Iowa State jumped on the No. 8 Kansas State volleyball team early Wednesday night, but wasn’t able to hold on and fell to the Wildcats 3-1.

The Cyclones came out focused and ready to play and led all of Game 1, but Kansas State kept it close. Leading 16-14, Iowa State scored four unanswered points to widen the gap to 20-14.

Consecutive kills by Christine Smeele and Ashlie McWee gave the Cyclones Game 1, 30-25.

“I thought our kids did a good job competing every play,” head coach Linda Crum said. “They did a great job being disciplined on the block which created a lot of the hitting errors Kansas State had.”

Game 2 saw a back and forth battle in the beginning, but Kansas State pulled away to win 30-20.

“I thought we came out real focused in Game 1,” junior Brittany Dalager said. “Game 2 they pushed back and we broke down in communication.

“Our ball handling wasn’t as good and therefore we didn’t have as great of an outcome as the first game.”

Kansas State used an 8-3 run in the middle of Game 3 en route to winning 30-20.

After falling behind 7-3 in the fourth game, the Wildcats scored six straight to take the lead 9-7.

Iowa State kept it close, but Kansas State held on and took the game 30-19 and the match 3-1.

“Like any good team, they are going to press back on us and that’s where I feel we have to be strong,” Crum said. “I think our inconsistency from Game 2, to 3 and even 4, I think that is where we have to respond better and be more consistent.”

With the loss, Iowa State falls to 10-11 overall and 2-8 in Big 12 play.

The Wildcats improve to 19-3 overall, 9-1 in league action and remain atop the Big 12 standings.

Dalager led the Cyclone offense with 15 kills and recorded 16 digs.

Senior Renae Pruess and McWee each recorded nine kills.

Sophomore setter Amanda Craig had 29 assists and senior Dana Koziol had 18 digs.

“I thought we did an incredible job on our defense,” Crum said.

“We were just tenacious and we created so many things by how hard we worked.”

Valeria Hejjas had 16 kills for the Wildcats and Gabby Guerre had 43 assists.

“I thought we came out focused, ready to play, but that has been our problem all year,” Dalager said.

“We come out ready to play game one and sometimes we win. All the teams in the Big 12 are good and they are going to come back and we don’t respond well to it. That’s an area we have to grow in as a team.”

Iowa State’s next game is Saturday when the team travels to Lincoln, Neb., to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers.