Aug. 29, 2009

Box Score |  Notes

AMES, Iowa - Victoria Henson tallied 16 kills while Rachel Hockaday added 11 as 13th-ranked Iowa State claimed a 25-16, 25-10, 25-15 win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum.

Facing off with the Cyclones (2-0) for the second-straight day, the Panthers (0-2) could never slow Iowa State's offensive attack. ISU hit .358 for the match and committed just 11 hitting errors.

Maddie Sueppel had seven kills while Jena Berg added six for Milwaukee, which hit just .093 in the match. Lauren Felsing did have 14 digs to lead the Panthers' defensive efforts, though she was the only UWM player with more than four digs.

"Today they came out way better than yesterday, so we needed to come out stronger and more aggressively," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "It was very hard to slow down their offense. They were in system a lot, so it was really hard on us to counter that. But it was a great weekend for us to test ourselves against a top-15 team, and now we know what we need to work on and get better at when we go to practice Monday."

Iowa State steadily pulled away to claim the first set. The Panthers were down just 9-6 after a Melissa Jansen kill and were still within 15-12 after a kill by Berg. But, the Cyclones scored six of the next seven points to take control. From there, a kill by Kerri Schuh brought Milwaukee back within five at 21-16, but two kills by Henson and an ace from Kaylee Manns gave ISU the early lead in the match.

The second set quickly got away from Milwaukee, with Iowa State scoring 18 of the final 21 points in the frame. UWM looked fine early, as a kill by Sueppel tied things at five and a kill by Berg evened things up at seven. But, a 10-1 run gave Iowa State a 17-8 lead and the advantage eventually grew to 19-9 on a kill by Kelsey Petersen. After Milwaukee added a point, ISU finished the set with six-straight points, ending things on an ace by Carly Jenson.

Things didn't get much better for the Panthers in the third set. ISU jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead, though Milwaukee closed to within 11-6 on a block by Sueppel and Jansen. The Panthers crawled back within 17-11 on a block by Schuh and Natalie Schmitting but would never get any closer. An ace by Caitlin Mahoney pushed the Cyclone lead to 21-11 and ISU closed out the match from there.

UWM returns to the road next weekend, heading to Oxford, Miss., to play in the Magnolia Classic. The Panthers start play in the event Friday morning against Akron.