For the first time in six years, the ISU volleyball team will officially take the court Friday against intrastate rival Iowa.

The two teams will meet at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum in the second game of the Cyclone Challenge. The game will rekindle a 30-year rivalry between the two programs, and will be the first time ISU head coach Linda Crum will enter the face-off as a Cyclone.

“I’m excited about reviving the rivalry,” Crum said.

After growing up in Davenport and playing her collegiate career as a starter, team captain and team Most Valuable Player for the Hawkeyes, Crum knows this rivalry “is huge — a big, big deal.”

Though the Cyclones have faced the Hawkeyes in unofficial spring scrimmages the past few years, the two schools have not met in scheduled NCAA play since 1997, where the Hawkeyes left Ames with a 3-0 victory. Crum said the Iowa athletic department has declined invitations to meet the Cyclones in nonconference scheduled play.

She added that although NCAA rules and various tournaments leave both teams with rather inflexible non-conference schedules, Iowa “hasn’t worked very hard” to schedule the matchup in recent years.

First-year Iowa assistant coach Chris Gonzalez said the Iowa team will “try not to get caught up in the intrastate rivalry,” but rather view it as another game to improve the its level of play.

“Our goal is just to get better every game … focusing on our own improvement and focusing on our own sense of identity,” Gonzalez said.

Although Crum’s primary focus is on a victory for her team, she said she knows how important this rivalry is to her program and its fans. Crum said once Cyclone fans saw that Iowa was listed on the schedule, the inherent school rivalry instantly surfaced.

Crum said placing Iowa on the schedule has sparked some added interest in this year’s Cyclone Challenge and her program. People took notice immediately and were very enthusiastic about the team playing Iowa, she said.

“People are really supportive [of the matchup],” Crum said.

Intrastate rivalry is very important, Crum said, because it helps promote an image of one’s team in the state and establish where a team stacks up inside the state.

Crum said the Cyclones will also compete against intrastate rivals Drake and No. 6 Northern Iowa later this season. However, she said she believes the Iowa State-Iowa rivalry is always “the most special.”

Even though a win over the Hawkeyes would not be as significant to the collegiate volleyball community as a win over the nationally-ranked Panthers, Crum said, many fans will accept a loss against volleyball-powerhouse Northern Iowa as long as they can claim the Cyclones topped the Hawkeyes.

The ISU athletic department set up the home tournament to showcase the Iowa State-Iowa matchup on Friday night, avoiding time conflicts with the Iowa State-Ohio football game on Saturday.

The last time Crum took a team to the court in an Iowa State-Iowa match was in 1986, when she saw Iowa beat the Cyclones as Iowa’s student assistant coach. Over the course of her collegiate playing career as a Hawkeye, Crum helped lead Iowa to three victories against the Cyclones.

Crum said she will always be fond of Iowa. But when coaches face their alma maters, they see their former teams simply as competitive opportunities, she said.

“I wish [Iowa] a great rest of the season — just after we beat them,” said Crum.

The Cyclones enter the Cyclone Challenge after claiming the Heritage Classic title last weekend with wins over Creighton, McNeese State and Auburn. The Hawkeyes, who lead the all-time Iowa State-Iowa series 21-15, enter the rivalry with a 2-1 record.

Saturday, Iowa State will face Western Illinois (0-3) at 11 a.m. and Kentucky (2-1) at 4 p.m. Iowa, Western Illinois and Kentucky will participate in round-robin play before each of the Cyclones’ matches.