After making it to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight time, advancing to the Elite Eight and finishing with a final national ranking of No. 8, the ISU volleyball team is shaking the rust off and beginning its spring season.

With the Cyclones returning the bulk of the starters, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch believes they are ready to get moving.

“We’ve got a pretty experienced group coming back so I don’t feel like there’s a lot of crazy things we need to be doing, just shaking off the rust a little bit and working on some things we need in order to get ready to play,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Iowa State will move forward without a group of players that graduated or left the team. Seniors Carly Jenson, Caitlin Mahoney, Debbie Stadick and Kelsey Petersen will graduate from Iowa State in May. Hannah Willms took her talents to the track team to focus on her high jumping career and sophomore Hannah Johnson had to leave the team due to health reasons.

Most notably the Cyclones will miss players who did a majority of the passing. Jenson, who played all the way around the rotation, tallied 368 digs which was good for second on the team behind Big 12 libero of the year, Kristen Hahn. Also needing to be replaced is defensive specialist Caitlin Mahoney played primarily back row, digging up 232 balls and also had one of the rare jump serves in the country.

Another hole needing to be filled will be the one departing senior Kelsey Petersen leaves at right side. Senior Taylor Knuth is being asked to fill the void after only 18 career matches under her belt.

“Taylor Knuth will be playing there for the most part,” Johnson-Lynch said. “She’s really an exceptional blocker. Her offense is coming along, and she’ll get a great chance to prove herself this spring.”

The Cyclones will return nine players from last year’s roster including Big 12 first teamers Jaime Straube, Alison Landwehr and the conference’s top libero, Kristen Hahn.

Another role Jenson played, and will be tougher and most important to replace, will be her role on the offensive end. Jenson was the go-to player and took almost one-third of Iowa State’s attacks on the outside. Some matches Jenson would eclipse the 50-swing mark. She even had a 65-swing game with 25 kills against Oklahoma.

Johnson-Lynch says, for the most part, the position will be filled by redshirt seniors Rachel Hockaday and Victoria Hurtt.

Both players had transitioning years last year. Hockaday was recovering from a torn ACL from the previous season and was only able to play back row and hit a few balls.

“I feel good,” Hockaday said. “I feel back to my old self, I’m not wearing the brace anymore and it’s been a good offseason for me just lifting and getting it stronger.”

Hurtt on the other hand was an incoming freshman who battled for hit attempts with Hannah Willms. Hurtt got better throughout the year, eventually leading Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament and more specifically leading the team in the Elite Eight game against Florida State with 24 kills.

“Hurtt and [Hockaday] are going to get tons of time,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It’s probably going to be a pretty exhausting spring for them, but I also think it’s a great opportunity because I think they’re going to be forced to pass a ton of balls and carry the load for us all spring.”

The Cyclones will have a short, but strong schedule this spring with five matches. Three of those are against North Dakota State, Creighton and Missouri. The other two are against No. 2 Illinois and No. 12 rival Nebraska.

Even though it is just the spring, the team has it’s eye on Big Red.

“Oh yeah, I’m looking forward to the Nebraska one more than anything,” said returning middle block Tenisha Matlock.