The Iowa State women’s volleyball team split the tournament this weekend with two wins Friday and two losses Saturday.

In the Cyclones first match against Rutgers, the outcome of the match was determined in game four.

The Cyclones were down 13-5, came back and scored the last 10 points to take the match.

Senior Heidi Rogers said Friday, “Whenver we got down I didn’t get worried. I have confidence in my teammates. We can get the job done.”

In the second match of the day, the Cyclones were paired with the New Mexico Lobos.

Once again the Cyclones fell behind, but rallied to win the match in game three with a score of 17-15. After this match the ISU record improved to a 8-0.

Coach Jackie Nunez said, “My team is competent. We have great composure, great poise and great competitive spirit.”

She also complemented Andrea Thul’s and Virginia Hoss’ strong blocking in the matches.

However, the team’s strong spirit was not enough to conquer Central Michigan and Iowa.

The Cyclones suffered tough losses to both teams on Saturday.

In the match against Central Michigan, ISU came out strong in the first two games capturing early leads.

Unfortunately, those leads did not prove to be enough to overcome the Chippewas. Central Michigan took the match with scores of 16-14, 19-17, and 15-13.

Andrea Thul said that the team came out lax and was slow to start which spotted Central Michigan some points.

Nunez said, “Our execution broke down. Our offense was our strong point until today.”

When the Hawkeyes and the Cyclones took the court for the final match of the tournament, the expectations were high and the ISU players were looking for a win.

Similar to the Michigan matches, the Cyclone execution was on the down side and Iowa won the match in three games.

Jennifer Collins said that it was a tough loss to take, but throughout the tournament the team worked together and played well.

Shellie Davis, ISU middle blocker, regarded the weekend as a good learning experience.

She said she thinks that all the playing time from various tournaments will prepare the team for the tougher Big 12 matches.

Davis said that “the crowd was awesome and they kept us going through the tough times.”

In the overall tourney, the New Mexico Lobos took first place with a 3-1 record at the invitational.

The Iowa Hawkeyes also had a 3-1 tournament record, but in the tie breaking match New Mexico prevailed placing the Hawkeyes second.

In third place was the Central Michigan Chippewas posting a 2-2 record. Iowa State came in fourth with a 2-2 split.

Finally the Rutger Scarlet Knights rounded out the standings with an 0-4 showing in the invitational.

For the third time this season, Cyclone Colleen Henican earned a position on the all-tournament team for her strong weekend performance.

The Cyclones play in the Virginia tournament next weekend.

Collins said, “The team is going to come back next week against Virginia and play like we know we can.”

Nunez has high expectations for the rest of the season.

For now, she said that the team will focus on making improvements such as diversifying the offense.