The Iowa State women’s volleyball team attempted to fall into the win category in the conference when it took on the Texas Tech Red Raiders Friday night at Hilton Coliseum and the 12th ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln on Saturday.

The Texas Tech match ended a four game homestand for the Cyclones.

The Red Raiders downed ISU the first time the teams met this season, 15-10, 15-11, 15-5, and this time was no different.

Texas Tech came out strong from the start while the Cyclones looked sluggish.

“I just don’t feel we had good intensity,” said head coach Linda Grensing.

Game one went exactly the way Texas Tech wanted and saw the Raiders jumping out to an early 6-0 lead. Four of the first six points were attributed to well-executed blocks that served as motivation for the Red Raiders but a road block for the Cyclones.

From that point on, the Cyclone hitters seemed tentative at the net. Lack of aggressiveness and poor serving saw ISU fall, 15-5.

“Our hitters just weren’t making good choices,” said Grensing. “The swings they were taking got us off to a slow start in the match, and I’m sure that contributed to our lack of aggressiveness.”

Game two showed the most excitement in the match for the Cyclone team and crowd.

The Raiders jumped to the early 8-3 lead before ISU displayed some impressive points to close the gap to 8-6.

Two points separated the two teams for much of the game until at 12-10, Texas Tech went on a tear and scored the next three straight points to earn the game win.

The little bit of impressive play the Cyclones displayed in game two was nonexistent in game three as the Raiders quickly dismantled ISU, 15-3.

The Raiders came out strong with a 6-0 lead and ended the game with six straight points to preserve the match victory.

“Overall, I wasn’t happy with the way we played,” said coach Grensing. “We didn’t show the intensity and desire I was hoping we would.”

Leading the Cyclones offensively and defensively was true freshman Sarah Rollman from Norfolk, Neb., who was matched up against — for the second time this season — old high school rival Ann Romjue from Texas Tech.

Rollman contributed seven kills and 10 digs in the match. Junior right side hitter Teri Williams added five kills and seven digs. Setter Sara Stribe paced the offense with 21 assists.

Blocking wasn’t as efficient as it has been in the last three conference matches for the Cyclones where they had out-blocked their opponents.

Texas Tech and ISU each collected seven blocks with Mandi Middleton and Stacy Nicks collecting three assists while Mandi Harms sent down two assists and one solo.

The Nebraska match was much of the same for the Cyclones, and although they didn’t score many points, they played better than in the earlier match this year vs. the Cornhuskers.

“We played very comparable with Nebraska in certain areas,” said Grensing. “The match wasn’t a win or lose one for us. It was a better match to compare the things we did well vs. a good Nebraska team.”

“Our offensive system is no where close to theirs, so we have to compare things like digs and serving.”

Nebraska, which is in first place in the Big 12, raised its overall record to 21-5 with the 15-2, 15-4, 15-5 victory over ISU.

The loss dropped the Cyclone record to 2-21 and 0-16 in the conference.

“We really sided-out well,” said Grensing. “We couldn’t score, but we could get the ball back.”

The Cyclones were again led by Rollman, who contributed five kills and a match-high 12 digs and connected on two service aces.

Nicks added seven kills while Harms lead the defensive attack totaling four blocks.

“Mandi Middleton played a great match for us,” said Grensing. “Her name may not be the highest on the stat sheet, but I think she hit up around .400 percent, which is really great to see.”

The next match for ISU will be on Wednesday, Nov. 17 when they are matched up against conference foe Texas. The match is set to take place in Austin, and first serve is at 7 p.m.

“We need to go in with the same level of confidence we had against Nebraska, and we’ll just have to see how it goes,” said coach Grensing.