The ISU volleyball team nearly did something Wednesday that only two other teams have done to the third-ranked Texas Longhorns.

The Cyclones (16-13, 10-9 Big 12), who were down two games to none at one point, took the Longhorns (23-3, 18-1) to the full five games before losing to the Big 12 co-leaders (30-19, 30-24, 24-30, 32-34, 18-16) in front of a crowd of 1,253 at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State became only the second team to take Texas the distance and came up just short of being the only team other than No. 1-ranked Penn State and No.2-ranked Nebraska to beat the Longhorns.

Coach Christy Johnson said the comeback showed great fight and determination, especially against such a great team.

“It showed a great spirit and fire that our players were able to get down 2-0 and comeback against the number three team in the country,” Johnson said. “Most people would have given up.”

Senior middle blocker Erin Boeve said, when the Cyclones are able to play defense like they did in the last three games, they can beat anyone.

“It all comes down to serving and passing again; that’s huge for us, and, if we do those two things, we’re in with teams that are at the top of the nation,” Boeve said. “To have a team like that rattled and not know what to do was a lot of fun.”

Iowa State was held to a hitting percentage .184, while Texas hit .276, partially due to the Longhorns’ 15-13 advantage in blocks. Texas also outdug the Cyclones 89-86, but led 9-1 and 43-37 in those categories before Iowa State made their run.

Redshirt freshman Victoria Henson led the Cyclones with a career-high 20 kills, with 16 of those coming in the last three games. She was joined in double figures by Boeve with 16 kills, junior Jen Malcom with 15, senior Lauren Cummings with 14, and junior Mary Bisenius with 10. Sophomore Kaylee Manns had a double-double with 61 assists and 11 digs and freshman Ashley Mass led Iowa State with 19 digs.

The Cyclones led 2-0 in game one but Texas was able to take the lead at 3-2 and would not relinquish it. The Longhorns finished the game on an 8-2 run to pick up a 30-19 victory.

Iowa State took a 11-5 lead in game two after a 7-1 run, but Texas was able to slowly battle back and take the lead for good at 19-18. The Longhorns went on a 7-0 run with their multi-faceted attack, which included four different players recording. Lauren Paolini and Destinee Hooker finished the 30-24 win with back-to-back blocks.

Texas looked like it was headed for their second sweep of the season over Iowa State, when it opened game three with a 6-2 advantage.

After Johnson called a timeout, Iowa State started their comeback with a 7-1 run to take a 9-7 lead, which they would ride to a 30-24 win that was punctuated with a block by Malcom and Bisenius.

Game four was not for the faint of heart. Neither team held more than a five-point lead and both teams had multiple game points but could not capitalize. The biggest point of the match came when Texas led 32-31. Both teams dug out sure kills several times before Lauren Cummings was able to put one away to tie the game. Cummings also closed out the 34-32 victory with a thunderous kill as well.

Johnson said the comeback came with a change in attack strategy.

“We felt like, in the first two games, we maybe would make a good decision on our first swing,” Johnson said. “Then the second, third, fourth swing in the rally, we would stop making good decisions. I thought our hitters did a really good job of doing what we asked them to do, hitting the shots we asked them to and trying to use the block,”

Iowa State continued their momentum to open game five and looked poised to spring what could have been one of the upsets of the season around the country. The Cyclones were able to take a 14-9 lead after four straight points late in game five, but Texas showed why they are so highly regarded and came back to tie the match at 14. The Longhorns fought off two more game points and finally ended the match at 18-16 when Hooker blocked Lauren Cummings attempt at a kill.

With the Cyclones possibly on the NCAA tournament bubble, a win over the Longhorns may have put them in the tournament. Boeve said, even though the Cyclones did not get the win, they need to bounce back and defeat the 23rd-ranked Oklahoma Sooners Saturday.

“This win would have absolutely given us a free ticket there but we came up a little short,” Boeve said. “We have to come back Saturday and play really hard, and if we win that then we have an even better chance.”

Johnson said the performance Wednesday showed that Iowa State is where they want to be headed into their regular season and home finale, where they will celebrate senior night.

“We’re peaking at the right time,” Johnson said. “We got a big match on Saturday and I don’t think I would want to be anywhere else.”