Following their 3-1 upset loss to unranked Missouri on Saturday, ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch stressed to her team the importance of finishing matches.

“We did not play well at the end of games. We had trouble getting good swings, and I thought we were tentative when it counted,” Johnson-Lynch said.

With no mid-week match this week, Iowa State has had plenty of time to recover and focus on late-match intensity after its second loss to an unranked opponent this season. Johnson-Lynch has been trying to reinforce decision-making in practice this week and is focusing on recreating some of the late-match atmosphere by scrimmaging with scores at 18-18 or 20-20.

“We want them to make the best decision they can and an aggressive decision at the end [of matches],” Johnson-Lynch said.

Now that finishing matches was focused on all week, the Cyclones will need to shift gears and focus on starting early both in the match and during the day when they travel to Norman, Okla., for a matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners. The 11 a.m. start time of the match against Oklahoma (18-8, 10-5 in Big 12) will be the earliest start of the season so far for the Cyclones (17-6, 10-5 in Big 12).

Junior outside hitter Carly Jenson hopes to get her offensive numbers back on track in Norman. Jenson notched 10 or more kills in 15 of her first 20 matches but hasn’t hit for double-digit kills in her last three matches. Jenson leads the team in service aces with 19 and is second on the team with 244 kills and 246 digs, behind seniors Victoria Henson and Ashley Mass.

Henson has an opportunity to become the school’s all-time leader in kills as she currently sits 16 kills behind Kirstin Hugdahl’s record of 1,620 kills. Even with Henson averaging the most kills per set that she has in her career, 4.33 per set, her teammates recognize that they too need to be a “terminator” if they want to win matches.

“We can’t keep putting all that pressure on Victoria to be that go-to person. I think we need to work on everyone being a terminator,” Jenson said.

Along with Henson, sophomore middle blocker Jamie Straube has also put up huge numbers for the Cyclones as of late. Complementing her at the net is junior middle blocker Deb Stadick, who hit a career high in kills with 10 against Missouri.

“If she gets in and just gets off to a good start, it takes a lot of pressure off, and then if we’re up a couple points and I go in, I can breath a little easier,” Stadick said.

With Nebraska and Texas as the clear No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Big 12, Iowa State and Oklahoma sit nearly deadlocked with Missouri in places three through five. The Cyclones and Sooners are both 10-5 conference play with Missouri not far behind at 10-6.

Coming off of their loss to unranked Missouri, the Cyclones will square off against a Sooners squad that is 0-6 against teams in the top 25 this season, which includes a 3-0 loss to No. 14 Iowa State on Sept. 25.

“I know they didn’t play really well the first time they were up here, so I don’t think we can go off of that [match],” Johnson-Lynch said of the Sooners. “They’ve got some really nice players that are putting the ball away for them, and their setter is very deceptive.”

The Sooners are coming off a 3-0 sweep of Colorado (6-16, 3-13 Big 12). They are led by junior Suzy Boulavsky on offense, with 3.48 kills per set, and junior setter Brianne Barker, who ranks third in the Big 12 in assists per set, averaging 10.11.

As a team, the Sooners are not ranked in the top four in the Big 12 in any statistical category. However, the Cyclones know that statistics aren’t everything, as evidenced by their 3-1 loss to Missouri on Saturday, in which they were better in every statistical category except service aces and attack errors.

“I think we’re in good spirits, I think we know what this match means this weekend and I think we’re ready to go,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Although the team will fly into Norman on Friday, some players still aren’t thrilled about the 11 a.m. start time.

“I’ll be a morning person this weekend,” Jenson said. “I just think we need to make sure everyone is awake and ready to go. I think we will be.”

The first serve is set for 11:30 a.m. at the McCasland Fieldhouse in Norman, and live stats will be available on Cyclones.com.