After 68 straight weeks of being ranked, Iowa State fell out of the top-25 this week after a close loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. Iowa State hopes to rebound against Kansas State on Wednesday.

Following a 3-2 loss in Norman, Okla. during the weekend, the ISU volleyball team (8-5, 2-1 Big 12) will return to Ames to play only its fourth home match this season. ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch wants her players to focus on their own skills rather than their opponents’ while preparing for Kansas Sate.

“A big part of the game is about what you can control and your side of the net,” said junior right side hitter Mackenzie Bigbee. “We had some rough patches so it’s what we didn’t do. We didn’t execute. If we can just get everyone mentally focused it’ll be a lot easier.”

In Oklahoma’s win last weekend, Iowa State’s losses in the third and fifth sets were by five combined points. Johnson-Lynch called the close loss disappointing but said the Cyclones had some execution errors.

During the game, Iowa State allowed Oklahoma to hit .254 against its defense. This season, the Cyclones have struggled with blocking and are currently last in the Big 12 in blocks per set.

“I feel better and better about our defense,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’ve just got room for improvement. I think some of it’s mental, blocking. And some of it’s technical and we’re trying to address it in practice as much as we can without freaking out about it too much.”

Iowa State’s focus this week will be on improving its own skills like blocking and execution rather than preparing specifically for Kansas State. Johnson-Lynch said she feels the most recent loss depended mostly on Iowa State’s play rather then how its opponent played.

“I don’t know that [Kansas State does] anything very different from any of the other teams we’ve seen. I think it will continue to be about us,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Even against Oklahoma there were some adjustments to be made but largely it was up to us I felt like…I think the same will be true this week.”

Kansas State is currently second in the Big 12 in blocking with 2.76 per set. KSU middle blocker Taylor Johnson alone averages 1.31 blocks per set.

So far this season, the Wildcats have held their opponents to a .166 hit percentage. Despite Kansas State’s defense, freshman setter Jenelle Hudson believes Iowa State can bounce back from its loss at Oklahoma.

“Minor setback. Major comeback,” Hudson said. “You’ve just got to go with it. I think our momentum will be fine. It was a hard loss but we fought after it at the end of the game.

“Hopefully we’ll get that momentum going against K-State.”