For the fourth time in six years, the Cyclones are heading to the Sweet 16. With last year’s upset loss to Creighton in the first round, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch appreciates advancing just that much more.

“When you get there three times in a row, you almost think this is something we’re going to do every year,” Johnson-Lynch said. “You forget that there are a lot of good teams in the tournament and if you’re off a little bit you can lose. 

“It does feel good. I knew we were going to have to really battle and play well, so I’m really excited. And I’m just excited that we played well doing it.”

After a weekend of back-to-back sweeps over UW-Milwaukee and No. 25 Miami, the Cyclones will be heading to Minneapolis to face the No. 13 seed Minnesota on Friday at the Sports Pavilion.

Behind a career night from junior middle back Jamie Straube, the No. 4 Cyclones swept Wisconsin-Milwaukee last Friday in the first round.

Straube hit a career-high .652, which is the second-highest hitting clip in the postseason in school history. She had 15 kills and also added four block assists to go with that.

“Our passing was awesome,” Straube said. “I just had the mentality where I was like, ‘Ya know what, I’m swinging.’ I just got that confidence and it was working for me.”

The Panthers came in with a game plan to slow down senior go-to Carly Jenson and succeeded, but that left the middles open for Iowa State to capitalize on. Jenson managed only nine kills on the night on a .179 hitting clip.

Freshman Hannah Willms received the most amount of sets on the night with 34. Willms had 10 kills on a .147 clip for the match. She also managed a solo block and a block assist.

In the second round against Miami, it was a defensive battle. After a slow start in the first set, the Cyclones surged to a 25-21 win and then rode that momentum in set two to jump out to a 12-0 lead. The 25-10 second set score was the lowest in school history. In the third, it was all Iowa State, winning 25-14. This sweep of Miami marks the 14th sweep of the season.

“It’s just a good feeling when you find your rhythm again,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We were OK at times last night [against UW-Milwaukee], it just didn’t feel comfortable. This felt comfortable and against a very good team.”

The Cyclones were led again by junior Jamie Straube with 12 kills, a solo block and a block assist. The Cyclones as a team hit .328, which moves them to 11-0 on the season when they hit higher than .300. The Cyclones had two other players with double-digit kills along with Straube, Jenson with 11 and Petersen with 10.

Defensively, they held Miami to a .087 hitting clip, which is a season-low for the Hurricanes. Miami boasts the ACC Player of the Year in Lane Carico. Iowa State double-blocked her the entire match and held her to a .000 hitting clip.

“[Carico] is a tremendous athlete,” Johnson-Lynch said. “She was hitting against Kelsey Petersen and Tenisha [Matlock] the entire night and that’s a very big block. We anticipated a lot of shots from her and made it difficult.”

After last year’s heatbreaker, the players didn’t take anything for granted in getting to the Sweet 16 this year.

“I feel so blessed to be out there again and playing and experiencing memories like this with your team, you can’t beat it,” said redshirt junior Rachel Hockaday. “So after last year we’re not taking anything for granted and enjoying every single minute of every opportunity that we have.”