For the second time in two weeks, the ISU volleyball team dropped a tough five-game match when it fell to Texas Tech 3-2 Wednesday night.

Game 1 saw an early back and forth battle between the Cyclones and Lady Raiders. Down 10-9, the Cyclones outscored Tech 11-2 to take the 20-12 advantage. Iowa State took the game 30-17.

Leading 17-14 in the middle of Game 2, the Lady Raiders reeled off nine unanswered points behind the serving of Kiley Lyons to expand their lead to 25-14. Texas Tech never looked back and won the game 30-21.

“We had no communication whatsoever, and the whole match, energy was lacking on our side of the net,” sophomore Ashlie McWee said. “That’s something that we’ve been struggling with all season and it was apparent in this match.”

Scoring droughts again hurt the Cyclones in Game 3. Iowa State was leading 5-4 before a seven-point run by Texas Tech put the Lady Raiders up 11-5. Iowa State couldn’t overcome the deficit as Texas Tech took the game 30-25.

“Between the second and third match, Linda said ‘Everyone, we need to pick it up,'” McWee said. “We picked up our serving and our passing and our defense was more aggressive. We just played like we should be playing.”

Iowa State did “pick it up” and was focused going into Game 4. Trailing 3-1, Iowa State outscored Texas Tech 17-3 to take the 18-6 advantage. During the run, Iowa State had seven kills and two service aces. Texas Tech cut the Cyclone lead to nine, but that was as close as it would get as Iowa State took Game 4, 30-17.

“I just really challenged everybody on the court to get better,” Crum said. “One thing that I ask is, if you haven’t played your best, to step up and get better, because if everybody starts getting better then that’s how you start creating momentum.”

In the decisive Game 5, Iowa State led early, 5-1, following a kill by Katie Kruenegel. Following a Texas Tech service error and a kill by McWee, Iowa State increased its lead to 8-3, but the Lady Raiders outscored the Cyclones 7-1 to take the lead 10-9.

Iowa State tied the game at 13 when Texas Tech’s Kelly Johnson was called for being over the net, but Texas Tech went on to get the final two points to take Game 5 15-13 and the match 3-2.

“They definitely made a push, but I think we started playing it safe versus playing to win with a lot of confidence and a lot of presence,” Crum said.

With the loss, Iowa State drops to 11-16 overall and 3-13 in Big 12 play. Texas Tech improves to 11-14 overall and 3-12 in league action.

McWee led the Cyclone offense with 18 kills.

Lindsey Chapman had 48 assists and Dana Koziol ended with 24 digs.

“It’s very disappointing,” McWee said. “I hate losing and I hope everyone’s very disappointed at this match.”