The ISU women’s volleyball team is nearing the end of a remarkable season that has produced many big wins, broken records and milestones.

The Cyclones, who were picked No. 8 in the Big 12 in preseason rankings, sit just a half game behind Colorado for fourth place, and have surpassed all of their opponents’ preseason expectations.

But the team knows the season is far from over.

The Cyclones have won seven of their last nine games and are on the brink of earning their first berth into the NCAA Tournament since 1995.

The Cyclones will face Texas Tech (11-14, 4-12) at 5 p.m. Wednesday as the first act in a doubleheader with the women’s basketball team.

The Red Raiders are responsible for one of the Cyclones two losses in their last nine matches, when they outlasted Iowa State in a tough five-game match last month.

“We struggled passing against them last time, and they are a very good serving team,” said coach Christy Johnson about Texas Tech, which leads the Big 12 in aces per game. “We really have to control our passing a little bit better and be more productive on offense this week.”

It is now a game of momentum for the Cyclones, who are looking for a few big wins to keep up their confidence heading into the tournament.

“We’re at a point now where we know we can win, and we should win,” said senior Nicole Lorenzen. “If we continue to be scrappy on defense and stay aggressive on offense, we’ll be in really good shape.

“We have been playing really well and have a lot of confidence right now. Now that we have the tournament in sight and it’s starting to come down to the end, we have to keep plowing ahead with the very important games we have left.”

The second half of November won’t be easy on the Cyclones, as the final three games of the season match them against Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, which stand at No. 2, 3 and 4 in the Big 12, respectively.

The Cyclones struggled on the road at Texas A&M last Sunday, going five games before putting away the Aggies. After being down 2-1, the Cyclones finally found their rhythm in games four and five to rally and take home the victory.

“I think we went into the game knowing we were the better team, and let them take us out of our game,” said senior Katie Jessen, who led the team with 19 kills and 20 digs. “But once we got back to playing our game, we took control from there on out.”

Although the team doesn’t believe it played at the top of its game, the feisty Cyclones battled back to come up with the big road win and move to 18-8 and 10-6 on the season.

“This just shows us that we are very talented, and we don’t have to be perfect every night in order to win,” Johnson said. “But from here on out, we’ll need to kick it up a notch in order to be successful.”