HAMILTON – Colgate managed to take the second set to even the match at 1-1, but Iowa State proved too strong and secured the final two sets to come away with a 3-1 victory on Thursday evening in front of an energetic crowd at Cotterell Court.
Frances Torres led the Raiders with 13 kills, followed by Milan Bayless with 11, who also had a .385 hitting percentage. Rachael Martinez and Lal Akin each had two aces.
COACH BAKER'S COMMENTS
"Give credit to Iowa State and their defense tonight. I thought their libero was the difference maker. She made plays all night long. We learned a lot about ourselves from this challenging non-conference schedule. We've improved slightly each week and playing in hard situations makes you tougher. We are ready for a tough league schedule starting tomorrow."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1 | Iowa State 25, Colgate 17
Iowa State rode three service aces to a 7-4 lead that it continued to hold comfortably through the set. The Cyclones served up five service aces total along with 17 kills. Iowa State did have more errors with four to Colgate's three. Torres had three kills, while Abby Shadwick contributed two kills along with a solo block.
Set 2 | Colgate 25, Iowa State 22
Colgate jumped out to an early 5-3 lead led by Torres and Tiana Owens who each had kills. Iowa State then countered with multiple kills and took advantage of Colgate attack errors to go up 12-9. Kills from Torres and Bayless, along with a huge block from Maddie Rudolph cut the Cyclone lead down to just 14-12. The Raiders managed to fight back to tie the set at 21 apiece off a service ace by Akin, where they used that momentum to win the set 25-22, finished off by yet another kill by Torres, her 10th of the match.
Set 3 | Iowa State 25, Colgate 20
Colgate took an early 8-6 lead in the third set, led by two kills from Bayless. However, the Cyclones rallied to take a 17-10 lead, which the Raiders managed to trim down to a 19-16 deficit after two more kills from Bayless and a service ace by Sydney Jones. Iowa State took the set 25-20, with a .359 hitting percentage.
Set 4 | Iowa State 25, Colgate 15
The Cyclones started off the fourth set strong, going up 9-4 after a flurry of kills. Iowa State played an almost error free set, finishing with only one attack error, and hitting .444 as a team. Torres continued her dominance with two more kills in the frame, while Bayless added two more of her own to bring her tally to 11 for the day.
UP NEXT
The Raiders head to Easton, Pa. where they will take on Lafayette in their first league action of the season, on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a short drive to Bethlehem where they will take on Lehigh on Saturday.
