The Iowa State volleyball team wrapped up its season with three conference games over break. Unfortunately, the Cyclones ended the season on a down note after losing to Oklahoma, Kansas and Kansas State in three matches.

Coach Jackie Nunez said the primary reason the team struggled during the break’s matches and throughout the entire season is because of its youth.

“Our players are young and they need an enormous amount of training and development,” Nunez said.

Cyclone freshman Stacy Nicks agreed. “Experience is a key factor in how you play. We just didn’t have that much experience this year.”

The team played its last home match Nov. 22 against Oklahoma in the Forker Building. Right-side hitter Heidi Rogers, the Cyclones’ lone senior, was honored before the match.

Rogers, a Coralville native, came to ISU as a walk-on and was a defensive specialist before she settled on the right-side hitter position.

She led the team in digs four times this year and recorded six double-figure kill or dig matches. She reached a career high 18 digs against Creighton and a career high 12 kills against Missouri.

But Rogers’ experience and qualifications couldn’t balance the play of the young Cyclone squad.

ISU lost the match to Oklahoma 15-13, 15-9, 15-11.

Junior outside hitter Colleen Henican led the offense with 16 kills. She also led the defense with 16 digs.

Sophomore Andrea Thul contributed nine kills and eight digs. Junior setter Julie McGrath set 23 assists and made nine digs.

Iowa State hit .094 for the night while the Sooners hit .203.

Michelle Peterson, Patrice Arrington and Tanisha Webster all recorded double-digit kills for Oklahoma.

The Cyclones then traveled to Kansas on Nov. 28 and 29. ISU first lost to the Jayhawks 15-9, 15-2, 15-7 and then was defeated by the Wildcats 15-4, 15-3, 15-8.

Henican led the team in kills against Kansas with 12. Thul added eight and freshman Jennifer Collins nailed six.

McGrath and Sara Walters shared setting duties. McGrath set 25 assists while Walters set six.

Rogers led the Cyclone defense with 13 digs. Henican totaled eight digs and McGrath recorded five.

ISU hit for only a .110 percentage, while the Jayhawks hit .439. Kansas was led by Maggie Morhfeld, who hit .650 with 13 kills, and Mary Beth Albrecht, who hit .364 with 11 kills.

The Cyclones also struggled against the Kansas State Wildcats.

The team pounded only 15 kills against the Wildcats and finished the night hitting .083. Kansas State hit .403 for the match.

Henican again led the way with six kills and Collins added four more. Henican and Rogers both scooped up four digs.

Freshman Kelly Cizek had three digs while freshman Nicks had three digs and three blocks.

McGrath said the weekend losses were not how the team expected to finish the season.

“We didn’t really connect well with each other. The discipline wasn’t there in the execution,” she said.

McGrath said she does not think any of the netters felt they played their best game.

“We needed leaders to step up and nobody really did,” she said. “I don’t think anybody, including myself, was really happy with how we played.”

Nunez said once again, the team failed to sustain a high level of play during the matches.

The team finished with a 10-23 overall record and a 1-19 conference record.

Next year, all of ISU’s players return except for Rogers.

McGrath said the team, especially the freshmen, learned a lot from the season and the team’s final trio of losses.

“We have a lot of work to do this spring,” she said.