Junior Carly Jenson watched outside hitter Rachel Hockaday go down Saturday with an ACL injury against No. 13 Florida.

At that moment, Jenson’s season suddenly started to look a lot different.

Jenson had to jump in for Hockaday and helped Iowa State to go 1–1 against Florida and No. 14 Kentucky during the weekend at the Runza/AVCA Showcase in Omaha, Neb. The junior outside hitter had two career highs with 14 kills and 16 digs against the Wildcats.

Despite the sudden injury of Hockaday, coach Christy Johnson-Lynch was pleased with Jenson’s performance and the team’s ability to rebound.

“When Hockaday went down, to rebound from that and still be competitive and also to still beat Kentucky in that situation, I thought showed some resilience and some toughness from our team,” Johnson-Lynch said.

“Jenson, I thought, played about as well as we could have hoped for. She just played terrific filling in for Hock[aday] and I feel really good about her being able to play in that position.”

After filling in for Hockaday and returning home from the tournament in Omaha, Jenson’s outlook on the season has been altered. Before Sunday, she had only had three career starts.

Now, instead of cheering on Hockaday from the sidelines like she planned, Jenson will start in place of her friend and roommate this season, beginning at the Iowa State Challenge, a tournament hosted by the Cyclones.

“It’s definitely a 180-degree turnaround,” Jenson said. “Now it’s a different mindset going into every game and I’ve just got to get my mind ready to go.”

Jenson’s new mindset won’t be tested against any ranked teams this weekend, but the No. 12 Cyclones will face a grueling slate of four matches in two days.

The team will play UW-Milwaukee and North Dakota State on Friday, Sept. 3, and South Dakota State and Florida International on Saturday, Sept. 4.

The coaching staff has split up the scouting for each of the four teams, but Johnson-Lynch isn’t concerned about the opponents.

“I really think this time of year a lot of it’s about your own side,” Johnson-Lynch said. “A volleyball court is just not very big, there’s not a lot of different things you can do. You can pick up certain tendencies, but a lot of it is just executing your side of the net.”

Along with executing, this weekend the Cyclones will work on getting comfortable with Jenson and their new lineup.

Although Jenson has been training behind the other outside hitters for two years and has remained very competitive at that position, the team will still have to make some small adjustments in order to work smoothly with its new starter.

“We’ll have to work a little bit harder,” said senior outside hitter Victoria Henson. “I mean [Hockaday] is out and we’re used to having her in there, so we’ll have to work a little bit harder getting [Jenson] in there just getting comfortable.”

The Cyclones will take on UW-Milwaukee at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3, at Ames High School. For the weekend’s full schedule, go to cyclones.com. All games will be played at Ames High.