Freshman Micaya White had 17 kills and nine digs and senior Paulina Prieto Cerame added 16 kills as fourth-ranked Texas survived a scare from Iowa State in five sets Saturday night at Gregory Gym.
Texas (13-2, 5-0 Big 12) looked poised for its first conference sweep of the year, winning the first two sets before dropping the next two and then capitalizing on five Cyclones attacking errors in the decisive fifth set in a 25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 21-25, 15-10 victory.
The Longhorns have won 13 straight Big 12 home matches dating back to 2014. Texas now leads the all-time series against Iowa State 39-4, including a perfect 23-0 record at home.
“Luckily they gave us some points off of some hitting errors,” Longhorns coach Jerritt Elliott said. “We came out with the W, but that’s not where you want to be in game five.”
Senior Chloe Collins filled the stat sheet, finishing with 46 assists and 11 digs while adding three kills and three service aces.
Iowa State’s Jess Schaben had 15 kills and 11 digs, and Ciara Capezio added 14 digs and eight kills. The Cyclones (8-8, 1-4) have lost four of their first five conference matches.
Iowa State started the match taking advantage of multiple Texas errors in a 5-2 run. But the Longhorns rallied, winning 12 of the next 17 points to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Freshman Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani, in just her third start, killed all five of her attempts in the opening set.
The second set was more tightly contested before going the Longhorns’ way. Iowa State led 18-15 before Texas took five of the next six points. In a set that featured 15 ties, the Cyclones fought off three set points before Collins dropped a shot over the outstretched arms of two Iowa State blockers to win 27-25.
Possibly sensing a sweep, Texas started forcing shots and wasn’t able to close out a set. The Longhorns were tied at 19 in both the third and fourth sets, but Iowa State won both to extend the match.
“Sadly we didn’t have that urgency from the start,” Prieto Cerame said. “We kinda cruised after the first two sets. That fourth set was a wake-up call.”
The Longhorns travel to Waco for a Wednesday night meeting with Baylor before returning to Gregory Gym to host TCU a week later.
