Following a 3-1 victory over Ball State Friday morning, the Iowa State volleyball program was back in action against Syracuse for the second half of their double-header. The Orange were coming off of a 3-1 victory over Iowa Thursday night, and entered the match with a 7-0 record.

But perfection wouldn’t last long.

Syracuse jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set, with three of those points coming off of Iowa State errors.

This forced the Cyclones to take their first timeout. After the timeout, the Orange increased their lead to 10-2. Iowa State put together a 3-0 run to bring the deficit back down to five, but Syracuse responded with a 3-0 run of their own to make the score 13-5. After exchanging several points in a row, Syracuse was still on top 18-10.

The Cyclones put together a 4-0 run led by two kills by Eleanor Holthaus, and the Orange took their first timeout.

After a strong effort where the Cyclones lowered the deficit to two, the Orange continued to respond and forced Iowa State to take a timeout down 22-18. Syracuse took care of business from that point forward, going on to win the set 25-20.

Syracuse hit .355 as a team in the first set, while Iowa State hit at a .250 clip. The Cyclones committed eight total errors. Holthaus led the team with five kills, followed by Annie Hatch with three, and Jaden Newsome contributed 12 assists. Defensively, Brooke Andersen led the team with six digs.

The second set started out nearly the exact opposite of the first, with Syracuse taking a timeout after Iowa State got out to a a 5-1 lead. After some back and forth, the Cyclones sat on top with a 17-12 lead. Syracuse would go on a 3-0 run to trim their deficit to two.

After even more back and forth, the Cyclones were clinging to a 21-19 lead. They would then score two straight to force a Syracuse timeout. Iowa State would then go to a 25-21 win.

Despite the Orange hitting .393 in the second set, the Cyclones hit .371 and were able to hold on for the win. Holthaus and Candelaria Herrera led the Cylones with four kills each in the set, and Newsome had 15 assists. Holthaus led the team defensively with five digs.

Iowa State jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the third set, with help from three Syracuse errors. After a 5-3 Orange run, Addie Heidemann provided a service ace to make the score 9-6. Syracuse would tie things up at 10 before a 5-0 scoring by the Cyclones forced a Syracuse timeout.

The Cyclones would eventually squander their lead, committing three errors and allowing the Orange to tie things up at 19 before taking a timeout. After another error allowed Syracuse to take their first lead of the set, Iowa State took another timeout down 21-20. Coming out of the timeout, another error would increase the Cyclones’ deficit to two.

A Kenzie Mantz kill ended the Orange’s 3-0 run, but Iowa State would still go on to drop the set 25-22 on a service error.

The Cyclones committed nine errors in the set while only hitting at a .171 clip. Syracuse had another great set offensively, hitting .324. Holthaus led Iowa State with four kills in the set, with Mantz contributing three. Newsome assisted on eight points, and Marija Popovic led the team defensively with four digs, with Holthaus and Andersen each contributing three.

The fourth set started out very tightly contested, as the score was all knotted up at nine before a 3-0 run by the Cyclones would make it 12-9. After a point by the Orange, Iowa State went on a 4-0 run. With help from three Syracuse errors, the Cyclones extended their lead to 16-10 and forced a Syracuse timeout. After the timeout, two more errors by the Orange would extend the Cyclones’ run to 6-0. Iowa State would stay in control for the rest of set, winning it 25-19.

Syracuse committed 10 errors in the set, and the Cyclones were able to contain their high-powered offense, which only had a hitting percentage of .118. On the other hand, Iowa State had a hitting percentage of .294, led by six kills from Holthaus. Newsome contributed 11 assists, with Brooke Andersen leading the team defensively with four digs.

The fifth and final set was everything you could want from a fifth set between two solid teams. No one could stay ahead for long, as each team had a response for the other. After working to a 9-9 tie, kills by Solei Thomas and Annie Hatch would force Syracuse to take a timeout down 11-9. Following the timeout, a kill by Holthaus increased the Iowa State lead to 12-9 and prompted a quick timeout from the Orange. The Cyclones would go on to take the set 15-11, and 3-2 overall.

Iowa State was able to corral the Syracuse attack again in the final set, allowing a hitting percentage of .158. The Orange were led overall by Polina Shemanova, who had a double-double with 26 kills and 14 digs.

The Cyclones had their best hitting percentage of the night when they needed it most, hitting .421 in the final set. Holthaus had yet another double-double for Iowa State, contributing 22 kills and 13 digs. Herrera and Hatch also had double-digit kills with 13 and 11, respectively, and Newsome chipped in 54 assists. Defensively, Herrera and Newsome led the team with four blocks each, and Andersen led the team with 14 digs.

Iowa State moves to 6-1 after giving both Ball State and Syracuse their first losses of the season, and they will play their final match of the Cy-Hawk Series Tournament against the Iowa Hawkeyes at 4 p.m. Saturday.