The first Big 12 road test of the season for the ISU volleyball team proved to be too much Wednesday evening as it fell to Kansas 3-2 in five sets.

After losing the first two sets of the night, No. 19 Iowa State (7-5, 1-1 Big 12) won the third and fourth sets before the Jayhawks (14-2, 2-0) took the fifth set and the match (19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 9-15).

Despite battling back to even the match at two set victories apiece after entering intermission one set away from being swept, Iowa State fell behind quickly in the final set 9-1. That deficit was too much for the team to overcome and the Cyclones dropped the final set by six points. 

The struggles were obvious in the five sets as the Cyclones committed 33 attack errors and hit just .149 in the match. Iowa State also committed 10 service errors to Kansas’ five. 

Following intermission, redshirt freshman middle blocker Tory Knuth saw playing time in each of the final three sets of the night and played a large role. Knuth went 8-of-19 in attacks, good for a .263 hitting percentage, and had the best hitting percentage from any Cyclone in the match.

Libero Kristen Hahn continued to contribute a high number of digs for the team as the junior provided 33, a 6.6 dig per set average. It was the third consecutive match in which Hahn has surpassed 25 digs. 

Prior to Wednesday evening’s match, the Jayhawks hadn’t played a ranked opponent. The loss was the sixth time this season Iowa State has gone to five sets, and the team has now lost four of them.

The team will continue Big 12 play at noon on Saturday when it takes on Texas Christian for the first time at Hilton Coliseum.