A come-from-behind win in the fourth game gave the Colorado volleyball team the momentum needed to win the decisive fifth game over Iowa State Wednesday night.

“It is a huge disappointment,” senior Lindsey Chapman said. “I think we were so close it hurts even more when we lose because we could have so easily won that fourth game, but Coach pointed out that it’s a step in the right direction.

“We did a lot of things that we haven’t been able to do this season, especially coming out tough in the third game.”

The Cyclones came out strong in the first game, taking an early 15-4 lead. Colorado cut away and was able to tie the score at 29. A serving error by the Buffaloes and a back-row kill by senior Renae Pruess gave the Cyclones the two points needed to take game one 31-29.

Colorado dominated Game 2 and never trailed Iowa State as the Buffaloes won 30-18.

“We’re consistently good in the first game, but kind of let down in the second game; we haven’t been able to come back in the third game, but we did that tonight,” Chapman said.

Iowa State came out firing in Game 3, taking the early 14-8 advantage. Hitting a sizzling .536 from the floor, the Cyclones took game three 30-18.

“I thought we did a great job of stepping back up and winning Game 3, which is the first time that we’ve done that in terms of a team that’s above us in the conference,” head coach Linda Crum said.

Game 4 saw a back-and-forth battle as neither team took a commanding lead.

Trailing 8-9, the Cyclones scored five consecutive points to lead 13-9. Colorado outscored Iowa State 9-5 to again tie the game at 18 each.

A kill by Pruess left Iowa State tied at 27, but Colorado scored the next three points to take the game 30-27 and force a fifth game.

“When we got into Game 4, I thought we did a great job the whole way,” Crum said. “In a crucial moment, we had some hitting errors, we had some blocking errors.”

Some of the errors that were made were aggressive errors, Crum said.

“They are going for something on their block and they get a net error,” Crum said “Part of that is, ‘I have to be more disciplined.’ Part of it is, ‘I’m being aggressive about going for it.’ You can’t fault them for that.

“We’re inexperienced in a couple of positions, that’s where we made our errors and that really was the difference, to me, between us winning and losing game four.”

Unlike the first four games, the first to 15 in Game 5 would be the winner.

The Buffaloes struck early taking the 4-1 lead, but three unanswered points by Iowa State tied the game at four-all. The score remained close before Colorado outscored the Cyclones 7-2 to lead 13-8.

A block by Brittany Dalager and Nicole Lorenzen and an ace by Chapman cut Colorado’s lead to 13-10, but the Buffaloes got the two needed points to take the game 15-10 and the match 3-2.

“Yes, we lost the match; yes, I’m disappointed,” Crum said. “We have to stay positive, we have to stay focused on the fact that we did take a step tonight.”

The loss drops Iowa State to 10-13 overall and 2-10 in Big 12 play. Colorado improves to 15-7 overall and 7-5 in league action.

Pruess led the Cyclone attack with 21 kills. Lorenzen finished with nine kills.

“[Nicole Lorenzen] is one of the kids in your gym that just works the hardest every single day,” Crum said.

“She’s the one who leaves everything in practice. Everything’s just coming together and paying off for her.

“I’m really proud of her in terms of she’s really been working hard on some things in terms of her offense and her attack.”

Dalager recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 18 kills and 18 digs. She also had four aces. Senior Dana Koziol had 13 digs and Chapman recorded 26 assists and four aces.

Maragda Santillana had 20 kills for Colorado with Monique Gerlach and Nicole Carr recording 13 and 11, respectively.

“Volleyball is a game of momentum,” said Chapman. “It was that close a game that when you have just a couple mistakes, they can come back and get the momentum.”