serving of Amy Neal, the Longhorns went on a 6-0 run to get ahead 14-9. The Cyclones struggled to get much closer to UT as the set progressed, only getting within three again at 23-20 Texas. A Longhorn block saw Texas get a set point, and while Victoria Hurtt held off the first one with a kill, UT got it on the second via a Haley Eckerman kill at 25-21.
The second frame saw more of the same at the start, as both teams traded leads and ties in the early going. The critical juncture came with ISU ahead 14-13 as the Cyclones recorded three straight points via some strong serving from Branen Berta to move ahead 17-13. Texas reduced the deficit to two points at 18-16 and 21-19 in favor of ISU, but the Cyclones were able to consistently get timely kills to maintain its lead. Iowa State recorded the final three points with Capezio using a nifty tip shot out of the back-row to give ISU the second at 25-20, and tie the match 1-1.
The third set saw the Texas offense start to get in motion as many players started contributing. After not recording a kill in the first two sets, the Longhorns were able to get more facets of its offense rolling. All-American Khat Bell, who was shutout the first two sets, started contributing as well as UT rolled to an 18-9 advantage. A quick 3-0 run by Iowa State via a pair of Mackenzie Bigbee kills gave ISU some hope at 18-12, but Texas took seven of the final eight points of the set, including the final four, to take the frame 25-13.
It was more of the same in the fourth as UT took the first four points of the frame. Iowa State never got much of a look as UT, who hit .440 in the set again opened up an 18-9 advantage. A strong set from Capezio, who had five kills in the frame, helped ISU get some points on the board, but it was eventually not enough as Chiaka Ogbogu fired her 10th and 11th kills of the match down to close it out in favor of UT.
Cyclone Notes
*The crowd of 4,345 at Hilton Coliseum Sunday was the fifth-largest in Iowa State volleyball history.
*Texas finished with more digs than ISU, outdigging Iowa State 70-63. This marked just the third time in 2014 an opponent finished with more digs than Iowa State.
*Mackenzie Bigbee finished with nine kills, snapping her streak of five-straight matches with at least 10 kills.
*Caitlin Nolan finished with 22 digs, her 11th match in 2014 with at least 20 digs and her eighth consecutive match reaching that plateau.
*Ciara Capezio led ISU with 13 kills, her fourth-straight match with at least 10 kills and the 25th of her career. Capezio has led ISU in kills eight times in 2014.
On Deck
Iowa State hosts No. 22 Kansas State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum. The match will be televised on Cyclones.TV Powered by Mediacom.
