Down goes No. 1! After a 14-0 start to the season, the Texas Longhorns were served their very first loss of the season at the hands of Iowa State (18-25, 27-25, 12-25, 27-25, 15-10). Texas outhit Iowa State .359 to .273, and out-blocked them 13-5, but STILL lost in the end.
The Longhorns took the first set before the Cyclones won the second in extras. Texas took a 2-1 lead in the third by a landslide before Iowa State forced a fifth. In the fifth and final set, the Cyclones went on a 4-0 run late to take a 14-9 lead and pick up match point. The Longhorns fought off one match point, but a service error gave Iowa State the match.
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The Longhorns had little to no answer to three offensive threats on Iowa State. Maya Duckworth, Eleanor Holthaus and Annie Hatch all posted 14 kills on the match while hitting above .200. Most importantly, the Cyclones came up big in the crunch-time moments, despite the stats showing otherwise. Texas beat them in almost every category — you don’t see a team hitting over .300 and losing a game very often. But the Cyclones won the match nonetheless.
Madisen Skinner led Texas with 19 kills and Logan Eggleston posted 18 kills in the loss. Asjia O’Neal posted 17 kills at a .593 clip, Molly Phillips chipped in 13 and Kayla Caffey even had a great night with 12 kills on .550 hitting. That is five players with double-digit kills. If you looked at the numbers alone you would never believe they lost this match. They did tie with the Cyclones with 19 attacking errors and posted eight service errors on the match.
Iowa State hits four kills on the first seven swings of the second set to pull within one.#RiseAbove pic.twitter.com/8ERdP7rZ1y
— Iowa State Volleyball (@CycloneVB) October 20, 2022
Just like that, the last undefeated team in the nation is undefeated no more. Before the loss on Wednesday night, Texas led the all-time series with Iowa State, 49-5, and held a 21-5 advantage all-time in Ames, Iowa. The Longhorns won 10 straight in the series, with the Cyclones’ last win before this one in five sets in Ames during the 2016 season.
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