Despite drawing the largest home crowd in ISU volleyball history, the Cyclones were unable to slow down the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum.

The record crowd of 6,705 surpassed the mark of 4,228 set in 1995, but ISU fans weren’t given many chances to cheer, with Nebraska (23-1, 15-1) leaving Ames with a 3-0 sweep (30-20, 30-19, 30-16).

When the Cyclones (15-11, 9-7 Big 12) traveled to Lincoln, Neb., on Oct. 10, they were able to hang tough with the Huskers and nearly took game one before losing their grip for the rest of the match.

The story was completely different on Sunday, as Nebraska controlled the match from start to finish.

“I think they’re better than the last time we saw them,” said coach Christy Johnson. “They really raised their level of play today, and I think we just let go of the match too soon. We were really into it at first but kind of let go, and were never really able to see if we could challenge them.”

Nebraska dominated the Cyclones in nearly every aspect in the game, hitting .389 to Iowa State’s .135, and topping the Cyclones in kills (55-37), digs (59-45) and blocks (6.0-5.5).

Iowa State’s hitters struggled all match to get balls to the floor against a stout Nebraska defense covering all corners of the court. The Huskers owe a lot of the defensive success to freshman libero Kayla Banwarth, who registered a match-high 19 digs in her first collegiate start.

“Their libero was exceptional tonight,” Johnson said of Banwarth, the only native Iowan on Nebraska’s roster. “And while most people think it’s just a defensive position, it’s the most important position on the court after the setter. And changing your libero can make a huge difference, especially if you have someone with that much talent.”

Nebraska’s players delivered powerful, forearm-stinging jump serves, which was just one more problem for the Cyclones, who had difficulty developing an offensive groove.

The Huskers won a total of 12 service points in the match, registering five aces along with Iowa State’s seven service errors.

“When a team is serving that hard and that accurately, it’s tough to get the offense going,” said sophomore setter Kaylee Manns. “It makes it a lot more difficult to make good passes to the setter, even if you get right under the serve. A lot of times that only gives the offense one option, and [Nebraska] was able to key on that.”

Iowa State freshman libero Ashley Mass’ 12 digs extended her double-digit dig streak to 19, while redshirt freshman Victoria Henson was the lone Cyclone in double-figure kills with 11.

Nebraska’s All-American right side Sarah Pavan, 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year, led all hitters with 16 kills and just two errors on her way to a .483 hitting percentage.