No. 16 Iowa State took No. 8 Texas the distance Sunday before losing 15-8 in the fifth and final set (16-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-21, 8-15). Junior Jamie Straube was a big reason the Cyclones lasted that long.

Straube finished the match with 17 kills on 30 attempts while committing just one error. She also finished with 18.5 total points and hit .533 for the match.

“She’s learning how to take over matches,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “It felt like at the end of game four and five, you could see her block take over matches and offensively just get kills. She’s starting to emerge as that kind of player for us.”

Straube’s kill total was the second-highest of the season, having recorded 19 against North Dakota State on Sept. 10.

Straube started off slowly, but gained momentum as the match progressed. She recorded two kills in the first set, three in both the second and third sets before exploding with six in the fourth set.

While it wasn’t enough to win, her teammates were impressed by her performance.

“She was huge,” said senior outside hitter Carly Jenson. “She was on all night and they couldn’t stop her.”

Jenson had an impressive performance in her own right against the Longhorns (9-4, 2-1 Big 12). She finished with 14 kills on 45 attempts. Jenson finished the match with seven errors.

Texas used its size to give Iowa State (12-3, 3-1 Big 12) problems at the net. Outside of Straube’s .533, no other Cyclone with at least 20 attempts hit better than .156.

“They kind of reach around a lot,” Straube said. “Going up as a hitter, you can’t just hit straight down or else they’ll block you. You’re not as strong when you reach outside your body line, so I would try to judge which way they are leaning.”