For the ISU volleyball team, the only thing to make Kansas State go away was time.

No matter what the Cyclones did, the team couldn’t shake the Wildcat buzz until the very end.

Iowa State won 3-1 (30-28, 30-25, 20-30, 30-25) but had battle with the 9-12 Wildcats. It was an example of how records aren’t always a good measure of skill.

“I think Kansas State is a good team even though their record doesn’t really show it,” said coach Christy Johnson. “They just keep fighting; it’s not like they give up even though their record doesn’t show it.”

The first two games seemed to follow the same script. Every time the Cyclones tried to pull away, Kansas State was there with an answer. It took Iowa State four game points to put the Wildcats away in the second game, creating a lot more tension than the Cyclones wanted.

In the first two games the Cyclones had a balanced attack with five players adding at least four kills. Going into the break, it looked like a sweep was in order.

The Wildcats had a different idea.

“The third game was just kind of a disaster,” senior Nicole Lorenzen said.

Kansas State switched up its rotation, creating new match-ups that made some big problems for the Cyclones. Iowa State got stuck in one rotation and before the team knew it, it was down 8-0.

“Sometimes there can be one rotation that you just can’t sideout,” Johnson said. “Once we got out of that rotation, it was a tie game.”

At that point, the Cyclones looked like a different team. Gone was the confident, excited team that was talking it up and covering for each other. The energy was gone, and Iowa State looked like it was in trouble.

But the bench was there to provide the boost the team needed. Freshman Diane Kieger came in and had immediate impact, gathering three blocks within minutes.

“Diane has always been great when she has been asked to sub in,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of confidence that if our middles are off, she is ready to go.”

After Kieger came in, Iowa State played even with the Wildcats, but the team couldn’t dig itself out of the hole it was in. Iowa State was held to a .000 hitting percentage while allowing the Wildcats to hit .310.

The Cyclones came out refocused and energized in the fourth game. The team knew it was better than Kansas State and that it had to put game three behind them.

“We kind of knew that in the third game we got off on a bad foot, so we knew that if we could just play from the get-go we would be fine,” Lorenzen said.

Iowa State avoided another disastrous start and found itself tied 15-15. Kieger came back in, and just like in the third game, she provided an instant spark as the team put together a 6-0 run to give itself some breathing room. From there, it was just a matter of time before the Cyclones cruised to a 30-25 win. The match ended up being tougher than the team would have liked, but it was expecting Kansas State to come out ready.

“Kansas State has been playing really well lately, so we expected them to be good,” Lorenzen said. “This win is going to give us a lot of confidence.”