After earning her 149th win in Hilton Coliseum against South Dakota last week, Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch and the Cyclones had the opportunity to get the 150th home win in her tenure with matches against the then sixth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions and the Louisiana State (LSU) Tigers. Both matches resulted in an Iowa State loss.

However, Tuesday was a much different story as the Cyclones beat the Northern Iowa Panthers in Hilton Coliseum 3-1.

Johnson-Lynch now has a record of 150-52 at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State caught fire early on in set one, taking a 10-4 lead with a hitting percentage of .538. Iowa State never trailed in the set and a kill by sophomore right-side player Eleanor Holthaus gave the Cyclones a 25-18 victory in set one. 

The Cyclones held a 19-13 lead in the second set but the Panthers came roaring back making the score 19-18. From there on out the Cyclones controlled the set, outscoring Northern Iowa 6-1 and winning the set 25-19. 

Set three was controlled by Iowa State, who jumped out to a 13-7 lead. Thanks to a couple of attacking errors and a few kills, Northern Iowa trimmed its deficit to two, making the score 17-15. 

The Panthers made it a one-point deficit at 22-21 and tied the set at 22 after an attacking error by the Cyclones.  

After a pair of kills by senior outside hitter Karlie Taylor, the Panthers took set three 26-24.

In set four, there was back-and-forth action where there were four lead changes and eight tie scores. Iowa State had a three-point lead and match point when a kill by freshman outside hitter crushed UNI’s hopes of coming back as Iowa State won the fourth set 25-21 and the match 3-1.

With their victory, the Cyclones improve to 3-3 and the Panthers fall to 2-5 this season.