Her predecessor was a four-year starter, two-time All-American, Iowa State Female Student-Athlete of the Year and the holder of the three highest single-season assist tallies in the volleyball program history.

It wasn’t an easy resume to follow, but someone had to do it.

Last year Alison Landwehr spent her freshman season watching and learning from senior Kaylee Manns, who managed to shatter nearly every possible ISU assist record by the end of her illustrious career.

But now it’s Landwehr’s turn to shine.

“She’s been awesome so far,” said junior outside hitter Carly Jenson. “Even in her first two big games she really stepped up for us, and that just shows she can fill Kaylee’s void and we all know what she’s capable of.”

The two setters may have both ended up in Ames together for one season, but their pre-college backgrounds with volleyball were vastly different.

Although Manns was widely known as a phenomenal multi-sport athlete in high school, she never received setting training or played club volleyball and slid mostly under the radar on the national prep volleyball scale.

Landwehr, on the other hand, earned accolade after accolade while playing on club teams and at Parkway West High School in St. Louis, and was one of the most highly sought after setters in the nation.

Thanks to that, it was a much easier transition for her when she arrived in Ames.

“From where she started to where she ended this spring I thought was really pretty amazing,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “I’m really excited about her progress. And I feel like we’ve started this fall from where we left off in the spring.”

Her senior year of high school she was named an AVCA High School All-American and played in the Under Armour All-American High School Match, was ranked the No. 24 high school player in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com and was named both the Missouri Gatorade Volleyball and St. Louis Post Dispatch Player of the Year.

The list goes on and on.

Then when you couple all of her previous experience with a full year of learning under a pair of two-time All-American setters in Manns and Johnson-Lynch, the process of jumping into the mix becomes a little more simple.

“I can’t even imagine coming into that big of a role,” said sophomore middle blocker Jamie Straube. “Especially in this type of environment, without even starting a game at setter yet. But she’s been so great and has already improved a lot so far, and it’s only going to go up from here.”

And if her past volleyball experiences weren’t enough to get her comfortable, the supporting cast of Cyclones around her surely sealed the deal.

Iowa State has often been synonymous with great passing, and when combined with the slew of experienced hitters all over the court this season, Landwehr has been able to make a relatively smooth transition into her new role.

“I couldn’t have been put in a better situation,” Landwehr said. “It’s all about consistency for me right now, and we have so many good passers. And that makes my job much easier when they’re getting the ball right to me just about every time.”

Landwehr’s first two starts of the season came at the prestigious Runza/AVCA Showcase on Aug. 28 and 29 in Omaha, Neb., where she faced a pair of top 15 teams in her debut.

It certainly wasn’t the easiest circumstance for a first career start, but coaches and players alike can all agree she certainly passed the first tough test of the season.

“For her first starts to be in this environment, against these teams, on TV, I thought she did a great job,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I think a lot of other setters would have crumbled.”

In the second match of the season against No. 14 Kentucky, the six-footer notched the first double-double of her career, but not in traditional fashion for her position.

While the majority of the time setters finish with double-digit digs along with assists, Landwehr accomplished the feat in another category — kills.

During the course of the weekend she managed to drop 15 kills to the floor, including 10 in Sunday’s win over the Wildcats.

With that performance, Landwehr became the first setter in Iowa State history to record 10 kills in a match, and those impressive numbers put her on the weekend’s all-tournament team.

“Kaylee didn’t dump the ball quite as much,” Jenson said. “But Alison is very willing to go up and attack the ball. And that just brings something else to our offense that the opponents have to prepare for because it’s like we have three hitters when she’s in the front row.”

It’s no question the loss of a four-year mainstay like Manns will bring noticeable differences to the team this fall.

But with all of her previous training and the tutelage of one of the nation’s premier setting coaches, Landwehr will be able to make those differences fade away as time goes on.

Then when her career comes to a close three years from now, don’t be surprised if next setter in line faces the exact same situation she is now.

“She’s really good at moving the ball around,” Johnson-Lynch said. “She can get the middles going and knows how to keep setting [Victoria Henson] and [Kelsey Petersen] when they get hot.”