After going 1-2 to start the season in the Heritage Classic, the ISU volleyball team will travel to Wichita State this weekend to compete in the Wichita State Tournament. The tournament, which begins today, features a five-team field with Iowa State taking on Montana at 9:30 a.m., Louisiana Tech at 2:30 p.m., and battling Butler and host Wichita State on Saturday in matches set to start at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. “We’re all very comparable teams if you look at the weekend they had, the opponents they played, and their schedules this weekend,” said head volleyball coach Linda Grensing. “We probably played a tougher tournament then they did in terms of Creighton being a junior, senior, pretty strong team and Idaho being a junior, senior, pretty strong team.” The Cyclones opening-game opponent Montana owns a 1-3 record after falling to St. Peter’s, Illinois State, and host University of Connecticut in last weekend’s Husky Classic. Montana swept New Orleans for their lone win on the season. Joy Pierce will be someone to watch this weekend as she’s recorded 40 kills for the Lady Griz. Tara Conner has 36 digs to pace Montana on defense. Iowa State’s second opponent, Louisiana Tech, dropped three out of four matches to Baylor, Rice, and North Texas while defeating Texas-Pan American last weekend in the Rice Invitational. Julie Mann leads Louisiana Tech with 45 kills and 51 digs. Butler had a little more success last weekend going 2-1 in its own invitational. Butler defeated Evansville and Cleveland State while falling to Depaul. Lynze Lysen earned all-tournament honors for Butler totaling 39 kills and 18 digs. Host Wichita State brings a 0-3 record into this weekend’s tournament. The Shockers dropped all three matches last weekend in the Oral Robert’s Invitational falling to Missouri, Oral Roberts, and Arkansas Little Rock. Carrie Gerth recorded 26 kills and 10 blocks while also having a .340 hitting percentage for Wichita State while Nicole May currently leads the team with 22 digs. Grensing seemed relatively content about the play of last weekend, but did recognize a few weaknesses that need improvement. “If we can be more consistent with first contact then that puts stability in your offense,” she said. “It puts you in the situation where you can score more points when you’re serving. I think the second area we want to get better at is in our offense having more consistency with our setters and our middle.” Sophomore hitter Sarah Rollman leads the Cyclones on the season totaling 29 kills, 20 digs, and three blocks on her way to all-tournament honors at the Heritage Classic. Sophomore Sara Stribe and senior Stacy Nicks also had big games in the Heritage Classic with Stribe dishing out 30 assists and six digs in a win over UNC-Greensboro and Nicks recording 15 kills for a .400 hitting percentage in the win. Grensing anticipates the Cyclones being ready this weekend. Both Idaho and Creighton are predicted to make the NCAA tournament, so meeting them in the first games of the season “was a good opener.” “When I look at our goal to go at the teams this weekend, I think we can be competitive against these teams,” Grensing said. “If we’re consistent when we compete against them, I think we have always put ourselves in the situation where we can take advantage of what they give us.”