Sara Stribe transferred from Drake to Iowa State last year with the intention of playing basketball.

One year later, Stribe is still a one-sport athlete, but her sport of choice is volleyball.

Stribe announced last Friday that she will focus on volleyball for the remainder of her Cyclone career. Stribe competed as a freshman on the volleyball team last fall and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Due to NCAA transfer rules, Stribe had to sit out the basketball season, and she knew competing in two sports next year was going to be a difficult process.

“I needed to make a decision. When you’re at the Division I level and competing in the Big 12 Conference, it’s tough to play two sports. I think playing volleyball is the best choice for me. The seasons coincide for seven weeks, and next year it would’ve been unfair to both teams for me to miss parts of either one,” Stribe said.

Stribe was also thinking of her academics when she made the decision to go with only one sport.

“You’re here to get an education, and a lot of times athletes forget that. I think my academics would suffer if I competed in both sports,” Stribe said.

Cyclone volleyball coach Linda Grensing is obviously happy with the decision and has been surprised by the turn of events.

“Sara is a great kid, and she’d be a wonderful addition to any program. I think she has excellent potential as a volleyball player,” Grensing said.

“Initially last fall it was about giving her a competitive role while she was sitting out the basketball season. We didn’t have any expectations, but she had a good experience and decided to stick with it and it was surprising.”

Stribe competed on the Drake basketball team as a freshman and averaged 4.5 points and 5 rebounds a game. She was seen as a solid addition to the Cyclone women’s basketball roster.

“Sara made a decision that was the best thing for her. She’s a great asset for Iowa State, no matter what sport she’s playing. I don’t think there’s any doubt that she could’ve done well here in basketball,” said Cyclone women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly.

Stribe started the last 20 matches of the season at setter for the Cyclones and led the team with 563 assists and averaged 2.17 digs and 0.44 blocks per game.

Her highlight of the season came in a late season match with Missouri. Stribe broke the school’s three-game assist record by handing out 54 assists.

“I had so much fun this year. I was lucky to have the chance to play volleyball again this year, and it really made me appreciate it,” Stribe said.

Stribe was a standout volleyball player in high school at Carroll but hadn’t played competitively since then, and it took a while to get back into the flow.

“It was pretty tough to play again. I jumped in about seven weeks into the season, and I hadn’t touched a volleyball in like a year and a half. I was playing the position of setter, which runs the offense, so it was pretty challenging, but it was a good learning experience,” Stribe said.

Grensing also noticed some rust in Stribe’s game but liked what she saw over the course of the season.

“Sara was unpolished at first, but as the year went on, she made tremendous progress. She’s very talented and now that she’s focusing solely on volleyball, she’ll get even better,” Grensing said.

With the decision made, Stribe is now strictly a volleyball player and has high expectations for next season.

“I’ve been looking forward to next season for quite a while. We’re going to improve over the next couple of years, and I think we can be one of the better teams in the Big 12. I’m really excited to be part of the rebuilding process we got going,” Stribe said.