Texas Tech Athletics
Iowa St
Red Raider Volleyball Sweeps Cyclones at Home
November 13, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 14, 2004
LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech volleyball team posted its first three-game sweep of its Big 12 season in a victory against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday night. Senior Kelly Johnson and sophomore Kiley Lyons led the offensive charge for Tech (9-14, 5-12 Big 12), while junior Desiree Batista led the defense that kept the Iowa State (8-18, 1-16 Big 12) offense in check.
Johnson, for the 20th time of the season, led the Red Raiders in kills with a match- and team-high 17 kills. Lyons finished the match with 12 kills, just missing a double-double with eight digs. Freshman Lindsay Louis led Tech with a .333 hitting percentage. Senior setter Laura Grote orchestrated the Red Raider offense with 43 assists. She also barely missed a double-double performance with nine digs. Freshman Amanda Hiller tallied an ace for the third-straight match.
Batista led the Tech defense with 21 digs, her third-straight match with 15-plus digs. It was the 13th time the junior led the team in digs. While Batista handled the backcourt, teammates Louis and sophomore Nina Miller controlled the net for the Red Raiders. Louis and Miller finished with four and five total blocks, respectively.
In game one, the Red Raiders came out and dominated play and took a lead at 6-0. Iowa State remained consistent and got itself back into the game, but still trailed 8-4. With Tech leading 15-7, Cyclone setter Amanda Craig served her team back into the game with two aces in a five-point run that tightened the score to 15-12. The two teams battled back and forth with Iowa State taking the lead at 25-24. The Cyclones would earn a game point at 29-28, but Tech rallied to win the next three points to take the game 31-29.
Game two saw the two teams continue to battle with neither gaining a big advantage over the other. Late in the second game, however, Tech owned a seven-point lead at 27-20. Again, the Cyclones rallied back to within three at 28-25. The Red Raiders took the game 30-27 on a kill by Louis. Tech improved its hitting from game one (.039) to finish with a .222 hitting percentage in the game.
Game three was another tight affair with neither team able to grab an early lead. The score went back and forth for the majority of the game until both teams were tied at 18. Tech edged ahead with a three-point run. A kill by sophomore Raven Garrett gave the Red Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 27-21. Tech cruised to the game three win 30-25. The team finished with 19 kills during the game.
Juniors Ashlie McWee and Katy Amudson led Iowa State with nine kills each. Craig finished the match with 34 assists and nine digs. Senior Brittany Dalager led the Cyclone defense with 19 digs. Sophomore Nicole Lorenzen tallied 10 digs and eight kills for the match.
The win snapped a four-match losing streak for the Red Raiders, who will have a week off before traveling to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the nationally ranked Kansas State Wildcats. Tech will return home for its final home match of the season Nov. 24 to take on the Kansas Jayhawks.
