For the third time in four seasons, the NCAA tournament will make an appearance at Hilton Coliseum.

No. 15-seeded Iowa State (21-7, 13-3 Big 12) has now reached the NCAA tournament seven times with coach Christy Johnson-Lynch at the helm. With the first and second rounds coming to Ames this week, the ISU volleyball team has now hosted in three of the last four seasons.

On Thursday, the Cyclones will face off against I-P Fort Wayne (25-6, 12-4 Summit League). Fort Wayne is one of three teams that will be in Ames for the first and second rounds, along with North Carolina and California.

“I think we’re pretty used to having to make adjustments quickly,” Johnson-Lynch said of facing unfamiliar opponents. “The one difference is now we have to do it back-to-back days [if we win].”

After falling to 10-7 in late October following a loss to Texas on the road, the Cyclones quickly turned the season around. Iowa State ended the season on a 10-match winning streak following that loss, propelling itself to a seed and the chance to host.

Each of the last two seasons that the Cyclones have hosted the first and second rounds of the tournament — in 2009 and 2011 — the team has gone 4-0. In fact, Iowa State didn’t lose a set in either of those seasons, sweeping all 12 of them.

As the team enters postseason play, it’s possibly playing better than those teams were at the same point. 

“I think we’re playing our best volleyball right now,” said setter Alison Landwehr. “Before [in past seasons], maybe we were better throughout the whole season, but right now I think we really keep getting better every match.”

Part of that is because of freshman outside hitter Andie Malloy, who was inserted into the lineup late in the season. In the last five matches, Malloy is hitting above .300 with 71 kills, including double-digit kills in four of them.

“It’s just all starting to click,” Malloy said of the team.

Iowa State and its first round opponent, Fort Wayne, had just one common opponent this season. Both teams faced South Dakota State during the regular season.

While the Cyclones swept South Dakota State on the road with many of its subs seeing the court, Fort Wayne went 1-1 against its conference foe, sweeping them in one match and losing in five sets in the other. 

Despite past success in the early rounds and Fort Wayne coming from a smaller conference, the Cyclones aren’t looking ahead.

“You don’t want to overlook anybody in the tournament,” Landwehr said. “You don’t really want to do that, because anybody can beat anybody, especially in the tournament.”

Last season, the Cyclones had hopes to finally move further into the tournament to the Final Four. At times, that goal may have become too much of a focus.

“I’m going to keep using the term ‘It’s not enough,'” said libero Kristen Hahn. “Last year, I think we were so focused on wanting to get to the Final Four that we cut ourselves short.

“The more you talk about a goal, the more realistic it becomes.”

North Carolina and California will kick off the action at 5 p.m. Thursday at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State will take on Fort Wayne following that match at 7:30 p.m.