Even with nine matches left on the schedule and eight of those being Big 12 matches, the ISU volleyball team already has shown its strengths in assists, kills, serving and digs.

The Cyclones are the best in the Big 12 in aces per set with 1.68, second behind Kansas in assists per set with 13.15, second behind Kansas in kills per set with 14.05 and second behind Oklahoma in digs per set with 16.08.

On the other hand, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has said throughout the season that the team needs to work on things such as blocking — with which the Cyclones rank last in the Big 12, with just 1.59 per set — and opponents’ hitting percentage, which is sixth in the Big 12, at .210.

When it comes to winning a Big 12 championship, Johnson-Lynch said being good at serving and defense won’t be enough to get them there.

“We will have to hit for a better percentage than we have been lately and we’ll have to block a little better,” Johnson-Lynch said. “That’s why I think that training is such that balance of ‘let’s continue to work on what we do really well because that can be elite for us at the end of the year.’ We don’t want to let go of that but we’ve got to get better blocking; we’ve got to get better offensively; we’ve got to get better in transition.”

Along those lines, Johnson-Lynch said the team is losing too many longer rallies when the ball goes back and forth across the net a few times.

“I don’t think serving and passing is going to be enough,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It’ll be enough to make us a very good team. … We can’t rely just on that to make us great.”

The Cyclones currently have a 6-2 record in Big 12 play, and libero Kristen Hahn, who recently won a Big 12 record-breaking 16th defensive player of the week award, said the record is representative of where they are at this point in the season.

“We’re good at passing and defense, that’s the team we’ve always been known to be, and I think — compared to last year — we’re in a much better situation than we were,” Hahn said. “There’s still the goal of winning the Big 12. Our goal is to completely win out the rest of the season and to just be better to every team that we face and give the best team we can each time and just keep getting better in every area and to know that we still have another level we can reach.”

The Cyclones are currently tied for second in the Big 12 and two matches behind the conference leader Texas (15-2, 8-0 Big 12). The Cyclones lost to Texas in Austin back on Oct. 19 and have one more match against them, on Nov. 27 at Hilton Coliseum, but they will need the Longhorns to lose at least three matches in order to win the conference outright.