PRIMER: Iowa State at Iowa

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State takes on the final week of non-conference traveling to a pair of Big Ten schools. First up is the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series Wednesday at Iowa. ISU then travels to Champaign, Ill. to meet Illinois and Eastern Illinois.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 6 p.m., at Iowa

By the Numbers

1 – Iowa State enters week four leading the nation in kills (15.35 per set) and assists (14.23 per set).

1 – Morgan Brandt leads all active Big 12 players with 2,987 career assists. The total ranks fourth in program history.

3 – Christy Johnson-Lynch ranks T-No. 3 all time in Big 12 history with 207 league victories.

5 – Iowa State hit at .333 or better in the first five matches of the season. The last time ISU had a stretch of five-straight .300 matches happened in in 1992.

13 – Brandt stands 13 assists away from 3,000 on her career. Only three Cyclones have reached the mark.

The 2025 Cyclones

The Cyclones went undefeated in the Cyclone Invite with wins over SLU and Omaha. Freshman Alea Goolsby had a 20-kill performance through the four-set win vs. Omaha, hitting 24 at an efficient .278. Also against Omaha, Duckworth had career kill No. 900, and now stands 88 kills from hitting the milestone of 1,000.

If you didn't know about her before, now you do.

24 kills at .278 // 7 digs // 3 blocks // 3 assists

Alea Goolsby. pic.twitter.com/damdSn2vDv
— Iowa State Volleyball (@CycloneVB) September 14, 2025

Four Cyclones rank top two in the Big 12 ranks, with Brandt leading the Big 12 and ranking second nationally with 11.46 assists per set. Pam McCune also leads the Big 12 with a hitting percentage of 0.466 (No. 10 nationally). Tierney Jackson ranks right behind McCune with 0.436 and Rachel Van Gorp ranks second in digs averaging 4.46 per set.

Iowa State opened the season at 5-0 without losing a set before falling at UNI, 1-3. ISU was one of the three final teams nationally to begin with 15 set wins. It marked the first time in program history the Cyclones opened a season with a 15-0 set record.

ISU hit over .400 in three-straight matches (vs. Ohio, CMU, MKE), marking the first time the Cyclones have done so in program history. Iowa State had two top 10 all-time single-match hitting percentages in one day, first against CMU hitting at 0.462 (No. 7 ISU) before hitting at .457 (No. 9 ISU) at Milwaukee.

The Opponent

In the all-time series, Iowa State leads 32-24 and enters the matchup on a three-match win streak. Christy Johnson-Lynch is 15-3 against Iowa.

Iowa is 7-2 on the season, with its losses to SEMO and Weber State. Carmel Vares is Iowa's leader in kills, hitting 83 at .327 through Iowa's 33 played sets. Iowa ranks 44th nationally in blocks per set, with Hannah Whittingstall leading the way for the Hawkeyes putting up 1.34 per set.

Next Up

Iowa State stays on the road, traveling to Champaign to meet Eastern Illinois Friday at 6 p.m. and host Illinois Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to wrap non-conference. Friday's match will be streamed on B1G+ and Saturday's match will be televised on Big Ten Network.

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Players Mentioned

Morgan Brandt

Alea Goolsby

Tierney Jackson

Pam McCune

Rachel Van Gorp

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