The Cyclones finally have a five-set win on their resume, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the program.

After losing all four fifth-sets this season — all on the road — Iowa State never gave No. 13 Kansas State a chance in the fifth-set on Wednesday night, pummeling the Wildcats 15-8 in the final set. It was the team’s first victory over a ranked opponent this season.

“The elephant is finally out of the room,” said junior setter Kaylee Manns. “This just takes so much pressure off of us. After losing a few on the road, we’ve been playing first-to-15 matches in practice all week, and it’s one of those times where if you work hard in practice, it really pays off.”

In their four previous fifth sets, the Cyclones never hit higher than .143 and hit below .000 twice. All of that changed against Kansas State, when they hit a blistering .450 while holding the Wildcats to a dismal .100.

Although Kansas State is the highest-ranked team that Iowa State has ever beaten in program history during the regular season, the Cyclones still displayed somewhat sloppy and inconsistent play in the two sets won by the Wildcats.

The defense struggled to get hands on the Wildcat attack and the offense only managed to put down 21 kills in those two sets.

“From the middle of the fourth game on, we really played determined,” said coach Christy Johnson. “If we play like that from point one, watch out world, because I think we can be a really good team. It’s just finding that energy from the start of the match and not waiting until you have to do it.”

Despite dropping four road contests in conference play and three to teams below them in the conference standings, the Cyclones managed to be competitive against top teams such as No. 2 Nebraska and No. 3 Texas. Iowa State is also the only team to beat upstart Baylor in Waco this season.

The match marks the halfway point of the conference season, as the Cyclones have faced each Big 12 opponent once.

Their 5-5 record may not be what they were hoping for at this point in the season, but the victory on Wednesday will serve as a motivational catapult for the team as they head down the final stretch.

“We knew coming into this match that the conference starts all over next week,” said Manns. “This was a huge match for us, not only because it was against such a good team, but now we go into the second half with a win and wanting to take it to teams that we should have beat in the first half.”