LINCOLN, Neb. — In a battle of two of the top defensive teams in the Big 12, Nebraska used a stout defense to take down a scrappy ISU team in four sets Saturday.

The Huskers, who leads the Big 12 in blocking and opponent’s hitting percentage, outblocked the Cyclones 12-8 and outdug them 57-54 to hold the Cyclones to a paltry 0.156 hitting percentage, which was more than 100 points below their average for the season.

Coach Christy Johnson said Nebraska did a better job getting hands on attacks and not just on blocks, but on touches that their back row players were able to pass to setter Sydney Anderson.

“I didn’t think we blocked very well,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of trouble stopping their slide [attack] — we kept talking about what we were going to do, tried to make a couple of adjustments, but we just couldn’t stop it.”

The Husker middle blockers, Kori Cooper and Amanda Gates, used the shot where they run along the net and hit around the back side of the setter very well, combining for 17 kills on efficient 0.433 hitting percentage. Nebraska hit 0.259 as a team, well below its season average.

“They have some big girls and they get up and swing really high,” setter Kaylee Manns said. “Our block really wasn’t able to clamp down on the ball because they hit so high. When you’re hitting like that and the ball is going off into the stands, you don’t stand a chance, so all the credit to them for swinging smart.”

Johnson said the ISU block was there, but the Nebraska hitters were just able to find a way to get kills against it.

“When you feel like you’re there, and you still can’t stop it or even get a good touch, you get frustrated and I felt a little bit of that,” Johnson said. “They were still using our hands and getting the ball through our block.”

In each set of the match, the winning team used their defense to take a quick lead. Nebraska led 4-0 in set one, 4-1 in set three and 4-0 in set four, the three sets it won. They held Iowa State to one kill with five hitting errors in those runs, while they had six kills with no errors.

In the Cyclones’ lone set victory, they took a 4-0 lead on a kill from Victoria Henson and three errors by Nebraska outside hitter Tara Mueller, two of which were blocked back at her by Diane Kieger and Kelsey Petersen. Nebraska outblocked Iowa State 11-3 in its three set wins, while Iowa State held a 5-1 advantage in that second set.

The defensive prowess of both teams has been on display in both meetings this season, as well. Nebraska outblocked Iowa State 10-6 in its four-set win in Ames, but the Cyclones outdug the Huskers 75-70 as neither team hit over 0.230 in the match.

Johnson said the difference this time was the improved play of outside hitter Jordan Larson, who had a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs, as well as right side hitter Lindsey Licht.

“Larson played a lot better,” Johnson said. “Individually, I don’t know if it was preparation or something they scouted — we had two blockers up most of the time but we could not find a way to stop them.”