No. 13 Iowa State’s rematch with the Longhorns did not go as planned on Friday as Texas earned a 3-0 sweep.

While the Cyclones fell in five sets to the Longhorns earlier in the season at home, playing them on the road was a different story. The Texan trio of Khat Bell, Bailey Webster and Haley Eckerman gave the Cyclones fits all night.

“Their passing was much better, which made their offense very powerful,” said senior outside hitter Carly Jenson. “We couldn’t slow down Khat Bell, and we didn’t respond very well at all.

Although the Longhorns have many weapons in their attack, Iowa State was making Haley Eckerman one of the focal points going into the matchup. Bell had 13 kills on 16 attempts, good for a .812 hitting percentage. Eckerman finished the game with 10 kills on her 22 attempts. She hit .318 for the match.

Bailey Webster did a fair share of the workload with 13 kills of her own.

“We knew all their hitters are super athletic and they have a ton of weapons,” Jenson said. “I think part of it could have been that we were so focused on slowing down their outsides that we didn’t slow down the middles.”

There have been times throughout the season when Iowa State has given up runs, but have battled back and won sets. When Oklahoma visited Hilton Coliseum, the Sooners had nearly won the first set and were on the verge of winning the second.

That is when the Cyclones found the momentum. Tenisha Matlock helped cap a back and forth second set to give the Cyclones a 2-0 lead. They would go on to win in four sets.

Digging out of holes is not as easy when playing Texas on the road.

“Just playing on the road was huge,” said junior middle back Jamie Straube. “They had a great crowd there, and they just feed off of that. With them just hitting over us and hitting the ball so hard, it wears on you.”

Iowa State has another tough road test ahead of them with a rematch against the Sooners on Wednesday. With that in mind, coach Christy Johnson-Lynch had an important message for her team following the loss to Texas.

She reminded them that it was not all bad and that they have been in this situation before.

“It’s incredibly difficult to go through the Big 12 and not lose a match, especially on the road,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We have to appreciate the fact that we were close in game two and that we played with them for stretches. We just didn’t play with them for long enough stretches.”