DES MOINES — A victory always seems sweeter against an intrastate rival, and the ISU volleyball team bit at the chance to defeat Drake on Monday night at the Knapp Center in Des Moines with a 3-1 triumph.

The win cranks the Cyclones’ non-conference record to 7-1 and halted a six-match losing streak that began Sept. 22 at Texas. The success evened Iowa State’s overall record to 8-8.

A shaky start found the Cyclones against Drake’s towering hitters and blockers who did their part to keep the ISU offense to a minimum and scraped through with the 30-26 win in the first game.

“We came out too tense at first and weren’t playing our game,” said senior hitter Brittany Dalager.

But the Bulldogs’ taste of victory ended there. Iowa State dominated the next three games in margins of 30-20, 30-26 and 30-15.

“We did great tonight once we got past game one. At the beginning, our serving and passing were gone, and Drake was great at coming right after us,” said ISU head coach Linda Crum.

A critical part of the Cyclones’ success was the use of their potent serving, which racked up 11 service aces and brokedown the Drake defense.

Sophomore libero Katie Churm notched four perfectly placed aces in addition to her 13 digs on the night.

“I was really proud of the kids in their work tonight, especially at serving,” Crum said. “[Associate head coach] Amy Farber-Knowles really worked hard with them this week on that, and we set big goals tonight with our outside hitters, and they really came through for us.”

Sophomore Katie Jessen said the team worked on eliminating unforced errors and seeing the blocks better.

“This was a huge confidence boost for us as we make the turn into the second part of the Big 12,” Jessen said.

The Cyclones had 65 kills to Drake’s 38 and held Drake to a .094 hitting percentage while garnering a .207 themselves.

Nicole Lorenzen earned a career and season-tying effort of 17 kills, as well as earning another double-double with 13 digs. Dalager worked her way into double digits with 10 kills and 13 digs, as well as three aces. Junior setter Amanda Craig finished with 47 assists and 12 digs herself.

Drake was led by sophomore Betsy Funk with 12 kills and freshman Samantha Nelson who nabbed six blocks.

The Bulldogs were efficient in their digging department with five players going into double numbers and Lindsay Patterson paving the way with 16.

Iowa State will get the opportunity to use this important win and momentum in Wednesday’s game at Hilton against conference foe Kansas (10-6, 1-6 in Big 12), who has dropped five straight games. Despite some “unusual” struggles Kansas is having, Crum said the team will be consistently good.

“They run a fast system and are good at integrating their middle blockers and right side hitters. Their left sides are always a hard-hitting pair,” she said. “We can expect them to be efficient and balanced in what hitters are getting to set the ball.”

Senior Jill Dorsey is ranked second in the Big 12 with 4.60 digs a game, while fellow senior Ashley Michaels ranks ninth at 1.36 blocks a game.

Junior Andi Rozum is placed fifth in assists at a clip of 11.56 a game.

Dalager said she knows the key to Iowa State’s success is its communication, which is something she tries to always bring to the court.

“We just have to feed off each other and have more talk and enthusiasm,” she said.