MADISON, Wis. -- In front of a UW Field House packed full of fired up fans, the No. 6 Wisconsin volleyball team gave their supporters plenty to cheer about as it swept Iowa State to punch their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.
 
The 25-18, 25-15, 25-21 victory on in front of 5,578 fans on Friday evening extends the Badgers' winning streak to 14 matches and sends Wisconsin (26-6) to Austin, Texas, for its third-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance.
 
"I thought our players were patient, worked hard in transition and tried to go with what was given and that's a hard thing to do against a team like that," UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "We're happy to still be playing and to give Taylor (Morey) her last home match a victory."
 
Wisconsin hit .337 (40 kills - 7 errors - 98 total attempts) and held Iowa State to .170 (38-19-112).
 
On defense, UW outblocked Iowa State 9-4 and outdug it 45-42. Senior Taylor Morey anchored the backcourt with a match-high 17 digs in her final match in the Field House while junior Lauren Carlini added seven saves.
 
At the net, junior Haleigh Nelson put up five blocks and sophomore Kelli Bates followed with four.
 
"One thing that we talked about at the beginning before we stepped out on the court is that we were playing against probably one of the best defensive teams we've seen all year," Morey said. "Our biggest thing going into the match was to compete defensively and my mindset doesn't change for any match, I prepare the same way and I just wanted to give my teammates the best chance of coming out there with a W and I have them behind me so when I make plays, they can put the ball away and we can keep scoring."
 
The Badgers confronted an energized Cyclone squad to start the match. Thanks to three straight kills by Jess Schaben, Iowa State grabbed a 6-3 lead and UW needed to catch up. Stealing the Cyclone momentum was none other than Nelson, who tallied a kill, block assist and ace to tie it at 8-8. Nelson's clutch performance fired up the Wisconsin side, and an 11-3 UW run helped the Badgers grab a 19-12 lead.
 
After a 4-1 Cyclone run, the Badgers retaliated as redshirt junior Romana Kriskova fired off back-to-back kills and Nelson added an ace to put the first set within reach. Following a kill and ace by Alexis Conaway, Kriskova immediately silenced the Cyclones by firing off another kill to bring set point and an Iowa State error sealed the UW win.
 
The balanced Badger attack overwhelmed the Cyclones throughout the second set as UW raced to a 9-3 lead keyed by kills from Kriskova, Tionna Williams, and sophomore Lauryn Gillis.  Despite strong hitting by Schaben and Morgan Kuhrt, the Cyclones were unable to claw their way back and took a timeout down 13-7.
 
The break paid off for Iowa State as four kills in five points cut the UW lead to 14-10. Combined with a stingy backcourt defense, the Badgers' balanced attack put Wisconsin up 18-11. A kill apiece by Carlini and Bates made it 23-15 and two straight Badger blocks sent UW into the locker room with plenty of momentum.
 
Iowa State made it clear to the Badgers that they wouldn't go down without a fight in the third set. Poor passing by the Badgers let the Cyclones take a 6-2 lead, but UW chipped away at the advantage and an ace from Bates tied it at 8-8.
 
Four tied scores later, the Badgers let their lead slip due to a Schaben kill and Cyclone block that put Iowa State up 14-12. Slowly but surely, Wisconsin clawed its way back. Williams had a kill and a block to put the Badgers up 20-19. The Cyclones tied it at 20 before a 3-0 UW run made it 23-20.  A kill by Samara West stopped the run for ISU but a Cyclone net serve and Nelson kill completed the sweep.
 
Williams paced the Badger offense with nine kills, followed by Bates and Kriskova with eight apiece. Kriskova hit an impressive .727 with no errors on eight attempts.
 
Up next, Wisconsin will face 11^th-seeded Florida next Friday in the NCAA Regional semifinals in the Gregory Gym on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas.