When your hitters aren’t on, your game isn’t on, and the ISU volleyball team found that out the hard way Saturday at Hilton Coliseum, losing to Baylor 3-1.

Iowa State totaled 41 attack errors and 53 kills out of 184 attempts, putting the team at a .065 attack percentage.

“We made a ton of unforced hitting errors and gave up points for no reason,” said ISU head coach Linda Crum.

“Our hitters weren’t making good choices. We should’ve won tonight.”

Sophomore hitter Nicole Lorenzen echoed the disappointment of her coach.

“We made those mistakes on our own. We lost focus and it just broke down,” she said.

The Cyclones appeared to be the front-runner, defeating Baylor 30-23 in the first game.

Game two started with Baylor getting an immediate 3-0 jump never looking back, taking the 30-25 win.

The mood for the rest of the match was set in the third game as Iowa State let a 29-23 game-point lead dwindle, and Baylor fought back to win 34-32.

“We created the scenario ourselves. Baylor was efficient, and we had play after play of hitting errors,” Crum said.

“We can’t get one point to their four.”

Iowa State couldn’t reestablish its momentum in game four and lost 30-22.

Baylor improved to 9-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play.

The Bears totaled 18 blocks to Iowa State’s 11.5, led by 6-5 middle blocker Des Guilliard-Young, who assisted on 10.

Adeline Meira followed with eight block assists. Nicole LeBlanc paced the Bears in attacking with 14 kills, and Kelly Spriggs added 13.

Baylor setter Emily Huston finished with 48 assists and 13 digs.

Iowa State was led by Lorenzen, who garnered a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs.

Junior setter Amanda Craig found herself in double digits as well with 42 assists and a team-high 14 digs. Senior Brittany Dalager finished with 10 kills and 10 saves.

Iowa State played Drake in Des Moines on Sunday night. Results of that match were not available at press time.