In their home opener on Tuesday, the Iowa State Cyclones will face the South Dakota Coyotes.

Last season, the Cyclones beat the Coyotes 3-1 in an exhibition match.

The Cyclones are coming off a 3-1 win against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday and a loss to the Central Florida (UCF) Knights on Friday.

“It was an okay start, we’re still trying to settle in,” Iowa State Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “I thought we served tough, blocked well more so in the second match and our outside hitters did better as the weekend went on but we’ve still got to get better. 

South Dakota has gotten off to a great start this season with victories against the Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguars 3-1, the Valparaiso Crusaders 3-1 and the Murray State Racers 3-0 in the IUPUI Invitational.

In the 11 sets they have played, the Coyotes have won seven of them by five points or more. 

The Coyotes were a successful team last season, earning a record of 21-10 (13-3 Summitt), winning the Summit Conference tournament and making the NCAA tournament where they lost to the Creighton Bluejays.

Iowa State on the other hand did not make the NCAA tournament but they did earn a record of 21-13 (9-7 Big 12), won the National Invitational Volleyball Championship and ended the season on a nine match winning streak. 

Both teams have promising freshman outside hitters — Elizabeth Juhnke for South Dakota and Annie Hatch for the Cyclones.

Juhnke is first on the Coyotes team in kills with 52 in 11 sets and averages 4.73 kills per set. Hatch is also first on the Cyclones team in kills with 23 to go along with 25.0 points scored and 2.56 kills per set. 

Against Ole Miss on Saturday, Hatch had 14 kills for Iowa State. 

Sophomore setter Madison Jurgens leads South Dakota in assists with 121 in 11 sets. 

Junior setter Piper Mauck leads Iowa State in assists with 63 in 11 sets.

Iowa State and South Dakota will square off at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, at 6:30 p.m.

“We need to stay true to ourselves and focus on our side of the net,” Hatch said. 

The Cyclones have won the last four regular season home openers with their last home opener loss coming against the Stanford Cardinal in 2014.