With Iowa State due to visit Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, Iowa State is utilizing a bye this Wednesday to recover players and work on fundamentals, coming off a five-set loss to Baylor on Saturday.

Improving the small things

“We’re finding that teams are just scoring a lot of points directly off of our block, [we] block out of bounds,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

Against Baylor, Yossiana Pressley, a sophomore, recorded 39 kills against Iowa State, which set a personal record for Pressley and a school record for Baylor.

During the game which lasted five sets, Iowa State would bring as many as three blockers to try to shutdown, but Pressley was able to hit around and over the block and finished with a .390 hitting percentage.

In addition, Johnson-Lynch said she wants to involve the right side middle more on the attack and wants the setter to vary who she is feeding the ball to.

Outside hitter Jess Schaben, who is a two-time AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, leads Iowa State with 625 attack attempts. The player with the second most attempts is Eleanor Holthaus, who has 319 attempts.

Another aspect of the game Johnson-Lynch said she wants Iowa State to improve is their coverage in recovering balls that have been blocked back onto Iowa State’s side.

At this time, Johnson-Lynch said that Iowa State’s failures in that area is due to “bad discipline.”

“It’s little things, but if each player does one little thing per set that equals three or four points, that’s significant,” Johnson-Lynch said.

This season, Iowa State has struggled to separate from opponents at a consistent level.

The last three games in which the team has gone 1-2, Iowa State has averaged 2.1 blocks, 13.6 kills and a .258 hitting percentage per set, but their opponents have been averaging 1.8 blocks, 13.1 kills and a .251 hitting percentage.

Hali Hillegas, Iowa State’s Honorable Mention All-American libero, said the team also is utilizing the break to recover and spend time focusing on Iowa State’s next Big 12 opponent, Texas Tech.

Facing Texas Tech

After playing 16 games, Texas Tech is sitting at a 13-3 record and most recently beat Baylor 3-1.

Johnson-Lynch said Texas Tech isn’t a team carried by a star player like Baylor and is instead a complete team at every position.

“They’re usually a really scrappy team and they like to keep a lot of balls up so I think it’s just how much we can rally on and try to win those long rallies,” Hillegas said.

Of their players, Johnson-Lynch said their setter, Missy Owens, is good and keeps the block of opposing teams off balance with how she disperses the ball.

Owens is averaging 9.92 assists a set. Iowa State’s starting setter, Piper Mauck, is averaging 10.41 a set.

Johnson-Lynch said she wants Iowa State’s setter to do a better job distributing the ball on the attack.

Another challenge Iowa State could face in Lubbock is the atmosphere. Johnson-Lynch said the Raiders play in a large arena that can create a quieter game environment than most other team’s arenas.

She said this will require Iowa State to have to bring their own energy which is an area Iowa State has struggled with when they are down.

Against the Raiders, Johnson-Lynch said she wants to see the team change and have a consistent mentality throughout the game.

Closing out teams

In the last three games, Iowa State’s two losses have come in five sets with Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse coming after Iowa State jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

“I do think we tend to respond a little bit emotionally to stuff right now, so when we’re winning and we feel it we’re very loose and relaxed, but when we get pressure when we are down we tend to tighten up,” Johnson-Lynch said.

During practices, the Cyclones have emphasized players keeping composure and playing with the same energy and consistency whether they are winning or losing by a lot.

Freshman outside hitter Eleanor Holthaus said the team needs to find a way to play with a “groove” to have the team being buried due to poor energy.

“We’ve worked on lots of blocking and trying to take the pressure off of us and putting it on the other team. We just want to work together constantly and find a rhythm and work through that,” Holthaus said. “Stopping the runs is a big thing for us.”