Furious rallies were not an exception but a rule during the Oct. 12 match against Oklahoma that Iowa State. Iowa State desperately needed a win to avoid falling to 1-4 in conference play.

“It was a big win for our record in our conference,” said junior libero Caitlin Nolan. “It was an even a bigger win for us because we have been stressing passion in practice.”

The pendulum of momentum swung fiercely during the match and not just from set to set but during the heart of each set itself.

Iowa State jumped out to a 1-0 set lead after capturing a close first set, 25-22.

Volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said she did not see the same type of fight from her team in the second set, as Oklahoma evened the match with a 25-20 victory heading into the break.

“In game two, I felt like we looked a little lethargic, and I did not see the fight,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We talked about that in the locker room in game two. [I asked], ‘Why are we playing? Why are we here? Why did all these people come watch you?’ I thought they showed much greater energy and passion in [games] three and four.”

The third set went to the Cyclones 25-21, setting the stage for a fourth set where the passion Nolan talked about made its most obvious appearance of the day.

Down 24-21, Iowa State faced three consecutive Oklahoma set points. The Cyclones fended off the Sooners all three times to even the score at 24-24 as the crowd grew more raucous with each passing point.

Iowa State stared down the barrel of two more set points but, bolstered by the energy pulsing through Hilton Coliseum, the Cyclones found a way to persevere.

Iowa State closed out the set and the match, winning 28-26, and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“We want to be passionate and compete and be aggressive,” said redshirt sophomore hitter Morgan Kuhrt. “We do not want to play to lose. We want to play to win and really go after it.”

Kuhrt led the way for the Cyclones with a career-high 21 kills, accompanied by redshirt freshman middle blocker Samara West who tallied a career-high 11 kills.

The stat sheet reflected how well the ISU volleyball team (9-6, 2-3 Big 12) and Oklahoma (12-5, 3-1 Big 12) matched up on the court, but the Cyclones found a slight edge in major categories of kills, digs, blocks and hitting percentages. Combined, these stats put them over the top.

“[This win] is huge,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I think in the last few weeks we would have lost that game. I had not seen us be in that position a lot and come through and win. That is really exciting. We can use that as a turning point.”