Five matches. That is how many matches the Iowa State volleyball team have left in the regular season. That is also how many contests the squad has to keep building its NCAA Tournament resume.

Out of those five matches, the Cyclones have three road matches. And all three of those road contests will be within two weeks of each other, which will be a challenging task for Iowa State.

“It’s going to be really hard this month,” middle blocker Samara West said. “Especially with road games and traveling that much. So, that might drain us out.”

The first road contest is against the West Virginia Mountaineers this Wednesday.

Last time Iowa State played West Virginia, the Cyclones defeated the Mountaineers in four sets. However, it could have been a sweep if the cardinal and gold didn’t get gassed in the third set.

“We just have to keep talking,” West said on avoiding getting gassed. “Focusing on our side and limit our errors.”

In that last match against West Virginia, Iowa State focused on eliminating Payton Caffrey and Mia Swanegan, who are the Mountaineers’ top outside hitter and middle blocker.

On the year, Caffrey and Swanegan are averaging 3.30 and 2.52 kills per set, respectively. But against the Cyclones, the two were only held to 13 and 11 kills in the match, giving them an average of 3.25 and 2.75 kills per set, respectively.

Entering this matchup, Iowa State will look to halt Caffrey and Swanegan’s impacts again.

“That is the game plan,” West said. “Try to take [Caffrey] out of the game by setting up good blocks, serving at her and tipping at her to get her out of plays. Also, [Swanegan] is pretty good too. So, we are planning on doing the same thing to her too. Get them out of system.”

While that’s the game plan entering Wednesday’s match, the Cyclones will look to right it’s wrongs after a disappointing Baylor match last Saturday.

Nothing went right for Iowa State in the loss against Baylor. The Cyclones were held to a .192 hitting percentage. None of the outside hitters could get going. The back row attack was also nonexistent. But, the biggest thing that did Iowa State in that game was the lack of tough serving. It couldn’t get the Bears off the net.

“[We have] to move forward,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “These next couple weeks are going to be challenging for us. We have three or four on the road. They are all important matches.”

Leading up to this Wednesday’s match, the Cyclones will be working on hitting different shots, hitting different angles, not just hitting straight ahead and making sure its serving and passing are crisp.

These last five matches will heavily determine whether Iowa State can host an opening round of the NCAA Tournament. However, the Cyclones can’t be worried about that when it takes on the Mountaineers. The team needs to be focused on the match at hand when it plays these last five matches.

“It’s really important to stay in the moment,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Stay in each drill, stay in each practice, stay in each day. If we focus on that, the wins and the seedings will take care of themselves. So, it’s important to stay in the moment.”