Just three days apart, the ISU volleyball team had to face two of the toughest opponents it’s matched up against all season.

After traveling to Austin to face the No. 3 Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, the Cyclones turned right around to play the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers, whom the Cyclones have failed to beat in all 72 previous tries. Iowa State may have come out of the week with an 0-2 record, but the matches were a good measuring stick for the progress of the young, somewhat inexperienced Cyclones.

“I just feel like we’re getting closer every year,” said coach Christy Johnson. “From top to bottom on our roster we’re matching up better and better against the elite teams in the conference. I’m really not concerned with wins or losses from this week, I’m just concerned with competing, and I feel really good about this week.

“We were very competitive with Texas and even more competitive with Nebraska.”

The matches came right after the most heartbreaking loss of the season, when the Cyclones let a 2-0 lead on the road at Kansas slip away and dropped the match 3-2. Despite the setback in the second conference match of the season, the team knew it had to rebound quickly as it stared down the gauntlet that the coming week presented.

“We’re still a young team, but it just shows how much we’re improving,” said junior setter Kaylee Manns. “Even after the tough loss at Kansas, we knew we weren’t going to let ourselves give a performance like that again.”

Iowa State came close to taking sets from the Longhorns, as they took the second and third sets to 27-25 but failed to convert on 4 set points. On Saturday, the Cyclones joined the likes of USC, Kansas State and Texas as they took a set from Nebraska for the first time since they faced the Huskers at home in 2006.

Even though they managed to take one set, the Cyclones still managed to spoil a set point opportunity in another. After Nebraska took a 20-11 lead in the third set, Iowa State scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a 25-24 lead before failing to convert on the next three rallies.

“While we’re competing with these teams, it also shows we really need to finish out sets,” Manns said. “We’re getting leads on these great teams and taking them to the limit, but we really need to finish when we have the opportunity.”