The Iowa State volleyball team officially has the Nebraska monkey off its back, even if it took 76 matches.

Three players were in double-digits for kills as the Cyclones defeated Nebraska 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12) for their first win in school history against the Cornhuskers, and Iowa State managed to break the streak on the road at Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln Wednesday night.

“We’ve had a kind of checklist and milestones along the way for getting to the tournament, getting to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, getting ranked and we felt like this was one thing we hadn’t achieved yet, was defeating Nebraska,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch in the press release Wednesday night. “That alone is exciting. I’m excited about the team coming into this environment and winning. Not a lot of teams do that. I’m excited for the team and excited for the program because it’s an important win and one that we’ll remember for a long, long time.”

Iowa State (16-3, 8-2 Big 12) now holds soul possession of second place in the Big 12, dropping the Cornhuskers (14-5, 7-3 Big 12) to third and handing them their third home loss of the season.

Iowa State struggled to keep a constant rhythm in the first set, while the Huskers found big holes in the Iowa State block and hit .357 for the set while the Cyclones only hit .073. A big Nebraska run in the middle of the set put them up 19-12. The Cyclones were able to crawl back to 17-20, but a 3-0 Nebraska run ended the set.

The second set saw much different action as the Cyclones hit for a higher percentage and won the set. After the Cyclones rattled off a 4-0 run to lead 17-13, Nebraska responded with a 3-0 run of their own. The lead would hold up for the rest of the set, with Henson recording a kill and block back-to-back to put the Cyclones at set point. Iowa State’s blocking game looked much stronger as well, with the Cyclones improving their hitting percentage to .112 and stifling Nebraska to a -.42 percentage for the second set.

The third set saw much of the same. After a long first point, Iowa State got out to a 5-2 early lead. Nebraska went on small runs to chip away at the lead to tie it up at 21, but it wasn’t until 22-23 in the set that Nebraska grabbed its first lead of the set and held onto it. The Cyclones forced a second game point but dropped the set on a servie error by sophomore defensive specialist Catilin Mahoney.

The fourth set was just as touchy as the third but also saw Iowa State hit .471. At the 19-19 mark, one of the longest rallies of the match, Iowa State grabbed the point on a Hockaday kill and gained momentum for the rest of the set. After struggling earlier in the match, Victoria Henson recorded two straight kills and a solo block to put the Cyclones up 24-20 before a Jamie Straube kill forced a fifth set.

After numerous lead changes in the fifth set, Iowa State grabbed a lead at 8-7 that they would not give up. After another long rally, the Cyclones took an 11-8 lead on a block by senior setter Kaylee Manns and sophomore middle blocker Debbie Stadick. Nebraska was able to force one extra match point until a Straube and sophomore outside hitter Rachel Hockaday block put the match away.

Hockaday had a match-highs with 18 kills and 55 attempts. Junior libero Ashley Mass lead the team with 25 digs while Mahoney, Hockaday, Manns and Henson also finished in double-digits.

Nebraska had four players in double-digits for kills and five players reach double-digits in digs. The Cornhuskers were led by senior middle blocker Kori Cooper who recorded 16 kills and junior libero Kayla Banawarth who had 23 digs. Freshman outside hitter Hannah Werth recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs while Sydney Anderson had a match-high 56 assists.

The Cyclones will look to improve their Big 12 record against Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.