Iowa State faced Creighton and North Dakota State in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday for its first games since the Elite Eight loss to Florida State in December. While coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said there weren’t many good things to take away from the doubleheader, senior Jamie Straube said they had their moments.

“There were definitely glimpses where we have the potential to be very good,” Straube said. “And just seeing that kind of potential is just a goal that we want to play at that level all the time and just keep improving throughout the rest of this spring.” 

Johnson-Lynch wasn’t as happy with the weekend results, as she was forced to watch the game on tape while on a recruiting trip, adding she wasn’t very pleased with their “out of system” work.

“If someone else had to step in and set the ball or bump-set the ball, we didn’t get a good attack out of it most of the time,” Johnson-Lynch said.

The first spring game is always a chance to shake off the rust, but Johnson-Lynch said she wouldn’t pin their lack of success over the weekend completely on it.

“Some of it, I think, is just rust, some of it, I think, we need to get tougher and we’ve got to get more competitive,” she said.

One of the signs of promise for the Cyclones came on the behalf of Victoria Hurtt.

The sophomore outside hitter led the team with 11 kills in the 2-0 Bison victory and again against the Bluejays with eight in the 2-1 loss, nearly 1.5 kills per set higher than her average last year.

Johnson-Lynch said Hurtt would be seeing a lot of playing time this spring, and Hurtt said it all started in practice.

“Just trying to get better and just being efficient in practice,” Hurtt said.

The coaching staff has been working with Hurtt to improve her passing so she can play more in the back row, and Straube said it was good to see her have some success.

“She’s been working so hard this spring that the coaches have been pushing her really hard and she’s responded really well, so I think it shows a lot of how hard she’s worked to go out there and play really well,” she said.

Another potential glimpse of the future over the weekend came from Tenisha Matlock, but not in a role she is used to.

The Nebraska native has been moving all around for the Cyclones. She served up a pair of aces against Creighton on Saturday and said they were less than anticipated.

“I just don’t normally serve and I was just, like, kind of hoping just to get it over at least,” Matlock said.

The team continues practices this week before heading across I-80 to Bettendorf, Iowa, to face an Illinois team that made it to the national championship last season. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Bettendorf High School.