Despite the disappointing record the Iowa State volleyball team has put together so far this year, improvement may not be all that far away.

A young team with many years of eligibility left, the Cyclones are going through some growing pains in 1998.

Improvement, however, is coming both in the players on the roster and through an impressive 1999 recruiting class.

Three of the Cyclones’ 1999 first-year players can hardly be called rookies, though.

Sophomore Lisa Kargus, junior Teri Williams and senior Sheila Lopez each have extensive volleyball experience, both at the high school and collegiate levels.

The trio has transferred to Iowa State for the 1998 school year but can’t begin playing with the team until ’99.

You see, Kargus, Williams and Lopez all played last season for the Lady Dukes of Duquesne University. When their mentor, Kerry Miller, accepted the head coaching position last Spring with the Cyclones, the trio’s loyalty to her and to her system led them to follow Kerry halfway across the nation.

“I never would have gone to Duquesne if it wasn’t for them [Kerry and husband, Scott Miller, an assistant coach],” Kargus said, “so when I found out they were leaving, I didn’t want to stay. I wanted to follow them here.”

Kargus, a Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 honoree in high school, was one of the most decorated prep stars in the state of Wisconsin in the last five years.

“I saw huge improvement in my game the year I played for them,” she said. “They’ve both played at very high levels of competition, they’re young enough to relate to us, they have a ton of experience and they know what they’re talking about.”

In her freshman season, Kargus led the Lady Dukes in assists with 878 and established herself as one of the most explosive servers in the nation, smashing 71 aces last year.

Williams played in Miller’s system two seasons, amassing 572 kills, 156 blocks and 478 digs in ’96 and ’97.

The rightside hitter out of San Diego, Calif., recognized her own improvement the last two seasons and appreciated the abilities of her teachers.

“They changed me from a middle blocker to a rightside hitter, and I’ve improved under them in every area,” Williams said. “They can step right in there on the court and challenge us and that’s important.”

Williams’ ability to pick up the clutch kill, dig or even assist will be a major asset to next year’s team, but her blocking ability is what truly sets her apart.

Lopez, the most experienced member of the trio, has been playing for coach Miller since 1995. The talented outside hitter from San Juan is also a member of the Puerto Rican national team.

Like her teammates, Lopez joined Duquesne to play for the Millers.

“I didn’t go to Duquesne because of their name,” Lopez said. “I went there because of the coaches. They said they saw talent in me, and they let me know they were going to push me all the time to succeed.

“Since the time I met them, I’ve improved 140,000 percent.”

This only seems like an exaggeration until you look at Lopez’s stats as a Lady Duke.

A first-team all-Atlantic 10 selection last year, Lopez leaves Duquesne as one of the most decorated players in the school’s history.

Lopez established herself as a prolific hitter as early as her freshman season but was hampered by tendonitis in both knees her sophomore year.

Lopez bounced back last year, though, to set the all-time Duquesne single-season kill record with 442, as well as leading the team in digs with 273.

The trio was excited to follow their coach to Ames, but their enthusiasm hit a major setback when they were informed that the Duquesne athletic department had not released them.

“Nine out of 10 volleyball players are released when they ask to be, so we didn’t expect to have to go through a hearing,” Williams said. “And to be denied was horrible. We never expected it.”

Brian Colleary, Duquesne’s athletic director, cited illegal recruiting methods as the reason for not releasing the trio to Iowa State, claims that remain unsupported.

Another reason for the decision seems much more likely.

“They were bitter,” Williams said, “that we decided to follow the person that brought us to their school in the first place.”

Duquesne did elect to release the women to any other school in the nation but didn’t release their decision until late August, at which point it was too late.

“[Colleary] managed to put our decision off from June 23rd to August 13th,” Kargus said, “so he could eliminate as many of our options as possible.”

“He said we were being emotional little girls who didn’t know what we really wanted,” Williams added. “That just fueled the fire.”

“They thought that if they kept their bad attitudes and kept ignoring our phone calls, we would eventually just give up,” Lopez said.

As a result of their not being released, the trio can’t play this season and, therefore, cannot receive their scholarships.

“We’re not allowed to travel, we don’t have uniforms, we don’t eat with the team, we pay for school and we live off campus,” Williams said. “We’re voluntary practice athletes.”

Despite their poor experience with Colleary and Duquesne University, the trio is upbeat about next season and their tough Big 12 competition.

“We knew that if we stayed at Duquesne, we could have been on top of the conference right now,” Lopez said.

“We decided it was more important to challenge ourselves with higher competition,” Williams added.

The three will face tougher competition next season and will make the Cyclones more competitive for years to come.