AMES – Iowa State came out flat, and it stayed that way in a quick 3-0 loss at home against Houston, giving the Cyclones their fifth straight loss.
The first set was close as Iowa State had a solid hitting percentage of .268, led by six kills from freshman outside hitter Rachel Van Gorp. Despite the strong offense, Houston was able to outlast the Cyclones 25-22.
The second set looked like it was going in favor of the Cyclones up until they led 21-15. Four Cougar errors and two Katie Corelli kills helped them go on a 10-1 run to silence the Cyclones and take a 2-0 lead and all the momentum.
“We got stuck in a rotation, and that will happen in volleyball,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “They had, I thought, some really tough servers, so you have a tough server and you can’t get kills.”
Stuck in a rotation is an understatement. The Cougars’ servers dominated Iowa State all night, serving it short and putting it in spots that Iowa State struggled to reach, giving the Cyclone offense tough starting spots for each point.
“We just could not get out of that rotation no matter what we were trying,” Johnson-Lynch said. “That’s frustrating because everybody knows what the problem is, you just gotta get a kill at some point. Our offense was not humming tonight.”
The Cougars’ Annie Cooke had a very successful night serving, putting down six total aces, one of which came during Houston’s 10-1 run.
“I think they served really well tonight, with the short serves,” redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lilly Wachholz said. “I think just working on that and finding a way to finish sets.”
Wachholz led the Cyclones offense Wednesday with nine kills, marking the first time since the Sept. 13 3-0 loss to UTEP that no Cyclone reached double-digit kills.
Following the momentum-shifting run, Iowa State could no longer get anything to go its way. The offense struggled in the second and third sets, with .109 and -.118 hitting percentages in each set, respectively.
With morale down and confidence shot, Houston dominated the third set. The Cougars jumped out to a 4-0 lead, started by two aces from Cooke. The lead got up to 10-5, and eventually, the Cougars took the match with a 25-16 win in the third set.
“Right now it’s finding confidence in ourselves and putting the ball away,” Wachholz said. “Defensively and blocking we are doing really well, so just keep working on swinging high and coverage, a lot of things we have to work on.”
The loss was the Cyclones’ fifth straight, and it gave them a 9-13 record overall and 3-8 in conference play.
Iowa State has a week off before taking on Colorado at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday from home. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
