The ISU volleyball team has a right to be worn out. After playing three matches in a seven-day stretch, they’ll play once more tonight when they host Kansas State.

Iowa State was originally scheduled for only two matches in the eight day span, but had two rescheduled as a result of the matches postponed after the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Despite the long road trips and late nights, junior Sara Stribe said that it’s just part of the game.

“The traveling is tough. We get back late . We’ve been gone a lot, and we’re just trying to catch up in classes, but everyone is going through that right now,” she said.

“Everybody had to make up matches, so it’s really not an excuse that we can use. We’re obviously tired, but it’s part of playing college volleyball.”

The Cyclones didn’t play well on Monday night falling, 3-0 (30-11, 30-22, and 30-21), to Missouri, but junior Mandi Harms said it wasn’t a matter of Iowa State being tired.

“We started off very slow. Our first game was terrible,” she said. “It went so fast, we didn’t even know what to do, and that’s what we need to work on. We need to go in there and be ready to play.”

Stribe agreed.

“We let them get out to a pretty big lead. It was just a little too much to come back on. We came back in the second game and played a lot better, but we need to start out our matches a lot better and be ready from the get-go, from game one instead of waiting for game two and game three to play better.

Harms recorded her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 12 digs to lead the Cyclones. Stribe also had a balanced game totaling 26 assists, four kills, two aces and four digs from her setter positon.

Harms said that although she had a solid game, she knows she, as well as the rest of the team, can play better.

“I’m still disappointed we lost,” she said. “I wish as a team, we could have played better and me play better, because I don’t think I had the best match of my life.”

Harms said she hopes tonight will be different.

“We need to go in [tonight] ready to play, like we’ve been able to play in practice every day,” she said. “We need to be able to transfer that into the game. That’s our goal, being able to play like we do in practice with confidence and aggressiveness.”

Kansas State brings an 8-5 overall record with a 4-3 mark in the Big 12 Conference into tonight’s match while the Cyclones are 3-9 and 0-7 in the Big 12. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.