Iowa State Sweeps Bucknell in Season Opener

ATHENS, Ohio – Iowa State (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) swept Bucknell (0-1, 0-0 Patriot League) by set scores of 25-21, 25-9, 25-20 Friday afternoon. The match marked the 600th of Christy Johnson-Lynch's career as Johnson-Lynch moves to 16-5 in season openers.

Freshman Alea Goolsby put up a match-leading 12 kills at .370 hitting in her ISU debut. Lilly Wachholz put up the next-highest match total with 10, extending her double-figure kill streak dating back to last season to four. Wachholz led the ace (3) and point (13.5) stat categories. Pam McCune nearly had a 10-plus kill performance, hitting nine at an efficiency of .500.

Rachel Van Gorp also extended a double-figure streak dating back to 2024 as she had a match-leading 12 digs, her sixth match in a row with 10 or more. For the blockers, Tierney Jackson led all with six total.

After an even first set with Bucknell keeping within four points of the Cyclones, ISU pulled away in the second winning it 25-9 for a 2-0 match lead. Iowa State controlled the third to win in straight sets, ending the match hitting at .333 compared to Bucknell's .167.

SET ONE
Goolsby put down her fourth kill to make it 14-13, ISU, while Wachholz and Jackson put up a block to enter the media timeout up by two. ISU held the lead from there, taking the set 25-21. Goolsby led the set with six kills, while Wachholz totaled an errorless three kills on five swings.

SET TWO

ISU began the second taking a 12-0 run behind the serving of Maya Duckworth to make it 13-1 while hitting over .400 and holding Bucknell to a negative hitting percentage. The Cyclones kept going, winning the set 25-9. Wachholz led the set with four kills, getting them hitting at .429.

SET THREE

Van Gorp served up her second ace of the match as the Cyclones took the first three points of the set. With Bucknell within a point, Duckworth slammed down a big kill, making it 9-7. Jackson went back-to-back with kills, keeping Iowa State up at 14-10. After three ties, a pair of kills by Pam McCune and a Wachholz ace brought ISU ahead 20-18 and caused a Bucknell timeout. Wachholz served another ace out of the timeout, and the Cyclones controlled the lead, winning the set 25-20 to provide the sweep.

NEXT UP
Iowa State continues play at the Bobcat Invite meeting the host Ohio tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.

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Team Stats

Alea Goolsby

Lilly Wachholz

Pam McCune

Tierney Jackson

Players Mentioned

Maya Duckworth

Alea Goolsby

Tierney Jackson

Pam McCune

Rachel Van Gorp

Lilly Wachholz

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics