It wasn’t pretty, but Iowa State managed to get its seventh straight win against Kansas State, sweeping the Wildcats on Wednesday in three sets (27-25, 25-21, 25-23).

Neither offense got into the flow as Kansas State hit .123, but the Wildcats were able to keep it close. The Cyclones finished with a .218 hitting percentage.

“I think it had more to do with errors,” said senior Kelsey Petersen. “Both teams were hitting out a lot. Everyone had a lot more errors than they did blocks.”

The Cyclones finished with 14 total attack errors and three blocking errors.

Senior outside hitter Carly Jenson and junior middle back Jamie Straube led the way with 12 and 10 kills. The duo hit for .265 and .385.

Iowa State now turns its attention to No. 22 Oklahoma, which comes to Hilton Coliseum on Saturday. The Sooners are the fifth ranked team the Cyclones will play this season. They are 1-3 in the previous matchups against ranked teams.

Coach Christy Johnson-Lynch knows the team will have to clean up its play to beat the Sooners.

“They run very low, flat sets and it makes it hard for the blocking defense to set up,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We have to find a way to slow down their hot hitters.”

The Cyclones’ style all season has been to pinch the defense and swing out. This is going to be a tough task against a team like Oklahoma, which runs a very fast offense.

The Sooners are on an eight-game win streak and are undefeated in conference play. Their success has come from their defense. 

Oklahoma is keeping opponents to just 1.63 blocks against the other teams’ hitters. Opponents are also getting just .083 service aces.

“We definitely have to ball handle,” Straube said. “We can’t take little breaks like we did against Kansas State. “

Senior Suzy Boulavsky is hitting .351 for the Sooners this season and is averaging 3.63 kills per set. Oklahoma middle blocker Sallie McLaurin is averaging 1.68 blocks per set.

The game will start at Hilton Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.