Two sets in, the outcome looked very bleak.

The ISU volleyball team was having trouble, passing, swinging, blocking, and everything inbetween. But despite going into the locker room down 2-0 at intermission, the Cyclones (22-12) staged a comeback for a 3-2 (17-25, 11-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9) victory over the No. 7 Oregon Ducks to become one of eight teams in the regional semifinal round.

The Cyclones hit a dismal .087 in the first two sets compared to Oregon’s scorching .439, and the Ducks outblocked the Cyclones 7-0 in the second set alone.

Although being outblocked 17-6 in the match, the Cyclones limited the Ducks’ serving attack in the last half of the match to help set up the comeback.

After tying the match at 2-2, Iowa State would not let its hard-fought effort slip away. Of the 15 points they scored in the fifth set, the Cyclones notched 13 kills and did not commit a single hitting error on their way to a ridiculous .650 attacking percentage.

This is the first appearance in an NCAA Regional Semifinal for Iowa State. The Cyclones have who advanced one round further in each of the last three seasons.

The Cyclones will face the winner of the Texas-UCLA match at 5:30 pm tomorrow at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Tex.