MINNEAPOLIS — The ISU volleyball team had its season ended Saturday night in a five-set loss (21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19, 11-15) to Florida State in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis.

“I’m incredibly proud of the season we had,” said ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “When we went into this season, I truly did not know if we could be anywhere from an NCAA bubble team to a top-20 team.”

For Johnson-Lynch and the Cyclones (25-6, 13-3 Big 12), it was the second Elite Eight appearance in four years, but fell four points short in the fifth set of clinching the first Final Four appearance in school history.

The ISU senior class of Carly Jenson, Deb Stadick, Kelsey Petersen and Caitlin Mahoney — whose Cyclone careers were ended with Saturday’s loss in Minneapolis — is the only class in school history to reach the NCAA tournament all four years.

After the match, Jenson talked about being a part of the class that saw the program through the only two Elite Eight appearances in school history.

“My freshman year we made it to the Elite Eight and also this year and I think that it shows where this program is going,” Jenson said. “At the beginning of the year, I just didn’t know how we would be. We’d have some shaky times and then we’d have big wins, but we pushed really hard this year.”

While the Cyclones’ season was ended, freshman Victoria Hurtt showed that the Cyclones will not be lacking a big hitter next season.

Statistically, Hurtt had the best night of her young career, racking up a career-high 24 kills while hitting at a .286 clip.

“I was able to get a couple swings tonight, but it doesn’t really matter because we lost. I would take one kill and take a win instead of 24 and a loss,” Hurtt said. “It was sad the way it ended, but I guess that was how it had to go.”

The performances of Hurtt and fellow underclassmen such as libero Kristen Hahn and middle blocker Tenisha Matlock have Johnson-Lynch thinking big in the years to come.

“The best (Hurtt) has played this year has been in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, you never see that,” Johnson-Lynch said. “My sense is that we’re going to get to the Final Four. I feel like we’re going to have the talent and we’re going to want it more and more every year.”