As the ISU volleyball team enters Big 12 Conference play, the goal is simple.

“We want to win a championship,” said ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

The No. 19 Cyclones (6-4) will begin their run at that feat Saturday evening when they take on Baylor (13-2). Iowa State — while advancing to six NCAA tournaments under Johnson-Lynch — has never won a conference title.

Iowa State went 13-3 during the 2011 season in Big 12 matches, good for second place in the conference behind Texas, which accounted for two of the team’s three conference losses.

The Cyclones beat Baylor twice last season, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.

“We’ve always struggled I think playing Baylor a little bit, just the way they tend to run the offense and the way they play — we can struggle matching up with them,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They’re always a team that runs a good offense.”

After sweeping Baylor in straight sets at home last season, the Cyclones were taken to five sets when they played in Waco, Texas, later in the season.

In that match, Iowa State was forced to come from behind, using all five sets and halting a late Baylor run in the fifth to secure the victory.

“They’re always very athletic, and I think they do show up to play us,” said libero Kristen Hahn. “Playing there last year, we may have overlooked them or thought since we swept them at home, we’ll be able to sweep them [away].”

This weekend the Bears bring a lot of uncertainty with them to Hilton.

The team is comprised of 12 underclassmen out of 17 total players, and seven of those players are freshmen.

“Those new girls, it’s just trying to scout and pick those tendencies up pretty fast and then trying to exploit them where they’re weak,” said setter Alison Landwehr.

Johnson-Lynch said she too was uncertain about what to expect prior to watching match footage of the team. Adding to that uncertainty is how the young team will react to playing in Hilton Coliseum.

“You never know how they’ll respond, especially on the road in front of a good crowd, you don’t know if players will rise up or if they’ll get intimidated,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It adds to their uncertainty a little bit.”

After playing six of its first 10 matches against top-25 opponents, the Cyclones are comfortable heading into conference play and they expect opponents to be ready to play given the team’s success of recent years.

“Last year when we played [Baylor], I just remember them kind of running all over and picking up balls everywhere,” Landwehr said. “They’re always really pumped to play us; I think a lot of teams in the Big 12 respect us a lot more now, so they always give us their best game.”