For the second time in two weeks, the ISU volleyball team will compete against No. 7 Kansas State when the Cyclones travel to Manhattan, Kan., Wednesday for a 6 p.m. match.

In their first meeting Oct. 22, the Wildcats defeated the Cyclones 3-1.

Iowa State took the first game 30-25, but dropped the next three 20-30, 20-30, 19-30.

“We’ll look at their tendencies and our tendencies and see where we can capitalize on their weaknesses,” said senior libero Dana Koziol. “Having already played them is a real benefit because then we know what worked.

“We won that first game against them and we know we can play with them. So we’ll use what worked and just grow off that.”

Head coach Linda Crum said the team will focus on ball handling.

“I thought that last time we played them, the one thing that really separated us is how we received serves and ball-handled,” Crum said. “I think offensively, too, we need to be a little more efficient in how we go after them. K-State ball-handles well, and they typically make very few hitting errors.”

Where the blockers line up against Kansas State’s hitters and where the Cyclones need to be defensively are some of the things Iowa State learned in its first meeting with the Wildcats, Crum said.

Kansas State (22-3, 12-1) is in the midst of a 10-match winning streak and is coming off a 3-1 win over Colorado.

The Wildcats average 15.6 kills per game. They have only 521 attack errors compared to their opponents’ 648. Kansas State also averages 14.5 digs per game.

Iowa State (11-13, 3-10) is coming off its first win over Texas since 1984 as the Cyclones defeated the Longhorns 3-1 last Sunday.

The win was the first home Big 12 win for Iowa State since Oct. 17, 2001, when the Cyclones defeated Oklahoma 3-1. This is the first season Iowa State has won three conference matches in a single season since 1996.

“[The Texas win] is just huge for confidence,” Koziol said. “We set a goal to beat Texas and we achieved that goal.

“I think we learned a lot from our loss to Colorado [Oct. 29] when we had a chance to win in four and we didn’t. We showed that we grew from that on Sunday.”

The win did a lot for the team, Crum said.

“We’ve been taking steps all year, but when you finally cross the last step and you get the win, that is when it seals it in your head,” Crum said. “I think [the team has] seen in their performance goals they have made little notches, but when they see the outcome goal of a win, it just makes a big difference in how they feel.

“Obviously, they are excited because this is, for example, for our seniors a mark they wanted to leave and for our younger kids, this is a step they wanted to be a part of.”

Crum said she is not concerned about a mental letdown from the Texas game.

“If anything, the win gave the kids some confidence and I don’t think by any means that they are going into a K-State situation thinking, ‘Okay, we can just relax and play here,'” Crum said. “They know K-State is a great team and we have to show up, ball handle and compete in order to make it a match that we can win.”

Constant communication is important, Koziol said.

“Whenever we communicate, we win. We just really have to focus on that,” Koziol said. “Our goals are just to compete for every ball and see what happens.”

Freshman middle blocker Katie Kruenegel and sophomore middle blocker Ashlie McWee led the Cyclone offense against Texas with 17 and 12 kills, respectively.

“We need to pass so we can run our middles,” Crum said. “If we can run our middles like we did in the match against Texas, then that makes a difference in what our outsides can do and how efficient we can be offensively.”