Iowa State is looking to keep the momentum rolling as it hosts No. 14 Kansas.
The Cyclones grabbed two big road wins over TCU a week ago. Those victories put Iowa State back to a winning record in the Big 12 at 7-5 and 16-7 overall.
“Beating a team that was ahead of us in RPI was really helpful for our chances and our standing in the conference and just really for our confidence,” Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said.
A pair of road wins gave the Cyclones some much-needed momentum into the tall task that is Kansas. The Jayhawks are the fourth ranked team the Cyclones will play this season.
Against ranked opponents, Iowa State is 1-4. The lone ranked win was at home in five sets against No. 18 Baylor. The Cyclones also dropped their matchup to Creighton early in the season, both matchups to BYU and lost their second game of the series with Baylor.
Johnson-Lynch said the Cyclones will need to play a “complete match” in order to beat Kansas.
“Not that we have to play perfect, but we’ll have to play with a lot of confidence,” Johnson-Lynch said. “It’s going to take a lot of different things, but I think a lot of it is just playing as a team and playing with confidence.”
Kansas is 2-2 versus ranked teams, beating No. 20 Houston twice and losing to No. 8 Texas twice. In the Big 12, Kansas is 9-3 and currently second behind Texas.
The Jayhawks are hot right now, having won six straight matches. Their last loss was over a month ago in their second match against Texas.
Defensively, Kansas is one of the best in the Big 12. On average, opponents are hitting .186 against Kansas this season.
On offense, the Jayhawks average .271 hitting with nearly 14 kills per set. The Cyclones trail Kansas in nearly every stat category.
“They’re a good ball handling and passing team,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We need to try and get their setter off the net and try to slow them down a little bit while also passing on the net ourselves.”
The Cyclones may need to turn to Nayeli Gonzalez to lead the way to a win. Gonzalez won her third Big 12 Rookie of the Week award for her performance against TCU.
“I was really proud of how she bounced back this weekend. She’s been battling some injuries, and she really showed a lot of mental toughness,” Johnson-Lynch said.
Iowa State will take on Kansas at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
