Throughout the history of NCAA collegiate volleyball, the top echelon of teams has been unflinchingly rigid.

In 27 years of Division I volleyball, only 10 different schools have won a national championship, and just two others have competed in the title match.

Before coach Christy Johnson arrived in Ames in 2005, Iowa State had continually found itself swimming in disappointment, accumulating a 330-428-1 (.435) overall record. But in the past four seasons, the Cyclones have kicked their dreadful past and have been creeping their way onto the national radar.  

“There isn’t much parity in Division I women’s collegiate volleyball,” said Johnson. “Often the same teams go to the Final Four and win a national championship, and we feel like we’re a team that’s starting to break into that elite group of teams.”  

With its three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, the program is beginning to find success among the cream of the crop in collegiate volleyball. Last Saturday, Iowa State became one of just 10 teams to advance to the NCAA regional semifinal round of sixteen for the second consecutive season, and six of those 10 teams belong to the class of former national champions.  

But while the pair of magical runs that Iowa State has gone on in the past two seasons has skyrocketed the program out of mediocrity, measures still need to be taken to retain all of the progress it has made.

“As a coach, you’re always worried about your program dropping off,” Johnson said. “You wonder when there’s going to be a bad year or a bad cycle, and when the bottom is going to drop out, and it’s so hard not to let that happen.”  

This potential may lurk in the back of the coaches’ minds, but it appears as if the program is in good hands for now. Three of the team’s top five hitters last weekend are freshmen, and one other is a redshirt sophomore. Two of them were all-conference selections.  

Combine those four with junior All-Big 12 setter Kaylee Manns, sophomore Big 12 Libero of the Year Ashley Mass and a rock-solid 2009 recruiting class, the team has a solid core coming back for the next couple of seasons.  

“I think the fact that we have so many young players playing definitely bodes well for our program,” said Johnson. “We will miss our senior class immensely, but with this year’s freshmen and the class coming in next year, it’s pretty reassuring to know that we should be in pretty good shape.”

The Cyclones (21-12) will attempt to take the program one step further Friday, when they take on seventh-ranked and 11th-seeded Oregon (25-8) in one of two Austin, Texas, regional semifinals. The Ducks are also making their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA third round.

Oregon is one of five teams from the dominant Pac 10 conference that remain in the tournament, and advanced by defeating North Carolina 3-1 in the second round last Saturday.

“They are going to present a huge challenge for us,” said Johnson. “They have two great outside hitters and some very athletic middles, but I don’t know if it’s going to be much of a difference than playing Nebraska or K-State. Now we’re pretty used to having to slow down two or three great hitters on a team.”  

Outside hitter Gorana Maricic leads the Ducks with 4.16 kills per set, good enough for third in the Pac 10 and 23rd in the country.  

Similar to the Cyclones, the Ducks have a solid nucleus in their specialty positions, with a formidable duo at setter and libero. Setter Nevena Djordjevic ranks ninth in the country with 11.63 assists per set, and libero Katie Swoboda ranks 21st with 5.08 digs per set.  

Iowa State hopes to counter the Ducks with a potent offense of its own, led by redshirt sophomore Victoria Henson. The outside hitter earned CVU.com’s National Player of the Week award by hitting .318 and putting down 50 kills, a 2008 NCAA tournament high in the first two rounds. Her 25 kills in each match were the most by any Cyclone player in the program’s tournament history.  

The two teams will start off the regional action at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Gregory Gym in Austin.