Iowa State navigated a weekend highlighted by commanding victories in Orem, Utah, and Ames alongside hard-fought Big 12 conference battles. No. 9 men’s wrestling kicked off conference dual action with a 31-11 triumph at Utah Valley, while swimming and diving completed a two-day home sweep of South Dakota at Beyer Pool. Meanwhile, Cyclone volleyball pushed UCF and undefeated BYU across nine tight sets and soccer wrapped up its 2026 campaign on the road in Orlando.
Nov. 5
Iowa State (13-10, 7-5 Big 12) fell
to UCF (13-9, 5-7 Big 12) in five sets (17-25, 13-25, 25-18, 25-22, 5-15). After dropping the opening two sets, the Cyclones rallied to force a deciding fifth set before the Knights sealed the win on a 6-0 match-ending run. Freshman D’Aaliyah Kemp recorded a career-high 12 kills while hitting over .300 to lead Iowa State. Senior Nayeli Ti’a notched her 25th career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, placing her 14 kills shy of 1,000 for her career.
Iowa State (4-11-4, 0-9-2 Big 12) concluded its season with a 7-0 loss at UCF (11-4-2, 6-3-2 Big 12) in the team’s final contest under head coach Matt Fannon. The Knights built a 5-0 lead by halftime, led by forward Naomi Clark, who scored twice and added two assists. UCF outshot Iowa State 26-7 and placed 12 shots on target while preventing the Cyclones from recording a shot on goal. The margin tied the second-worst setback in program history.
Freshman Tjaša Turnšek recorded her first career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead Iowa State (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) to a 68-44 victory over Nicholls (1-1, 0-0 Southland Conference) inside Hilton Coliseum on Thursday.
Nov. 6
No. 9 Iowa State (2-0, 1-0 Big 12) opened its Big 12 wrestling schedule with a commanding 31-11 victory over Utah Valley (0-1, 0-1 Big 12) at the UCCU Center. The Cyclones secured seven of 10 bouts, highlighted by five technical falls from Rin Sakamoto (125 pounds), Evan Frost (141), Jacob Frost (149), Connor Euton (165) and Coby Merrill (285).
Oklahoma State transfers Sakamoto and Brayden Thompson (197) both earned their first wins as Cyclones, with Thompson securing a 9-3 decision over 23rd-ranked Kael Bennie. The dual victory marked Iowa State’s ninth consecutive Big 12 opener win and improved its all-time record against Utah Valley to 9-0.
Iowa State completed a two-day dual sweep of South Dakota at Beyer Pool, taking Friday’s opening session 121-103 and Saturday’s morning session 115-87.
Junior Anja Peck captured four individual titles, winning the 100 Individual Medley (58.84 seconds), 200 Breaststroke (2:14.79), 400 Individual Medley (4:30.18) and 100 Breaststroke (1:03.58). Freshman diver Katie Malm swept the diving events, winning 3-meter diving with a score of 333.25 to break a 14-year Cyclone freshman record before placing first in 1-meter diving with a score of 294.50.
No. 18 Iowa State (1-1) secured an 83-57 victory over Southern Mississippi (1-1) Friday night. With the win, the Cyclones improve to 5-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles. Iowa State led for 39 minutes and 36 seconds without ever surrendering the lead or allowing a tie.
Nov. 7
Iowa State completed a two-day dual sweep of South Dakota at Beyer Pool, taking Friday’s opening session 121-103 and Saturday’s morning session 115-87. Junior Anja Peck captured four individual titles across the weekend, winning the 100 Individual Medley (58.84 seconds), 200 Breaststroke (2:14.79), 400 Individual Medley (4:30.18), and 100 Breaststroke (1:03.58). Freshman diver Katie Malm swept the diving events, winning 3-meter diving with a score of 333.25 to break a 14-year Cyclone freshman record before placing first in 1-meter diving with a score of 294.50.
For the first 20 minutes, this looked like an extension of the Oklahoma State game. Iowa State led 10-0, Aiden Flora had over 100 rushing yards with 9:51 left in the second quarter, and the offense was moving. Then the Cyclones ran out of gas. From that 10-0 lead through the end of the third quarter, Baylor outscored Iowa State 35-7, and the Bears went on to win 42-31.
Iowa State (13-11, 7-6 Big 12) pushed undefeated in conference play BYU (20-1, 12-0 Big 12) before falling in four sets (19-25, 24-26, 33-31, 25-20) at home. The Cyclones staved off match point five times to win a marathon third set 33-31, marking BYU’s longest single set of the season.
Nayeli Gonzalez led Iowa State with 17 kills on .350 hitting alongside four blocks. Libero Rachel Van Gorp collected 18 digs to extend her streak to 16 straight matches with 10-plus digs.
