The second half of the ISU volleyball team’s Big 12 schedule started off in the right direction on Wednesday night as Iowa State avenged an early season loss to Kansas.

The No. 22 Cyclones (12-7, 6-3 Big 12) beat the No. 17 Jayhawks (19-4, 7-2) in four sets (25-22, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23). Iowa State took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

“For me it felt a little bit ugly even though we went up 2-0 to start,” said ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “We just didn’t feel like we were in a great groove except for certain parts.”

Iowa State lost to Kansas in five sets back in September. In that match, the Cyclones fell behind 2-0 at intermission before forcing a fifth set with two victories of their own before dropping the final set.

On Wednesday night, the team headed to intermission on the other end with a 2-0 lead against the Jayhawks. The Cyclones trailed 21-15 in the third set before going on a nine-point run to take the lead.

Iowa State would eventually lose the set 29-27 though before winning the fourth set 25-23 to take the match.

“It was a little frustrating [to lose the third set],” said setter Alison Landwehr. “But it’s cool to see we’re a team that can do that. We can be down by eight or nine points and crawl back there.”

The Cyclones were led by outside hitter Victoria Hurtt, who contributed 17 kills on the night for a .186 hitting percentage. Outside hitter Jamie Straube provided the team with 11 kills. 

In the team’s first meeting with Kansas, ISU libero Kristen Hahn contributed a season-high 33 digs for a 6.6 digs per set average. In the win Hahn had 24 digs for a 6 digs per set average. 

“This is a big win, it helps us a lot,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It helps in ways take the pressure off a little bit.”

Iowa State will next head to Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday at 1 p.m. to face Texas Christian for the first time ever in Texas. The Cyclones swept TCU at home on Sept. 29.