In the first 33 years of the ISU volleyball program, the Cyclones only reached the NCAA Tournament one time.

Now, Iowa State will be making its second consecutive trip to the Big Dance when it plays the San Diego Toreros at 5 p.m. Friday in the UW Fieldhouse in Madison, Wis.

Coach Christy Johnson said the back-to-back appearances are another great first and milestone for the program.

“It is exciting because there were some weeks where I wasn’t sure if we were going to get there,” Johnson said.

The Cyclones are in the Madison regional, as well as the Madison sub-regional, which was one of the last sub-regions announced.

Johnson said she felt fairly confident her team was going to get in after seeing that Missouri, who finished behind Iowa State in the Big 12, made the field of 64.

“Until you see your name pop up there, you just don’t know,” Johnson said. “But, I felt like after we beat Oklahoma, I would have been pretty surprised if we didn’t get in.”

Just 10 days ago, however, the Cyclones were sitting squarely on the bubble. They had just lost 3-1 to Missouri and had a road trip to Kansas and matches with nationally ranked Texas and Oklahoma at home.

The Cyclones started their run to their tournament when they were down 2-1 to Kansas. The team fought back to win that match in five games, and four days later nearly took down Texas in five games, after trailing two games to none. Last, on the day before the brackets were announced, Iowa State avenged an earlier loss to Oklahoma to cement its tournament resume.

Johnson said she thought the Kansas match was a turning point in the season and now feels her team is playing well going into the tournament.

“We just gutted that one out,” Johnson said. “Obviously playing Texas tough and beating Oklahoma. I love how we are playing now; this is the best we have played all season.”

Senior Lauren Cummings said the way the team picked up its intensity late in the season was what made them better.

“I think it’s a great time to be peaking and I think that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Cummings said. “If we can keep that intensity up I think we have potential to go far.”

The Cyclones are making their third trip to Madison in the last 13 months, having lost to Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament there last season and playing there in the spring season.

Johnson, who was an assistant at Wisconsin before coming to Iowa State, said there are some things that create a comfort level in Madison for her and her team.

“I love playing in Madison and I love the fact that we don’t have to get on a plane,” Johnson said. “We have probably been then more than any other team in the Midwest lately.”

Cummings said playing in the UW Fieldhouse before will help the team this weekend.

“I think it’s kind of nice that we get to go back to a place where we’ve been,” Cummings said. “It’s great atmosphere to play in.”