Iowa State didn’t go into Saturday’s match against Kansas with any other thought than business as usual. The resulting upset that occurred as the Jayhawks won 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 20-25, 25-17) was just that for the Cyclones — upsetting.

“The locker room afterwards was just silent,” said junior middle blocker Debbie Stadick. “No one even knew what to say. It was just frustrating beyond belief.”

It wasn’t just that the loss was No. 13 Iowa State’s first loss to an unranked opponent in 54 matches. It was the discrepancy between the numbers from Saturday’s match and the numbers the Cyclones had posted against Texas Tech just three days earlier.

Against Texas Tech, the Cyclones (11-4, 4-3 Big 12) hit at a season-high percentage of .441. Saturday, that percentage dropped to only .182 against the Jayhawks (12-6, 3-4).

“We were all really, really disappointed and really frustrated,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “I think that’s the first time in a long time where I felt like we’ve been beaten by a team where there was that big of a discrepancy.”

Although the Cyclones dropped the first set 25-14 — their lowest-scoring set since losing to Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament last season — there was no feeling of unrest at first. The team has had a trend this season of slow starts.

As the match went on, however, the Cyclones didn’t recover as they have in the past.

“We never got our offensive rhythm, we never got our transition game going,” said sophomore middle blocker Jamie Straube. “One of the big things we said after the first set was, ‘We just need to into our rhythm, we need to get our passing the same, our sets the same.'”

Getting into a rhythm was easier said than done for the team, as Kansas’ defense kept the Cyclones on their toes. The Jayhawks’ Melissa Manda out-dug ISU libero Ashley Mass 32-22, which helped keep Kansas in charge.

“We’re pretty used to controlling the match,” Stadick said. “It’s a different feeling not being in control. We played a little tentatively when we realized we weren’t just going to stomp around.”

Dealing with the KU defense was particularly difficult for Iowa State, as the team has been hampered by injuries recently. Both middle blockers, Straube and Stadick, are currently struggling with some aches and pains.

Last week, Stadick sprained her ankle, and Straube is dealing with shin splints. Both players attempted to forget about their injuries Saturday.

“Once you’re on the court, you’re focusing on the game,” Stadick said. “Whether you’re hurt or not, you just need to find a way to play. I probably didn’t do as well as I could have finding a way to play. That’s on me.”

Stadick posted four block assists Saturday and Straube notched two solo blocks and three block assists.

“Our blocking numbers haven’t been good the last couple of weeks,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Our blocking numbers were pretty dismal on Saturday, so I think that reflects a trend we’re seeing on our team right now.”

Johnson-Lynch also said another of the team’s trends recently has been lower offensive numbers in certain positions, which was reflected Saturday in the Cyclones’ low hitting percentage.

Despite the low hitting percentage and loss, the Cyclones will continue to work on getting production out of the offense and grow from their experience at Kansas.

“Every team gets beat, it happens,” Stadick said. “It’s the kind of thing you can learn from. Whatever we did wrong, we can kind of learn from it and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The Cyclones will next take on Kansas State at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ames High School.