All is relative when a team is able to put another notch in the win column.

But even with 11 wins this season, the ISU volleyball team is still waiting to put together that elusive complete match.

The No. 10 Cyclones dropped perennial bottom feeder Texas Tech on Wednesday night in an easy 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-18) sweep, but like every other win this season, there was still plenty to be wary of.

“I think we’re always still waiting for [a complete match],” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “We’ve had a couple of great games that we’ve strung together, but tonight we started really well, then kind of lost our focus in the third game.”

While hitting percentages struggled in several recent matches, the offense rebounded in a big way against the Red Raiders (3-13, 1-6 Big 12), who were stopped one match short of their longest winning streak of the season.

During the weekend Texas Tech brought home its first conference win in 65 tries, as the Red Raiders beat Kansas 3-2 for their first conference win since Sept. 12, 2007.

Victoria Henson put up huge offensive numbers once again, leading the Cyclones (11-3, 4-2 Big 12) with 17 kills on a torrid .533 hitting percentage. Her efficient performance was one of many for Iowa State, which hit .441 as a team in the match.

Fellow outside hitter Carly Jenson added 10 kills on a .444 percentage, and setter Alison Landwehr paced the attack with 39 set assists.

Despite solving their recent hitting problem, it was only natural for the Cyclones to drop off in another facet of the game. This time, it was blocking.

“We were so close tonight, but our blocking was a little off,” Landwehr said. “I know we made some adjustments, but they did too, and we couldn’t catch on to them as quickly as we had hoped to.”

Texas Tech features a pair of talented outside hitters, both of whom Iowa State focused on in practice during the past week. Even though the Cyclones used a lot of their concentration on stopping them, Tech’s biggest bright spot during the match was their play at the outside position.

By the end of the match, the Cyclones had tallied just two total blocks, a low in Big 12 conference play. 

“We struggled slowing down a couple of their players that we knew were going to get the ball a lot,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We didn’t execute well on block, and a few of their players that we should have at least contained had good nights against us.”

One of two off days during Big 12 play graced the Cyclones this past weekend as they took some time to regroup after a tough 3-2 loss in Austin on Sept. 29. 

The loss ended a tough opening stretch in the conference in which Iowa State faced three of the top four teams.

Beginning with the Red Raiders on Wednesday, the Cyclones have now started a run of six consecutive matches all against teams in the lower half of the conference standings.

“The weekend helped us a lot, especially getting rest for our bodies,” Landwehr said. “And we may be facing a lot of teams in the lower half of the Big 12, but it’s still tough and everyone is beating up on each other so much right now that it’s hard to know what to expect from them.”

The Cyclones will head to the Sunflower State for the first time this season during the weekend, when they will face the Kansas Jayhawks (11-6, 2-4) on Saturday.