The ISU women’s gymnastics team hopes to prove to the college gymnastics world that its 8-0 Cinderella season isn’t a fairy tale — it’s merely the start of something big.

In front of 10,000-plus screaming Georgia Gym Dog fans Friday, the No. 8 ISU gymnasts will take the floor against No. 2 Georgia.

“People across the country have seen our scores and know we have a good team,” head coach K.J. Kindler said. “We’re going into a competition against a national powerhouse, one of the all-time top-five teams, and it’s time to impress them, whether we win the meet or [just] have a good showing.”

Senior Chee Chee Calina said ISU women’s gymnastics has always been well respected nationally, but this young team is determined to prove Iowa State has reached the same elite level as powerhouse teams like Georgia and UCLA.

“We need to keep the ball rolling and really make a statement in Georgia,” Calina said.

The Cyclones will take a season full of momentum-building with them to Athens, after breaking nearly every Cyclone record in the book. This season, the Cyclones have set school records on vault and floor and have been ranked as high as fourth nationally. The undefeated Cyclones are coming off last week’s season-best performance against Minnesota, where the team set the all-time team scoring record of 197.625, two tenths better than the previous mark.

“There is no reason to not go down there, be very confident about what we are doing and give Georgia a run for their money,” assistant coach Lou Ball said.

“We’re going to go down there and rock, proving we deserve to be eighth in the country,” sophomore Erin Dethloff said.

Despite notching five decisive wins on the road, there will be one factor at Stegeman Coliseum the Cyclones have never faced before — one of the largest gymnastics crowds in the nation.

A large crowd is expected to be on hand to cheer on the Gym Dogs’ six seniors in the final home meet of their career — a career which has only yielded two home losses in four years.

Kindler said the team has used loud music and barking noises in practice to attempt to simulate the environment which could be intimidating and distracting for the Cyclones.

Though the team has never faced a crowd so large, Kindler said the team has performed well in front of away crowds all season and tends to feed off of the energy the crowds provide.

“K.J. told us that, if you do good gymnastics, [the crowd] will cheer for you,” said freshman Janet Anson. She said the Cyclones look forward to giving their best routines in hopes of winning over the crowd.

Kindler said Georgia and Iowa State will alternate competitors — two competitors will not be competing at the same time — eliminating applause distractions in the middle of a Cyclone routine.

Calina said the Cyclones are excited to show the crowd the new level the team has taken the program to this year.

“We watched them on TV a couple of weeks ago, and we were like, ‘You know, we’re just as good as they are,'” Calina said. “It’s amazing that we are at the point where we are [being] just as good as them.”