After losing four straight conference matches, the ISU volleyball team came back to defeat Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, on Wednesday night.

Head coach Linda Crum said the Cyclones’ defense was a highlight of the match.

“They played hard, with a lot of emotion,” she said.

“Just the defensive level of intensity; people on our team felt that. Dana Koziol has been playing at libero, she’s been solid all year, and was very solid last night. Amanda Craig and Katie Churm came off the bench and created that flair on the court that made a difference in us being able to win the match.”

Craig, a sophomore, tallied six digs for the match and Churm, a freshman, added eight. The team leaders on defense for the Cyclones were junior Brittany Dalager with 19 digs and senior Lindsey Chapman with 10.

“Brittany Dalager had a pretty good match, [she did a] nice job on the defensive effort,” Crum said.

“On offense she hit close to .300.”

Dalager and senior Renae Pruess tied with 12 kills for the match and redshirt sophomore Ashlie McWee had 10.

“Our two middles, Ashlie McWee and Katie Kruenegel, did a really nice job of blocking and hitting, which was really one of the things that we had emphasized that was important to winning the match,” Crum said.

The Cyclones have had a recent trend of starting strong in the first game and falling off as the match progressed.

Against Nebraska on Sept. 25, Iowa State lost a close first game with a score of 30-25 but gradually tapered off with scores of 30-20 and 30-14 for the two remaining games.

In similar fashion, the Cyclones won the first game of their first home match against Baylor on Sept. 20, 30-23, but lost the next three, 30-26, 30-27, 30-26.

“Our biggest letdown is the second game,” Dalager said. “They change a few things and then we let down, we don’t fight back. [We need to be] taking the momentum from the first game and carrying it to the second and third and finish out strong.”

Crum said the team was able to reverse this pattern in the match against Texas Tech.

“When we played Nebraska the level we played at was much higher than the level we played at with Texas Tech, but Nebraska is a different team,” Crum said.

“A part of why we beat Texas Tech was that in Game 2 we brought that level back into the gym and therefore beating [them] was much easier.”

The Cyclones had to come from behind after being defeated by the Red Raiders in the first game of the match 30-18. Ball handling was an issue for Iowa State in the first game.

“We didn’t start out great; we didn’t pass well and we didn’t hit well either,” Dalager said. “We were negative percentage.”

Crum agreed.

“Our passing wasn’t strong and it takes us out of our system,” Crum said.

“In Game 2, our kids did a good job of focusing on ball handling and bringing themselves back into the match. They made better hitting choices.”

Dalager said an important part of the match was maintaining mental focus.

“There were times when we had to call timeouts and refocus on things like getting the ball to target and the platform on a pass,” Dalager said. “When you get out of focus you need to concentrate on the little things you need to do to get the ball where you want it to go.”

The Cyclones went on to win the next three games 30-27, 30-22, 30-21 and take the match 3-1.

“We started out competing with Texas Tech and ended up beating them,” Crum said.

Momentum for Missouri

With the win against Texas Tech, the team moves to 8-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

The Cyclones will face conference opponent Missouri on Saturday.

Crum said going into the match with a conference win is encouraging to the team.

“It’s definitely a spark that we needed as a team,” she said. “We have the ability to win in the Big 12 and breaking through and winning that [first] match is really important to the rest of the season.

“[The team has] worked hard, that’s their goal. You knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when that would happen and them emerging once that occurred.”

In order to avoid a repeat of the home loss to Baylor, the Cyclones are concentrating on ball handling.

“[We are] making sure we are passing the ball well,” Crum said. “[The focus of] our serving is to take our opponent out of their primary offensive system and that puts us at an advantage in being able to defend well.”

Crum said that returning from a series of away games to play at home is a welcome change. She said the Cyclones have demonstrated that they play well in matches in their own arena.

“Winning on the road gave them that boost of confidence and then walking back into their own arena it will set the tone with their opponent,” Crum said. “We’ve been gone quite a bit and we’re all ready to be home.”

Family Weekend is expected to draw crowds for volleyball as well as football.

“We put our match right before the football game to draw in the crowds and families who are going to the football game,” Crum said.

Dalager said it will be great to play at home with fan support.

“After a lot of traveling, we are looking forward to playing with our fans behind us,” Dalager said.