Iowa State closed out the Cyclone Invitational Saturday afternoon with a sweep against the Drake Bulldogs.

Entering the match Iowa State was riding high after a 3-0 sweep over Ohio, whom Drake also defeated. Iowa State was looking to finish non-conference play on a two-game winning streak.

Here are the three big takeaways from Iowa State’s final game of the Cyclone Invitational

Iowa State comes from behind in first set

The opening set got off to a close start with both teams looking for an advantage.

Sophomore Maya Duckworth started strong offensively scoring three kills in Iowa State’s first four points and finished the set with six kills.

Drake exploited gaps in the Cyclone defense to take their biggest lead at 14-9. One key issue for Iowa State was their attack errors, tallying nine in set one. Iowa State did not let their errors stand in the way of a victory as they fought from behind. 16 kills in set one helped offset the errors.

The first lead for the Cyclones came late in the set courtesy of an ace by freshman Nayeli Gonzalez. The Cyclone offense got their rhythm back and finished with a 10-3 run taking set one 25-22.

Iowa State uses momentum to fix mistakes

The momentum from set one carried its way into set two. The crowd was lively after set one and set two felt as if the momentum was going to stick with Iowa State.

Net battles and two early service errors gave Drake a slight advantage. That lead went back to Iowa State after a successful challenge which led to a scoring run.

Iowa State cleaned up its offense in set two committing only one attack error. This allowed the Cyclones to break away and take a commanding 19-10 lead.

Set two finished with domination from the Iowa State offense. The offense totaled 16 kills once again. Gonzalez ended set two with a kill as Iowa State won 25-15

Team effort finishes the sweep

The third set started much like the second with each team having a run. Iowa State started on top 6-1 but Drake would not go away and tied the game at six apiece.

Iowa State’s offense looked unstoppable after a quick timeout to reset. The Cyclones climbed to a 14-8 lead that included five kills and two aces.

Redshirt freshman Lilly Wachholz, redshirt sophomore Addi Heidemann, Duckworth and Gonzalez all contributed to the scoring. All five kills were assisted by sophomore Morgan Brandt.

The Cyclones never looked back after that, defeating Drake 25-18 to complete the sweep.

Iowa State cleaned up its offensive mistakes from set one and only allowed 5 total attack errors in sets two and three combined. The Cyclones totalled 47 kills led by Wachholz with 13, and Duckworth and Gonzalez tallying 12.

Defensively, seven players had blocks, and three players had over a dozen digs. The combined effort of the offense and defense gave Iowa State a great team win to conclude the Cyclone Invitational.

Next up, the Cyclones open Big 12 play on the road against West Virginia. The double-header will take place Thursday and Friday. Both games will start at 5 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN +.