The Iowa State women’s volleyball team stole three games from the 21st-ranked Idaho Vandals to clench its first-ever win in the NCAA tournament Wednesday night.

The crowd wasn’t overly large in Hilton Coliseum, but it certainly was an enthusiastic one. The electricity in Hilton fueled the atmosphere and the team through three tough matches in which ISU came out on the winning end, 15-13, 15-5 and 15-10.

“This is a great win for us and for the Big Eight. The crowd was just great, as always. Even in game three,when the score was tied at ten, they cheered us on and pumped us up so we could get a win,” senior Steph McCannon said.

“I’m extremely proud of my team. They were very aggressive and disciplined in their play,” Iowa State head coach Jackie Nunez said of her players.

In addition to their national ranking, the Vandals were also the Big Sky Conference champions. The Vandals collected a 28-4 record over their own record-breaking season before the Cyclones put a stop to their winning ways.

“I didn’t feel like we handled this road trip very well. The difference in the match is that ISU blocked and we didn’t,” Idaho head coach Tom Hilbert said.

Iowa State put up a cardinal and gold brick wall at the net that the Vandals couldn’t hit around.

The numbers speak for themselves. Iowa State collected 17 total team blocks as Idaho charted only one.

“We put on a blocking clinic,” Nunez said.

Offensively, the Cyclones were also unstoppable. ISU swung for an impressive .236 hitting percentage tallying 51 kills in 140 tries committing only 18 errors as a team.

In the first game ISU was an offensive nightmare for the Vandals, slamming 23 kills in 55 attempts while committing only six errors. The game was close throughout, as both teams were playing with an undying effort to stop the other team from getting ahead.

The Cyclones took their first lead of the match behind the fire of senior middle hitter Dana Mucha’s serves. Mucha leads the team in service aces with 43.

“When I’m back on the service line, I’m thinking aces,” Mucha said.

Iowa State rolled into another victory in game two, 15-5, by way of its defensive efforts. ISU’s defensive play was the key to an easy victory as it reduced Idaho to trying to dig out Cyclone slams.

The Vandals weren’t giving up easily, however. ISU was trailing 2-5 and managed to knot it at 10-10 through long rallies and scrappy play.

ISU pulled through in the end claiming five points, despite vying for the serve throughout the final game.

“We came out — pass, set, spike — and got the job done,” said Mucha. “We knew we were the better team, it just was a matter of getting it done.”

The Cyclones next travel to South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, Dec. 2 to battle the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.