With just four regular-season matches left on the schedule, each of them is beginning to look more and more important for the ISU volleyball team.

The NCAA tournament is right on the horizon, and coach Christy Johnson-Lynch is trying to keep her team from continuing to slip any further than it has recently.

Last week, the No. 16 Cyclones (17-7, 10-6 Big 12) lost back-to-back matches for the first time this season, but the attitudes at practice have remained upbeat as the team is still vying for one of the top 16 tournament seeds.

“I don’t think we can worry about [a top seed] too much because half of that you don’t even control,” Johnson-Lynch said. “All you can do is win as many matches as you can and give the committee a good reason to give you that seed.”

Iowa State has now dropped to fifth place in the Big 12 standings and sits closely behind Oklahoma and Missouri, the teams responsible for the Cyclones’ two previous losses.

Even after receiving the day off last Wednesday, the Cyclones couldn’t seem to energize themselves enough to close out important points against the Sooners on Saturday.

“Coming off the bye week and our last loss, we had a little more motivation,” said sophomore setter Alison Landwehr. “There were moments in the game that I thought we played better than we have in a while, but we had trouble finishing out sets.”

The focus now turns to the hapless Colorado Buffaloes (6-17, 3-14), who may be just the right remedy for the Cyclones at this point.

Since Iowa State won in Boulder on Oct. 20, Colorado has lost its last eight matches, six of which ended in a sweep.

Combining Iowa State’s previous two losses with the sloppy match it played against the Buffaloes a month ago, the Cyclones know very well what they have to improve on.

“I thought we were out of sync in a lot of ways the last time we played [Colorado],” Johnson-Lynch said. “So [Tuesday] we need to make sure we pass and ball-handle well. And when we get an easy ball on our side of the net, we have to convert. That’s something we didn’t do against Oklahoma.”

The opening serve between the Cyclones and Buffaloes will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum.

Henson on hot streak despite injuries

Just by looking at the stat lines for Victoria Henson over the last three matches, nobody would ever be able to tell she has been suffering though a series of leg injuries.

After pulling her hamstring two weeks ago, Henson has managed to turn in a string of impressive performances while many of her teammates have struggled.

In her last three matches, Henson is averaging more than 5.00 kills per set while hitting .257 despite suffering through cramps and playing with a bandaged leg.

“It’s really almost unbelievable,” Landwehr said. “When we were down in Norman, she had to come out because she was cramping up so badly, then came back in and played just as well as she had before. It’s so nice for me in a tight set to be able to give her the ball and know she can always do something with it.”

Henson’s 21 kills against Oklahoma also broke the ISU record for kills in a career, as her 1,625 put her ahead of Kristin Hugdahl, who recorded 1,620 kills between 1991 and 1995.