Whether starting the game slow or strong, the Cyclone volleyball team seems to find a way to come up with a win.

Iowa State (15-8, 7-5 in Big 12) played a game similar to the way Baylor played in the previous matchup between the two teams. The Cyclones, however, came out on top Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum. Like the game at Baylor, the winning team lost the first set but came back to win the next three. Iowa State secured the fourth spot in the conference after winning in four sets (21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 26-24) against the Bears.

This was the first game of the season the Cyclones won after being outhit by the opponent. Iowa State finished with an attacking percentage of 0.236 on the night, while Baylor ended with 0.241.

“It’s good to know that our defense can pick it up when we are getting out hit by opponents,” said senior middle blocker Jen Malcom.

Iowa State started off weak, hitting only 0.075 in the first set.

“We had a lot of players start out slow,” said head coach Christy Johnson.

Despite negative hitting percentage in the first set, Victoria Henson responded with a strong percentage of 0.250 on the night. Henson started off the game with one kill and then made three errors in a row. Henson turned her game around and still led the team in kills with 19.

“I’m really happy with the way she came back,” Johnson said. “That just tells you she made a complete turn around, that was a great response from her.”

Rachel Hockaday was on against the Bears, finishing with 16 kills and hitting 0.333. Libero Ashley Mass contributed 19 digs to the Cyclone defense — her twenty-second match this season with double-digit digs.

Although the Cyclones came out slow, the team turned it around in the end. In the fourth set the score was tied 16 times. Iowa State put it away in the end hitting 0.333 in the final set of the game.

“We were aggressive at the end when we needed to be,” Johnson said. “I think we’re playing as well as we can be right now.”

The Cyclone defense outdug the Bears 61 to 55 and outblocked 10.5 to 10. Jen Malcom notched five blocks on the night, two of them solos. Tonight, Malcom passed Renae Pruess for eighth on the all-time block assists list.

“I thought we played really well on defense tonight. We took care of everything,” Malcom said. “We just made the play.”