When the No. 17 ISU volleyball team played No. 9 Florida (6-1) on Monday in Gainesville, Fla., the Cyclones entered one of the most hostile crowds in the country.

The Cyclones (7-0) came out of Gainesville with an upset win, as well as the confidence that if they can play well in the Gators’ Stephen C. O’Connell Center, they can win anywhere.

“It’s a great volleyball gym; the crowd is so close and the fans are pretty rabid down there,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “It’s a great environment to go into because I think it makes you a little bit tougher when you come out of there.”

Senior right-side hitter Kelsey Petersen, who had a team-high 15 kills in the match while hitting at a .565 clip, said that at times the rowdy crowd helped keep her loose through the tense match.

“Their students were chanting stuff at us, and some of it was really funny and they were really creative with what they said,” Petersen said. “They kept yelling, ‘Debbie!’ at [ISU middle blocker Deb Stadick] and it was just funny. They made me laugh.”

Petersen said a big key to her success against the Gators was junior setter Alison Landwehr putting her in good positions where there was only one potential blocker in her way.

“[Landwehr] is really deceptive and she can usually get us one-on-ones because it looks like she’s going one way with the ball and then she goes another way,” Petersen said. “I just tried not to overthink it, because you’ll hit it into a block or hit it out-of-bounds, so I just act like I have two blockers every time and try to put the ball away.”

Landwehr said the five-set win over the Gators was key for the team because last year, the Cyclones were 0-2 in matches that went the full five sets.

“Last year, a lot of times when we went to five sets, we would kind of fold under the pressure or resort to tipping and not aggressive plays,” Landwehr said. “I think this time we played cohesively and stayed aggressive at the end.”