Coming off a narrow win against Northern Iowa on Wednesday, the undefeated Cyclones will play their first two home matches of the season against their first ranked opponents.

The No. 11 Cyclones (4-0) will take on No. 14 San Diego (2-1) on Friday and No. 18 Illinois (2-1) on Sunday in the Iowa State Challenge.

Both teams were unranked prior to the most recent AVCA coaches’ poll. San Diego jumped into the rankings after wins against Texas-El Paso and No. 9 Hawaii and a loss to No. 1 Texas in Honolulu. Illinois had wins against No. 15 Florida State and No. 21 Kentucky and a loss to Long Beach State in Long Beach, Calif.

In preparation for these matches, ISU volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said Iowa State will be working on its “out-of-system” play.

“[If] our setter can’t get to the ball, someone has to step in,” Johnson-Lynch said.

She also said that against the Panthers, the Cyclones looked disorganized. “Usually the set was not a good set and then we would make an error or make a poor choice on our attack. … We need to cover better; we got blocked a lot.”

Freshman outside hitter Ciara Capezio had an early career-high 22 kills against Northern Iowa. Going into the match she averaged 1.8 kills per set but improved her average to 2.67 kills per set.

Capezio said that the atmosphere at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls will help the Cyclones get ready for their top-20 opponents this weekend.

“It’s going to get us ready to play in bigger matches and just work on what we need to work on,” Capezio said. “So it’s more like practice, kind of, to see what we have to do.”

For San Diego, Katie Hoekman leads the team in kills with 3.21 per set. Jocelynn Birks leads the Fighting Illini with 4.83 kills per set.

The Cyclones play No. 14 San Diego at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Iowa State Challenge and No. 18 Illinois at 2 p.m. Sunday. Both matches are at Hilton Coliseum.