Iowa State set to host the Princeton Tigers in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament

Garrett Kroeger
November 26, 2017

As the season wore on for the Iowa State volleyball team, the question of whether or not it could claim a top 16 seed and potentially host part of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament started to arise.

On Sunday night, the Cyclones finally got the answer to that question. The answer was that Iowa State is indeed one of the top 16 seeds, No. 14 to be exact, and will host a portion of the first and second round matches at Hilton Coliseum on Friday and Saturday.

“Hosting and getting a top 16 seed is pretty awesome,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. “I’m thrilled about that. And I’m pretty sure our team and program are thrilled about that.”

Every team that the Cyclones will potentially face in the tournament will be good. However, in the opening round, the Cyclones will take on the Princeton Tigers on Friday, December 1, at 7 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum. Now, Iowa State has yet to watch any tape on Princeton, but the Tigers are no slouch. Princeton won the Ivy League this year with a 10-4 conference record and it finished with a 18-7 regular season record.

Throughout the season, the Tigers have relied on right side hitter Maggie O’Connell and outside hitter Natasha Skov. During the regular season, O’Connell averaged 3.38 kills per set while Skov recorded 3.25 kills per set.

Looking at each team’s schedule this year, the Cyclones and the Tigers do share a common opponent in the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now, Iowa State defeated Iowa in four sets, while Princeton got swept by the Hawkeyes. Despite the differing results, the Cyclones won’t be overlooking Princeton come Friday.

“I don’t know anything about Princeton, so we will have to get to work,” Johnson-Lynch said. “But we will always respect our opponent.”

During the week, Iowa State will try to sharpen every aspect of its game. Making sure it has a tough serve, clean passing and so forth.

If the Cyclones do in fact defeat the Tigers, they will take on the winner of the Wisconsin-Marquette game. And Iowa State is familiar with both squads, as it took on Marquette a year ago and faced Wisconsin this pass spring.

While the Cyclones are excited that they qualified for their 12th straight NCAA Tournament, they are even more excited to host.

“Just an amazing feeling,” said Samara West. “I don’t even know how to describe it.”

For seniors like West, it provides them one last opportunity to play in Hilton Coliseum.

“I’m so happy we get to host,” West said. “For the seniors, just being able to play in Hilton one more time is just amazing, an amazing feeling. Hopefully, we can get Hilton really full.”