Taking a night off from Big 12 Conference play, the ISU volleyball team faced in-state rival Drake Wednesday and defeated the Bulldogs 3-0.

“One of our overall goals was to be in-state champion,” head coach Linda Crum said. “We didn’t beat UNI, but we played a great match up there. We did beat Drake and Iowa and for us that is really an important part of where we are in our program. I’m really proud of our kids for that.”

Drake kept it close in game one, never giving the Cyclones more than a five-point advantage.

Leading by two, Iowa State scored five unanswered points to widen the gap to 23-18. The Bulldogs fought back, outscoring the Cyclones 9-2 to take a 27-25 lead.

Consecutive kills by Michelle Gannon and Katy Amundson tied the game at 27. After a Bulldog point, Renae Pruess got a kill and assisted in a block to put Iowa State up 29-28. Drake tied the game at 29, but another Pruess kill and a kill by Ashlie McWee gave Iowa State the win, 31-29.

Drake started off quickly in game two, taking the early 9-2 advantage. Iowa State fought back and took the lead 18-12.

The game stayed close, but Iowa State held on for a 30-26 win.

Iowa State went ahead early and never looked back in game three. The Cyclones started off with a 6-2 lead and increased the lead to 21-12. The Bulldogs got within four, but the Cyclones took the game 30-20.

“I was really happy that the kids won in three, that was a goal that we had,” Crum said.

With the win, Iowa State improves to 10-9 overall and Drake falls to 8-11.

“We had a great opportunity to let a lot of people play,” Crum said. “We’ve had great, competitive practices this week. The kids that played for us tonight stepped up in practice and really earned an opportunity to be on the court tonight and I thought they did a good job.”

Amundson, Gannon, Amanda Craig, Christine Smeele and Nicole Lorenzen are all players who made contributions for the Cyclones, Crum said.

“Those are kids that aren’t always on the floor for us, but they came in and I thought they did a great job,” Crum said.

McWee led the Cyclone offense with 11 kills and no attack errors. Pruess and Brittany Dalager finished with 8 kills apiece.

“Michelle did a good job of establishing the middle,” McWee said. “[Drake] had lots of holes for me and I didn’t see a block. The setters gave me an opportunity to be successful and get kills, even though they weren’t pretty.”