When the ISU volleyball team returned to Ames with a loss on its conference record last month, it had a different feel.

The No. 22 Cyclones (11-7, 5-3 Big 12) lost to No. 17 Kansas (19-3, 7-1) in five sets Sept. 26 in Lawrence, Kan. The fact the Jayhawks had gone 3-13 in Big 12 play last season made the loss an odd one.

“A lot of people were surprised when we came back with a loss from that match, but they’re 7-1 in conference right now,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “They are legit; they are a very good team.”

Kansas’ team this season consists of 12 upperclassmen out of 17 total players, having returned the bulk of last season’s starters. The experience has Kansas in second place in the Big 12 by one match, behind only No. 8 Texas.

In September, the Cyclones quickly fell behind 2-0 against the Jayhawks. The team was able to battle to a fifth set with two set victories out of intermission, but the match went to Kansas.

Iowa State hit just .149 in the match and also committed 33 attack errors.

“I think that loss kind of hit us all pretty hard,” said setter Alison Landwehr. “That was our first conference loss at the time [and] we’ve been kind of hungry [to play] them since we left that gym.”

The Jayhawks are hitting .243 this season and are holding opponents to a league-best .158 hitting percentage. Kansas has also been one of the league’s top offensive teams, averaging a league-best 14.36 kills per set.

“They have a lot of offensive weapons,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We didn’t do a very good job of defending them [last time], and they did some things differently than we thought they would do.”

Johnson-Lynch said the Cyclones didn’t defend the middle well against the Jayhawks’ attacks and also didn’t take advantage of easy balls. The team has since worked on attacking more aggressively.

The lone bright spot in Iowa State’s loss was libero Kristen Hahn, who contributed a season-high 33 digs in the match. Hahn expects Kansas to have a different game plan this time around.

“I’m sure KU will probably try to keep the ball away from me, considering I had the most digs last time,” Hahn said. “That will maybe mess up their game plan and force their hitters to do things they’re not used to.”

While Kansas may see some minor differences from Iowa State, it will be mostly the same product that took the floor last month.

“Kansas is going to see some things a little different from us,” Johnson-Lynch said. “But mostly we just have to do what we do better and more efficiently. We can’t make so many errors.”

First serve is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at Hilton Coliseum.