ISU volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch and her squad now have less than a week left of preparation before they open their season this weekend with a trio of games in DeKalb, Ill.

After the annual Cardinal and Gold scrimmage this past weekend, Johnson-Lynch said there is still plenty of work to be done before the No. 18 Cyclones hit the court Friday against Cincinnati.

“We have to get our middles going on the slides a little better and we’ve got to make sure our outsides are getting kills in transition,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We tend to not get a great approach and hit low into blocks. We got blocked for points a lot on the outside.”

The team also will go into next weekend with a couple starting positions up in the air, including both outside positions. As a result, players were frequently substituted and moved around at the Cardinal and Gold scrimmage this past Saturday.

Junior middle blocker Jamie Straube, who was named to this year’s Big 12 Preseason team, said that one of the biggest areas the team needed to work on was knowing each other’s tendencies.

“We just need to keep getting in a rhythm,” Straube said. “We’re still moving people around a lot and playing next to different people, so it kind of takes a while to know, ‘OK she’s next to me, I know what ball I’m taking and which ball she’s taking.’ Different players pass the ball differently and just working with different setters and just trying to figure each other out.”

Johnson-Lynch noted that while both outside positions remained question marks, senior Carly Jenson, who is listed as an outside hitter, had essentially secured a spot somewhere in the starting lineup.

“When you play with that real-life pressure, some people step up, some people get nervous and get tentative,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It’s very hard to replicate that in practice, so I think we’ll find out more after we play a real game.”

Victoria Hurtt is another outside hitter who will see playing time early this season. The freshman from Kansas City, Mo., had a team-high 18 kills in the Cardinal and Gold scrimmage.

“She competes, and I think that’s her best quality,” Johnson-Lynch said of Hurtt. “She can also terminate and if you have someone that can terminate, they’re going to be out there. She’s just doing a really nice job on the left side for us.”

This weekend, the Cyclones will face Cincinnati, IUPUI and Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Ill., at the Northern Illinois Invitational.