As the season winds down, Iowa State hosts Kansas State on Wednesday night. This is one of just two home matches remaining for the No. 13 Cyclones (20-4, 11-2 Big 12) and three total matches left in the season.

With the postseason fast approaching, the Cyclones are staying focused at the task at hand.

“You have to make sure you stay focused with each team,” said sophomore libero Kristen Hahn. “Most teams get better as the season goes on, so if they’re going to be playing at the top of their game, you have to make sure you are too. We make sure to stay within ourselves and stay focused on each team.”

The last time these two teams met, the Cyclones came away with a sweep of the Wildcats (18-9, 7-6) in Manhattan, Kan. Senior outside hitter Carly Jenson put in a team-high 12 kills and Hahn added 23 digs.

Junior middle back Jamie Straube had an impressive performance as well, chipping in 10 kills and three block assists while hitting .385 for the match.

With Kansas State being a swing-blocking team, Iowa State is going to try to run fast-paced sets against it in order to catch it off guard.

“K-State swing blocks, sometimes on the slide, which is kind of weird,” Straube said. “You don’t have a lot of time [to recover], so we can beat them with the faster stuff.”

The Wildcats’ main weapon comes in the form of Kaitlynn Pelger. The sophomore middle blocker averages 4.19 kills per set and is hitting .322 on the year.

Iowa State was able to stifle her in the teams’ first meeting. Pelger recorded just nine kills and a .056 hitting percentage in that match.

Despite being able to keep her in check, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch considers her to be one of the top players in the league.

Kansas State also managed to out-dig the Cyclones 8-5 in the previous meeting.

“They’re really athletic,” Johnson-Lynch said. “When we played them, their setter was out, so that’s going to be a huge difference. We had a pretty tough time with them, without their starting setter. They definitely have some weapons.”

The Wildcats’ starting center, Caitlyn Donahue, was injured during the previous matchup. She is second in the Big 12 in assists, averaging 11.05 assists per set.

Donahue sits right behind ISU setter Alison Landwehr, who is averaging 11.42 assists per game and has 2,237 assists going into the match.