The ISU volleyball team finally has a winning record in conference play.

Despite the bumps in the road, the ISU volleyball team (15-9, 7-6 Big 12) is slowly but surely picking up momentum as it counted its fourth consecutive Big 12 win with a 3-2 victory over Texas Christian (15-13, 5-8 Big 12) on Nov. 15.

The Cyclones downed the Horned Frogs (26-28, 25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 15-8) after coming out of the gate flat in the first set.

Iowa State fell behind 18-12, but stormed back to take a 23-20 lead before ultimately faltering again and dropping the first stanza to Texas Christian, 28-26.

A lack of energy that tormented the ISU results earlier in the season did not make an appearance in the second set as Iowa State charged out to a 10-0 lead.

The Cyclones won both the second and third sets comfortably, relying heavily on their defense to shut down the Texas Christian attack, which tallied a -.029 hitting percentage in the second frame and a .077 mark in the third.

The fourth set was tighter and saw Texas Christian make leaps and bounds in offensive efficiency to even the match 2-2 on the strength of a 26-24 set win.

Iowa State finally slammed the door in the abbreviated fifth stanza, 15-8.

Iowa State outhit Texas Christian .233-.122, won the battle of the block 14.5-12 and tallied more assists and more digs, while making 11 fewer total errors than Texas Christian.

Iowa State’s next test is its final road match of the season Nov. 19 at Kansas before finishing the season with consecutive home contests against Texas Tech and Baylor.