CEDAR FALLS - Support for the University of Northern Iowa volleyball program reached an all-time high Wednesday night as a record crowd of 6,126 flocked to the McLeod Center for a home-opener with No. 12 Iowa State.

On an evening when bottled water was priced three times higher than $1 admission, it's safe to say those in attendance got their money's worth. Behind a strong front-row defense, a short-handed Cyclone team held off fierce late-set runs from UNI to escape with a 25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23 victory.

"This is one of the toughest places we're going to play this year," said Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, who takes her team to top 10 national powers Nebraska and Texas.

"Honestly, I think it's a pretty special place to play when you have this many people and that kind of crowd. It puts a lot of pressure on the teams that come in."

Iowa State handled the pressure Wednesday night without its top hitter in honorable mention All-American Victoria Henson, who was suspended one match for a violation of team rules. Carly Jenson replaced Henson at outside hitter and recorded the match's decisive kill after UNI fought off four set points and pulled to within one.

"I thought Carly did a great job coming in," Johnson-Lynch said of her junior, who found out she was replacing Henson on Tuesday. "That is a very tough situation to be in. There's very little experience on her part coming into an opponent's gym - a huge rival - playing in front of 6,000 people."

Jenson's fourth-set kill was one of many clutch points won by the Cyclones to hold off late Panther runs. Northern Iowa fought off two set points in the first set and three in the second, but never managed to pull even.

"Volleyball is a game of momentum and we all know know that," said Iowa State fourth-year starting setter Kaylee Manns, who dished out 42 assists. "Everybody just tried to stay level-headed and get back to the game we started playing. We were a little rattled."

UNI gained momentum when it headed out of the intermission and opened the third set on a 5-2 run. The Panthers never trailed from there and the crowd erupted when outside hitter Beth Discher closed out the set with three of her 11 kills. Setter Bre Payton and middle blocker Michelle Burow also finished with 11 kills to pace the UNI offense.

"We definitely played well at times tonight," Discher said. "But we are always striving to improve. We don't want to be satisfied with just playing close with the No. 12 team, we want to win and we want to continue growing throughout the season."

While UNI fell to 2-2, the youthful team was able to take some consolation in hard-fought losses to Iowa State and Texas A&M.

"It just shows that, yeah, we might be young, but we're just as good," said Payton, who finished with 29 assists. "We came back on Iowa State from 10 points down (in set two) and we didn't give up. That shows right there the pride we have and the confidence we have in each other."

Iowa State's attack was led by Rachel Hockaday, who finished with a match-high 18 kills. The Cyclone block held a 16-10 edge over the Panthers.

UNI relied on its strong back row defense to stay competitive. Libero Ellie Blankenship finished with a match-high 31 digs.

At the end of the night, the match served as a win for collegiate volleyball in the state of Iowa. UNI's previous volleyball attendance record was 5,522 set when the McLeod Center opened in 2006. Iowa State still holds the state's top mark of 6,705 set when it hosted Nebraska in 2007.

"I really feel like Northern Iowa and Iowa State are becoming one of the two best places to play in the country," Johnson-Lynch said. "Who would have thought that we would be able to say this?"

"I can't even express what an amazing atmosphere it was tonight," UNI head coach Bobbi Petersen added. "I think it was neat for the whole state to see that kind of caliber of volleyball from both teams and then to be able to have that kind of atmosphere to back it."