Print edition: 
AMES, Iowa — Sarah McGee grabbed the placard bearing her name that sat in front of her during a post-volleyball match news conference. A nice keepsake, though one that she would have gladly traded for one more match.
Wichita State's season ended Saturday with a 27-25, 25-21, 25-18 loss at No. 5 Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
"I'll add that to the scrapbook," McGee said of the placard.
The match, though, wasn't one that will produce fond memories. Wichita State (26-7) hit .112 after hitting .247 in Friday's win against Saint Louis.
Wichita State has had similar results in all four of its NCAA Tournament appearances. The Shockers have won in the first round, then lost on the home court of a Big 12 foe in the second — twice to Nebraska, once each to Texas and Iowa State.
Emily Stockman had a team-best 12 kills, but hit .093.
"Their defense was awesome. It was hard to get a kill," Stockman said. "I felt we weren't the team that was playing harder in the back row."
The Shockers led 24-23 in the first set, but lost the next two points each on kills from Iowa State's Victoria Henson, who had nine kills in the opening set. Rachel Hockaday, who hit .500 in the opening set, knocked down the final point.
"Victoria had nine kills in the first game, and that had to go away," Wichita State coach Chris Lamb said.
Henson finished with 15 kills, but Hockaday added 12 and the Cyclones (27-4) hit .262 — better than their .240 season average.
The negative momentum appeared to carry over as Iowa State darted to a 6-1 lead in the second set. Trailing 14-7, the Shockers won 9 of 11 points to tie the score.
"We cut back on our errors and played smarter," McGee said.
Iowa State won the next three points and led for the remainder. The Cyclones — who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year — controlled the final set after taking an 8-3 lead. Wichita State closed to 13-11, but Iowa State responded with four straight points and never led by fewer than four the rest of the set.
Wichita State had a strong serving game with four aces and five service errors.
"I don't know we've been aced that many times this year," Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. "I never felt totally that we were in control. Wichita State caused a lot of problems for us."
Wichita State, which has won at least 25 matches for six straight years, gave up no aces while Iowa State finished with seven service errors.
"This is the first loss (this season) where we've won the serve and passing game," Lamb said. "It came down to plays behind the block, and they made more."
Senior Katie Niggemeyer hit .300 with eight kills, but that provided only a little tonic after the loss.
"You always come out of a high statistical match with a good attitude, but I know all the flaws that happened in my performance that don't show on the stat sheet," Niggemeyer said.
Niggemeyer grew up in Webster City, Iowa — about a half-hour north of Ames — and enjoyed a supportive cheering section in the crowd of 2,728.
"It's always been a big honor to have people supporting my out-of-state program in those houses that I grew up idolizing. I thought we put up a great fight, and I'm glad we got to end it here," she said.
