What ideas do you think of when you

think of Iowa State? Engineering, agriculture, those commercials

that say “Enjoy your adventure at Iowa State.” Maybe “Transfer U”

with the men’s basketball team. Why not “Libero U”?

It’s something that’s been rising to

the top of our list. 

The Big 12 recently released its

list of players who made the All-Big 12 teams and a list of

recipients of awards like the Player of the Year and Newcomer of

the Year. They chose sophomore libero Kristen Hahn as the Libero of

the Year. 

This continues a remarkable streak

for Iowa State. This is the fourth consecutive year that a Cyclone

has garnished the honor of Big 12 Libero of the Year. The past

three seasons, former All-American Ashley Mass received it three

years in a row. 

A streak like this is pretty hard to

come by. When you hear Libero U, you might think of Linebacker U,

meaning Penn State. 

But although they have dropped off

in terms of how good the team is, Penn State used to boast an

unstoppable linebacking core. They had the likes of LaVar Arrington

who won the Chuck Bednarik award in 1999 and Paul Posluzny who won

the award in 2005 and 2006.

 In 2007 it was the Nittany Lions’

Dan Connor. So they won it four times in a matter of nine

years. 

That’s not even close to Iowa State

doing it four consecutive years. 

Think about this — Kristen Hahn is

only a sophomore. If she keeps this kind of pace up, she could win

it her junior year and her senior year, that is, if she doesn’t go

pro early. 

We kid, but it’s only because she is

that good. Her career seems to be arcing similarly to

Mass’.

Mass led the Big 12 in digs in 2008

and 2009. She amassed an ISU-record 646 kills in the 2008 season,

and over her career averaged 573.5 digs per season, ending her

tenure with 2,294 total — also an ISU record.

Through the regular season — her

first as the libero for the Cyclones — Hahn totaled 537 digs, good

for 5.54 digs per set. 

If she was to average that over the

next two seasons, she’d end up with 1,611 career digs and land her

third all-time behind just Mass and Steph McCannon, both of whom

played four years at libero for the Cyclones.

Granted, that depends on many

variables — mainly health — but she ended her first season as

libero with five more digs than Mass had (532) in her first season

as libero. 

In terms of honors, Mass earned Big

12 Defensive Player of the Week twice in her first season, while

Hahn has earned the award four times in hers.

If Hahn can improve in even a

similar way as Mass, she could rival her predecessor for the title

of “best ever” at Iowa State. 

Since the libero position is a

relatively new thing to college volleyball, a little perspective

should be exercised. There’s no guarantee Hahn’s success continues

or that Iowa State will have others like her or Mass.

But it sure does seem like coach

Christy Johnson-Lynch has developed a trend. If she can continue to

recruit defensive specialists, Iowa State could easily become

“Libero U.”