After kicking off the season with a 3-0 start last weekend at home, the ISU volleyball team will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where some of the top teams from the Midwest await.

Iowa State will compete at the UNI Spring Volleyball Tournament, a two-set, four-match event that includes matchups with rivals Iowa and Minnesota.

“It’s going to tell us a lot about where we’re at and what we need to work on for the fall and where those teams are at,” said ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “The better competition, the better we know where we’re at. We want it, we welcome it.”

Redshirt sophomore Natalie Vondrak said it is exciting to get a taste of playing top-tier programs early in the spring.

“I feel like every time we play those rival schools, it’s hyped up and we always want to perform at our best and it’ll raise the bar,” Vondrak said.

Along with raising the competitive bar, the Cyclones will face the challenge of playing four matches versus the three they played in their first tournament.

Despite the long day of volleyball that is slated for Saturday, Johnson-Lynch and her players are not worried, given the experience of playing multiple matches per day in club volleyball growing up.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, we’ve been practicing pretty hard,” said senior outside hitter Victoria Hurtt. We played like five games a day for three days straight [in club volleyball], so I’m used to it.”

After losing Tenisha Matlock to graduation and redshirt Tory Knuth due to injury, Johnson-Lynch mentioned her team is thin at middle blocker, with inexperienced redshirt freshman Samara West and Vondrak carrying the load.

On the other hand, Iowa State has four healthy outside hitters, three of which received extensive playing time last season.

“Unfortunately we have a lot of depth at one position and not so much at the other, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’re used to it and we want to get everybody some playing time and some experience, so that’s good.”

Unlike the tight schedule in Big 12 play, which usually features two matches per week, the Cyclones will have four full practices to prepare for this weekend’s tournament.

“It’s really nice because you actually get to work on stuff, because in the fall we play Wednesday and Saturday in our conference,” Johnson-Lynch said. “You feel like you have one day a week to get better, otherwise you’re kind of preparing and you can’t go very hard.”

Tournament play from the UNI Wellness/Recreation Center will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.