LINCOLN — Give Nebraska this much: Last month, this probably would've been a match that the Huskers had no shot at winning.

But pick any year in the past four decades, and you would've said exactly the same thing about Iowa State.

For the first and only time since the dawn of disco, the Cyclones had reason to celebrate on the Huskers' famous home court.

No. 14 Iowa State battled its way past the fifth-ranked Huskers on Wednesday night, coming up big at all the critical moments for a history-making 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12 victory. There's some debate between the schools on this series, which dates to 1975. Nebraska had it at 74-0 all-time in the Huskers' favor, while Iowa State listed the mark at 75-0.

But there will be no argument on when and where the Cyclones earned their first volleyball victory over the Huskers. Iowa State, off to its best start in school history, hadn't pushed Nebraska to five sets since 1989.

The Cyclones — who took sole possession of second place over NU in the Big 12 standings — never before had defeated a top-five team.

“When you look at those numbers, it's so overwhelming that you wonder if it's even possible for us to win,” said Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, the Millard North graduate and former star setter at NU. “Now we know it's possible. It's a great feeling, and I think the biggest thing was just for us to come into an environment like this and actually get it done.”

The crowd of 4,137 watched the Huskers dominate the first set — playing the type of volleyball that had allowed them to win their past five matches. But Nebraska followed that with a dreadful second set, just as the Cyclones started cranking up their defensive intensity.

And Nebraska coach John Cook didn't mince words in sizing up his team's performance during the defining moments of the match. The Huskers totaled 34 attack errors — 12 of them while losing set two and seven more in the decisive fifth set.

The Cyclones, in fact, scored only six of their points on kills in set five. NU hit minus-.043 in game two and just .000 in the finale.

Cook called Wednesday's loss a step backward for the Huskers, who had appeared to turn a corner in October. And the defeat had the coach flashing back to NU's five-set loss against UCLA on Sept. 13 at the Devaney Center.

“We went soft in game five, so we didn't learn our lesson from UCLA,” said Cook, who clearly was not in a good mood after the match. “It's just upsetting that these guys didn't attack to win game five. We should have won game two, but we came out and hit a negative. You can't do that against a top-15 team and expect to win.”

Even though Cook was disappointed in the way the Huskers hit the ball Wednesday, Iowa State's defense deserves credit for the way it made NU alter its swings.

Entering the night, the Cyclones led the Big 12 in digs and opponents' hitting percentage, and they ranked second in the league blocks. Behind eight blocks from Jamie Straube of Tecumseh, Neb., and seven more from Debbie Stadick, Iowa State outblocked the Huskers 16-10.

In set five, Iowa State took a 13-9 lead when Gina Mancuso couldn't handle Kaylee Manns' ace serve. Nebraska fought back, getting within 13-11 and 14-12, but the match ended when Straube and Rachel Hockaday stuffed Lindsey Licht.

That set off a wild celebration on the Cyclones' side of the court. And there also were plenty of cheers from pockets of the crowd — many of those fans in attendance to watch ISU's four Nebraska natives: Carly Jenson (Millard North), Caitlin Mahoney (Omaha Marian), Kelsey Petersen (Kearney High School) and Straube.

Straube, a freshman middle blocker, said it was “crazy” to think about Iowa State finally ending its run of futility against the Huskers. But for a program that came one win shy of making it to the final four last season, it's clear that the Cyclones are poised to be a force in the Big 12 for years to come.

“We're building our program, so it's definitely exciting to be a part of it,” Straube said. “It's really huge for us, but we knew we could do it.”

Hockaday tied a season high with 18 kills, while Manns added 52 assists and 21 digs for her 60th career double-double. Victoria Henson had 14 putaways, and Straube buried 11 kills.

Kori Cooper had a career-high 16 kills and hit .414, and Licht, Hannah Werth and Brooke Delano all hit double digits in kills for NU.

In addition to losing to Iowa State for the first time, the Huskers this year also lost to Texas in Lincoln for the first time since 1988. The loss against UCLA snapped Nebraska's NCAA-record 90-match home winning streak that dated to 2004.

Nebraska plays at home again Saturday against Oklahoma.

“When the little things break down, we're not playing Nebraska volleyball,” Cooper said. “We're going to have some big strides that we'll have to take the next few weeks. I thought that before tonight, we had taken some big strides. But Iowa State came to play, and we didn't show up.”

Iowa State (16-3, 8-2)..............18 25 23 25 15

At Nebraska (14-5, 7-3)..................25 19 25 21 12

Iowa State (kills-aces-blocks): Hockaday 18-0-5, Manns 2-2-2, Mahoney 0-0-0, Henson 14-0-5, Stadick 9-0-7, Straube 11-0-8, Mass 0-1-0, Petersen 6-0-1.

Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 1-1-3, Licht 13-0-4, Delano 12-0-4, Cooper 16-0-4, Mueller 9-0-2, Werth 13-1-0, Banwarth 0-1-0, Wilberger 2-0-0, Mancuso 0-1-0.

Set assists: Iowa State 59 (Manns 52); Nebraska 61 (Anderson 56). A — 4,137.

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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