Already 6-2 against teams from Texas, the No. 8 Iowa State volleyball team (20-4, 12-3 Big 12) will try to continue its winning ways against the Lone Star State when it visits Texas A&M (14-8, 7-7 Big 12).

The last time these two teams met, the Cyclones swept the Aggies. Wednesday’s game will be played in College Station, where the Cyclones expect a more motivated and aggressive Texas A&M team.

“Going against them at their home, they play like a completely different team,” said sophomore outside hitter Kelsey Petersen. “So, they’re going to bring it a lot harder, and it’s always hard to play there because the crowd is just insane.”

Since being swept by the Cyclones in October, the Aggies have struggled in conference play. The Aggies have lost four of their last six matches, and have fallen out of the top 25 in the NCAA coaches poll.

Iowa State is coming off its first loss in over a month and hopes to use Wednesday’s match as a chance to make adjustments before next month’s NCAA Tournament begins.

“We’ve still got our things to work on and that hasn’t changed. It’s still work really hard [and] play great defense,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “I don’t think the Nebraska match changes anything that we need to work on.”

Defensively, the Cyclones will have their hands full. Texas A&M ranks second in the Big 12 in hitting percentage, first in assists per game and first in kills per game. The Aggies’ leader in kills is senior outside hitter Sarah Ammerman with 309. Ammerman is second in Big 12 behind Texas’ Destinee Hooker and moved ahead of Iowa State junior outside hitter Victoria Henson.

In addition to Ammerman, the Aggies have two other outside hitters with more than 200 kills. Senior Jennifer Banse is second on the team with 234, followed closely by fellow senior Mary Batis with 209. The Cyclones will make a point to put a lot of defensive pressure on those three.

“They’re a really good team,” Johnson-Lynch said. “They’re very athletic. They have two great outside hitters — they’re going to be good. “They do some creative things offensively. They move their hitters around more than probably any team we’ve seen. We just have to be ready for hitters moving around and prepare for that.”

Iowa State will need to rebound from a poor offensive performance against Nebraska. During Saturday’s match, the Cyclones hit .178 — their lowest output since losing in Waco on Sept. 23.

The Cyclones will look to get Henson and fellow outside hitter Rachel Hockaday going after a disappointing performance Saturday. The duo have combined for an average 27 kills per game during Iowa State’s 11–game winning streak, and only posted 17 combined kills in the loss.

“I think we just have to keep going after it. And we got a little tentative [against Texas] and we just have to make sure we learn from that and stay aggressive,” Johnson-Lynch said.

The Cyclones will look to spoil any hopes of an upset by Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday when they travel to College Station.