Two teams battled Saturday night at Hilton Coliseum to stay out of the cellar of the Big 12 Conference volleyball standings.

The Baylor Bears, after losing the first game of their match with Iowa State, went on to take the next three games and improved to a 1-1 conference record, 7-6 overall.

Iowa State fell to 0-2 in the Big 12 and 7-5 overall. The Cyclones’ performance in each of the last three games mirrored the match as a whole — taking an early lead and then watching it disappear.

ISU head coach Linda Crum said she was disappointed with the loss.

“We needed more fire and it wasn’t there,” she said. “We were letting them have a two- or three-point advantage in the rotation instead of siding out.

“Our players just lost their focus, and we couldn’t control the offense off the first pass.”

Iowa State started well, jumping out to an early lead and leading by as many as six points in the first game, aided by kills from Ashlie McWee and Renae Pruess.

The Cyclones kept up that pace throughout the rest of the game, with Katie Jessen getting the kill on match point as Iowa State won 30-23. The Cyclones had a balanced attack in the first game, with Jessen, McWee and Brittany Dalager each getting three kills. Lindsey Chapman added eight assists, while Dalager and Dana Koziol each had four digs.

The rest of the match belonged to the Bears.

Game 2 was tight throughout, featuring 10 ties and four lead changes. Iowa State again jumped to an early two-point lead, with Dalager and McWee getting kills.

The Cyclones led by as many as six points during the game. But the Bears bounced back, cutting into the ISU lead and going ahead 26-25. The Cyclones managed to tie the score on Dalager’s kill, but Baylor put the Cyclones away by scoring the last four points to win game two, 30-26. Dalager led the way with six kills, Chapman had 12 assists and Katie Churm led the ISU defense with five digs.

Iowa State again took an early lead in Game 3 and held an 8-4 lead after a block by Chapman. The Bears again rallied back and took a 12-11 lead. The score was tied on 10 different occasions. Baylor took control with the score tied at 21, running off four straight points on its way to a 30-27 game win and a 2-1 match lead.

Pruess was the ISU offensive leader with eight kills and five digs, while Chapman had 13 assists. Koziol had six digs.

Game 4 saw Iowa State once again taking the early lead. Sophomore Amanda Craig, seeing her first action of the match, had a kill to give Iowa State a 3-2 lead. The fourth game was close throughout, featuring 11 ties before Baylor took the lead for good at 22-21 and held off the Cyclones’ last rally. The Bears took game four, 30-26, to win the match 3-1. Craig had 13 assists for Iowa State, with Dalager getting five kills. Craig and Koziol each had four digs.

Dalager totaled 18 kills for the match. Pruess had 15 kills, and Jessen had 11. Chapman was Iowa State’s leading setter with 33 assists. Koziol led the Cyclone defense with 17 digs, while Dalager had 13.

Next for Iowa State will be a home match with Nebraska. Because of Wednesday’s Business/LAS Career Day in Hilton Coliseum, the match will be played at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Omaha. The Cyclones will continue on the road at Colorado next Saturday.

Iowa State’s next home match will be against Missouri Oct. 4 in Hilton Coliseum.