On Wednesday night, fans at Hilton Coliseum saw a close battle between Iowa State and Colorado, as the two met in Big 12 Conference play with Colorado winning, 3-1.

The loss drops the Cyclones to 9-13 overall and 0-10 in Big 12 play. Colorado improves its record to 11-9 overall and 5-5.

The first set was a back-and-forth battle with neither team leading by more than two points until Iowa State was able to extend their lead 19-14.

The Cyclones went on to win the game 30-28, finishing with Mandi Harms’ kill.

“One thing we have been talking to our team about is that they have done a great job of following the game plan in game one and being mentally and physically ready to compete in game one,” ISU head volleyball coach Linda Crum said.

Game two saw the Cyclones jump out to an 11-4 lead before Colorado scored six unanswered points. Colorado went on to win the game 30-21, and then they won game three 31-29.

Crum said a good team like Colorado will respond to falling behind by going on a surge.

“That’s where we as team have to kick it in physically, mentally, emotionally and really respond to that challenge,” Crum said. “That is our next step.”

Colorado jumped out to the early lead in game four and went on to win the game and the match 30-20.

“I think that they weren’t expecting us to be as good as we are, and we came out and beat them [in] game one,” Dalager said. “Then good teams like them are going to come back, and I just don’t think we responded to their comeback very well.”

Being able to respond to such a comeback is what the Cyclones want to improve upon.

“It’s what we want to do as competitors in order to keep ourselves away from that situation of losing that lead,” Crum said.

Dalager, who has been fighting a stress fracture most of the season, had a good outing with 12 kills and 16 digs.

Harms recorded 19 kills in the match while Sara Stribe had 40 assists and Dana Koziol had 16 digs. Freshman Amanda Craig did not play because of a bacterial infection in her knee after a surgery on Monday.

“She is taking antibiotics and we just want her to get healthy,” Crum said. “We’re not sure how long this will keep her out.”

Iowa State travels to Waco, Texas on Saturday to take on Baylor, whom they lost to earlier in the year, 3-1.