The Iowa State volleyball team met with the media on Tuesday morning. Here are some of the highlights from the interviews.

Positive Takeaways from Montana

Iowa State got off to a hot start on Friday of the Montana Invitational, winning both matches on the day against Gonzaga and Montana, respectively.

The Cyclones looked strong in both matches, winning six of the seven sets they played on the day. The team succeeded in thanks in large part to contributions from depth players such as Hannah Bailey, Meegan Hart and Jenna Brandt, who saw extended action because of a schedule quirk that forced Iowa State to play four games in three days.

However, when that fourth game came along on Saturday, Iowa State struggled to maintain leads and ultimately got swept by No. 21 Utah in straight sets. Despite the loss, head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch did find some positives to take away from an uneven Cyclone performance.

“I thought we were okay, we were hot and cold a little bit,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’re out-serving and passing and out-blocking our opponents, so that’s good.”

The main area Johnson-Lynch wants to see improvement in is offensive effectiveness, citing that the Cyclones struggled to get kills because they were stuck in some rotations, which caused teams to know where the ball was going.

Echoing what she said after the team’s loss to Oregon State, Johnson-Lynch also said that the loss to Utah served as an important measuring stick for the team and showed where improvements need to be made.

“We’ve definitely been exposed,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Utah did some things against us that no other team had done to us to that point, so that was great. Now we know some rotations we’ve really got to work on, because opponents coming up watch that film and they’re going to do the same thing to us.”

Hillegas wins player of the week

Hali Hillegas is no stranger to accolades, and she added another one to her resume this week.

For the seventh time in her career, the redshirt junior won Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week on Sunday after averaging nearly 20 digs per game this past week. Hillegas’ top performance came against Gonzaga on Friday, where she racked up 31 digs in a four-set win.

For Hillegas, the reigning Big 12 Libero of the Year, she said that the award served as validation that she’s finally up to full speed after missing much of the spring due to injury.

“It was a great feeling to get (the award),” Hillegas said. “It’s kind of been a struggle the first couple of weeks. I didn’t really have a spring to practice, but just coming back and being able to rely on my team has really given me a spark to get back where I was.”

More challenges ahead

Much has been said about Iowa State’s challenging schedule, and things won’t get any easier this weekend.

The Cyclones will face three quality opponents in three days to end the week, taking on No. 14 Creighton on Friday, Wichita State on Saturday and defending national champion Nebraska on Sunday.

The games against Creighton and Wichita State will take place Friday and Saturday in Omaha as part of the Bluejay Invitational. Iowa State will then travel to Lincoln on Sunday to try and knock off the Huskers at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, one of college volleyball’s toughest environments.

As a Nebraska alum and head coach of 14 years, Johnson-Lynch is aware of the challenges that both arenas will bring. However, she also added that the aforementioned tough schedule, especially with the team having just played in front of a sold out crowd at Northern Iowa, will help the Cyclones deal with the two environments.

“It gives you a tremendous amount of confidence that you can go in front of 7,000 hostile fans and keep your composure,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Every time you do that, I think it gives you a little bit of confidence the next time you’re in that atmosphere.”