The ISU volleyball team is returning to Big 12 play tonight at Kansas after defeating nonconference foe Drake 3-0 on Wednesday.

The game is part of Kansas’ kickoff to the basketball season, Late Night in the Phog.

“Kansas has always been a great match,” head coach Linda Crum said. “They are going to have a big crowd with the kickoff for Midnight Madness.

“It is going to be a competitive match for us. Our biggest thing is that we need to go in, play hard and play each ball one at a time and I think we have a chance to be very competitive.”

Kansas is coming off a 3-2 loss to No. 22 Texas A&M.

The Jayhawks are 12-7 overall and 4-4 in Big 12 Conference action. Iowa State is 10-9 overall and 2-6 in league play.

“It is going to be a quick turnaround, so we are going to have to get focused right away,” senior Renae Pruess said.

“We know that they are a good team, but it is realistic that we can beat them.”

Kansas has been without the services of its leading outside hitter, freshman Janaina Correa, who was injured last week at Oklahoma and is listed as questionable. She had been averaging 3.9 kills per game.

Junior Jill Dorsey is averaging 3.7 digs per game for the Jayhawks and is currently ranked third in the Big 12.

“They are solid,” Crum said. “They’ve had some real significant wins over ranked opponents and are about halfway in the Big 12 in where they stand.”

Sophomore Ashlie McWee said the Drake win was good for Iowa State’s confidence.

“[The Drake win] is good to get us back into the Big 12 and we are looking for the ‘W’ in Kansas too,” McWee said. “They are a very good team, very aggressive. We’ll be back to seeing big blocks and a faster-paced game.”

Crum said she has been challenging the team in practices to play and practice harder.

“For us it is important to get more competitive in practice, especially at this time because October gets to be the tough point in your season,” Crum said. “You’ve been going a long time and you don’t really see the finish.

“To really keep yourself sharp and fresh is really important for us in the Big 12 because it will give us an opportunity to go after some Big 12 teams that aren’t maybe as focused right now.”

Players who hadn’t seen much game time were able to play during the Drake game, and Crum said practices will be a factor in choosing the starting six.

“Switching the lineup is really determined by who shows up every day and how aggressively they pursue things in practice and I think that is exactly where we want to be,” Crum said. “That has been our goal.

“We’ve wanted to be that competitive so that on any given night we can say ‘This is who the starter is’ and I think we got that this week in practice and I think it was a really good team week for us.”