The ISU volleyball team got the conference monkey off of its back with a 3-0 sweep of Oklahoma on Wednesday.

The Cyclones broke a six-game losing streak to regain a .500 mark with a 14-14 overall record and a 7-10 mark in the Big 12. Oklahoma dropped to 6-20 and 1-16 in the conference.

“It’s a big relief,” said coach Christy Johnson. “Whether we play good or bad, a win is always good for our morale.”

Although neither team took control of the match, Iowa State persevered with a renewed defensive game. The team’s blocking game, which had been faltering in previous matches, announced itself again in the match.

“We put forth a great effort defensively, being really scrappy and bringing up a lot of balls and dives we haven’t been doing lately,” Johnson said. “On blocking we had a lot of touches, but we could have gotten more. Those are blocks we’ll need in our last three games.”

Offense was a sour spot in the game as both teams failed to cross the .200 mark in hitting percentage in any of the three games.

Oklahoma started the first game with four straight points and Iowa State struggled with hitting inbounds. Oklahoma was up by six before the Cyclones regained momentum behind Nicole Lorenzen’s serving and a solo block by Meghan Ferrie.

The Sooners put up a strong defensive front, but the wall was broken at point 24 when Lorenzen and Erin Boeve stuffed top hitter Eliane Santos. The duo repeated the block on the next point, and Ferrie put the game away with a kill for a 30-26 win.

“We took care of our side of the net and got to see what our defense can really look like,” Boeve said.

Both teams volleyed consistently in game two before Iowa State slowly began to pull away. Jessica Klein contributed to Iowa State’s series of solo blocks, as did Lorenzen for point 28. Klein executed a smart tip for the final point and the 30-23 ISU win.

The energy level amped in the third game for both teams as points were traded evenly again. Boeve, who recently rejoined the team’s serving game, delivered her fourth service ace of the match to set a new career high.

Katie Churm notched four straight serving points, and Boeve and Ferrie pushed back a horizontal block to wrap up the game and match, 30-23.

Iowa State let one aspect of its gameplan slip with the play of Santos, who garnered 15 kills and a .393 hitting percentage under the Cyclones’ careful watch.

“She is exceptional and she’s going to beat you,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t contain her and it was tough to slow her down, but we did good with the rest of their hitters. We felt capable that we could take care of them.”

Joanna Schmitt tallied 12 kills for Oklahoma and Boeve and Klein led Iowa State with 11 and 10, respectively.

Lorenzen and Laura Cady each posted 12 digs, followed by Churm with 11. Oklahoma’s setter, Julie Chester, led her squad with 10 digs and 21 assists. Iowa State fell by one point to the Sooners in blocking, 11-10.

With the win comes the territory of the final three conference matches, which Johnson said feel more reachable after Oklahoma.

“We knew we needed to play well, and we need to continue with the last matches,” she said. “Tonight was a good start.”