It’s amazing what difference a 20-minute intermission can make.

After hitting a combined 0.134 in the first two sets, the Cyclones escaped the first half of the match tied 1-1 with Baylor even after a less than spectacular offensive performance.

But Iowa State came out refreshed after the break, improving their hitting percentage to a 0.347 clip in the final two sets and left Hilton Coliseum in sole possession of fourth place in the Big 12. 

“I thought our passing struggled a bit in the first set,” said head coach Christy Johnson. “But it started to improve, and we started to move the ball around a little. We tend to hit a lot of slides with Kaylee [Manns] in the front row, but then we started to bring out middles in front of the setter and let a few of our outsides hit from the middle, which mixed things up so Baylor had to do something different to stop us.”

The Cyclones had a tough time finding the floor in the first set, as Baylor took control right from the start. The Bears jumped at the chance to capitalize on Iowa State’s mistakes and missed opportunities to take an early 9-4 lead that they never relinquished.

“We were swinging really tentatively,” said setter Kaylee Manns. “We weren’t the aggressor in that first set. We made a couple of early mistakes and I think everyone was afraid of making more mistakes so we didn’t attack as hard as we should have.”

While Victoria Henson and Rachel Hockaday both notched double digits in kills, the story of the night may have been junior middle blocker Diane Kieger, who came off the bench in place of a struggling Debbie Stadick to give the offense an extra boost.

Kieger ended the match with nine kills, four blocks and a team-leading 0.375 hitting percentage after playing in the final three sets of the match. 

“I thought Diane did a tremendous job tonight,” Johnson said. “She did it all. She hit very well, she knew her blocking responsibilities and where she had to be, and most importantly, I think she played very aggressive after our offense had been tentative in the first set.” 

Despite seeing little action this month because of recently stellar play by Stadick, Kieger came off the bench cold but still managed to tie her season-best mark in kills.

“At first I was a little nervous because I hadn’t seen the court in awhile,” Kieger said. “But as soon as I got out there I started to get the flow back and got comfortable again. Kaylee set me the ball on the first point I was in the match, so I got back into the swing of things pretty quick.”