As the Cyclone volleyball team heads into Big 12 competition Wednesday night, head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch knows her team will be heading into another competitive conference schedule. With four teams in the conference ranked in the top 25, every game will be important for Iowa State in order to finish well in the conference. Texas, Nebraska and Baylor are the three teams other than Iowa State that are among the top in the nation.

“The Big 12 will be very tough again,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I don’t know that there is going to be a real weak team in the conference. We are going to have to be ready to go every night.”

The Longhorns sit at the No. 2 spot with a 5–0 record this year. Last season Texas finished 29–4 and made a Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament. Senior outside hitter Destinee Hooker leads the Longhorn attack as she is a three-time All-Big 12 first team pick. Hooker led the conference in points per set last season with an average of 4.89. Then-sophomore Juliann Faucette was second for the Longhorns in kills per set and finished the season with 17 solo blocks.

Nebraska currently ranks eighth nationally and has started the pre-Big 12 season with a 7–2 record. The Huskers will be forced to find some new offensive tactics, as Nebraska graduated one of the most significant all-around players in school history — outside hitter Jordan Larson. Larson was named the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2008 and led the Huskers to three NCAA semifinal appearances. Nebraska does return two significant players, Lindsey Licht and Brooke Delano, whom the Huskers turn to offensively to put the ball down.

No. 24 Baylor finished 18–13 last season and returns several attacking weapons. Three seniors will lead the way on the offensive end for the Bears, as two 6-foot-1-inch middle blockers are at the net and an All-Big 12 first team setter paces the way for Baylor. Outside hitter Katie Sanders led the Bears in kills last season averaging 3.50 per set while Anna Breyfogle followed close behind with 2.66 per set.

Last season against the competition

The Longhorns ended Iowa State’s season last year in the regional final of the NCAA tournament in Austin. The last time Iowa State beat Texas was in 2005 at Hilton Coliseum when the Cyclones stunned the then-No. 18 Longhorns in a 3–1 upset. In the history of the Cyclone volleyball program, Iowa State has never beaten Texas on its home court in the hostile environment of Gregory Gymnasium.

Hooker and Faucette both tallied 13 kills to lead the Longhorn attack in their last victory over Iowa State. Texas will be the first of the three other ranked Big 12 teams Iowa State will face as the teams are matched up for a battle in Austin on Friday night.

Last season the Cyclones took a set from then-No. 2 Nebraska for the first time in school history in Lincoln. Iowa State, however, has never beaten a Husker volleyball team in the program’s history. With the potential the No. 10 Cyclones have this season, this may be the first chance Iowa State has to overcome the Huskers as the two teams face off at Hilton Coliseum this season.

Iowa State overcame Baylor in both games last year in four sets. In each set the Cyclones won, it was by a tight margin of four points or less, as the Bears gave Iowa State a tough-fought battle. Iowa State faces Baylor next week on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.