For the first of four sets it seemed the ISU volleyball team was just swinging into a concrete wall to no avail.

The Cyclones, a team known for their consistently strong defensive play, got a little taste of their own medicine against Creighton on Tuesday night in Omaha, as the Bluejays refused to let any ISU attack go untouched. Creighton recorded seven rejections in their first set block party, while the Cyclones failed to get one.

“It took us a while to get used to what they were giving us,” said senior Jen Malcom. “We were out of sync at the beginning, and once we settled down we learned what types of shots or tips would be effective against them.”

But the Cyclones found their sledgehammer in set two and were able to break through the Creighton defense, rallying to earn a hard-fought 3-1 win on the road. Despite Creighton’s stout defensive effort, the Cyclones began to settle in and continued to chip away without making significant changes to the offense. After the dismal first set, Iowa State was able to adjust to the Bluejay defense and find ways to put the ball away.

“I know who I want to go to in certain situations,” said junior Kaylee Manns. “And we wouldn’t let them change the way we wanted to play. We were getting a lot of one-on-ones, and they were doing a good job blocking us and getting a lot of touches, but there was no difference in the way we attacked them even when we were struggling.”

After being outhit .333 to .105 in the first set, the roles were switched dramatically in the next two, as the Cyclones a combined .338 to Creighton’s .131. Iowa State finally found a rhythm offensively, and was able to restructure a blocking scheme that was nowhere to be found in the first set.

“We talked about just staying with the game plan and execution,” said coach Christy Johnson. “It’s not always going to work out in the first game, but into the second and third games that game plan is going to come through. Our block started to take over a little bit and we just stayed patient and didn’t panic.”

After waiting until 21-19 in the second set to get the first block, the Cyclones continued to rack up eight on the night. They were able to win the blocking battle 7-3 in the final two sets of the match, where they limited the Bluejays to a .015 hitting percentage.

Sophomore libero Ashley Mass continues to anchor a solid back row for Iowa State, and once again extended her record-breaking digs streak. The 17 digs she recorded Tuesday night stretched her streak of double-digit dig performances to 30.