Iowa State makes the trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the second stop of its three-match road trip against the nation’s best Oklahoma State on Sunday.

The match on Sunday is a quick turnaround for the Cyclones, who lost 6-1 to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, Friday. The loss marked the sixth straight loss for the Cyclones, and their 2-6 record is the worst start since the 2012-13 season when the team went 7-15 overall.

After losing 39 matches in a row to the Cowgirls, Iowa State won last year’s match 4-2, earning its first victory against Oklahoma State ever. No. 1 Oklahoma State has started this season 12-0, including five wins against top-10 teams and 10 ranked victories overall.

The Cowgirls boast a roster that includes six nationally-ranked singles players and two top-15 doubles pairings. The strong singles group includes two top-10 ranked players, former Cyclone No. 4 Ange Oby Kajuru and No. 9 Anastasiya Komar.

Considering the Cyclones do not have any ranked players and some players are still searching for their first singles victory, this matchup does not bode well for them.

It is hard not to talk about Anna Supapitch Kuearum considering the caliber of play she has brought in the past month for the Cyclones.

Since the beginning of February, Kuearum has gone 3-1 from the first singles spot, two of which were ranked wins against Iowa’s then-No. 85 Daianne Hayashida and Kansas State’s No. 48 Vanesa Suarez. A win Sunday against a highly-ranked Cowgirl would boost Kuearum’s reputation even more.

If being heavy underdogs on paper was not enough, Iowa State has less than 48 hours to recover and regroup before taking on the tough Cowgirls. Travel and lack of recovery time puts the Cyclones at an even bigger disadvantage than they already were.

Iowa State’s second leg of its road trip against No. 1 Oklahoma State will kick off at noon Sunday.