Iowa State volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch pulled Hali Hillegas to the side an hour before the start of a September game at West Virginia last season.

What Johnson-Lynch said to Hillegas, the 5-foot-6 Charles City native garnered no response. All she gave was a blank stare and had a millions of things running through her mind.

Hillegas could only think of one thing to do, call her mom.

“Oh my gosh,” Hillegas said once her mom picked up.

Following that opening phrase, Hillegas told her mom that she was starting for the first time in her Iowa State career.

“I was like, ‘You will have to miss it but I hope you can watch.’,” Hillegas said.

Hillegas started at libero in that match against West Virginia. A position she was still getting used to.

Back in high school, Hillegas was a hitter and setter. She led her team in kills as a senior, recording 330 with a .451 hitting percentage. 

In 2001, the Big 12 decided to give out an award to the conference’s best libero. Seven years passed before Iowa State would claim a Libero of the Year award. But once it did, the team dominated the award.

Ever since 2008, the libero position has been the Cyclones forte. Iowa State produced the likes of Katie Churm, Ashley Mass, Kristen Hahn and Caitlin Nolan, all who could make claims that they were the best in the nation at the libero position. Last year, libero was not the strength for Iowa State. It struggled to replace Nolan for most of the first half of the season.

The Cyclones went with Branen Berta and Abby Phillips to begin the year. Both lost the starting position to Hillegas because of injury and poor performance. 

Despite the greenness at the position, Hillegas impressed in her first start. The freshman then recorded 16 digs in the Cyclones 3-2 win over the Mountaineers. That performance earned her the starting role, and she ran with it.

“We moved Hali (Hillegas) to that spot last year because she deserved it,” Johnson-Lynch said. “If you looked at her numbers in practice and her consistency, it was a no brainer for us.”

Hillegas started the last 16 games for Iowa State last season. She earned two Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week and three Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors.

The redshirt sophomore finished the year as the team’s leader in digs, with 413 and 3.93 per set. Hillegas also finished the year with 17 straight matches with at least 10 digs, including an Iowa State freshman record 33 digs against No. 4 Kansas.

Hali Hillegas is her name. Digging balls & breaking records is her game! @CycloneVB #CycloneTop10Nominee https://t.co/RzjORvS9zf

— Cyclones.tv (@CyclonesTV) December 1, 2016

That season ending performance helped Hillegas earn Big 12 All-Freshman Team honors, which shocked her.

“A little bit,” Hillegas said. “I did not play a whole lot at the beginning of the season. So, just having that honor was awesome.”

Hillegas really credits her success to her redshirt year. That season, she played behind and learned from then senior Caitlin Nolan–who won the Big 12 Libero of the Year award that season.

“Definitely, leaps and bounds,” Hillegas said. “Coming in here, I have never played libero before. Servicing was not my forte. So, taking that year and just really getting reps in really helped a lot.”

The transition from being a setter in high school to becoming a collegiate libero was a difficult one for Hillegas. She had to adapt to the mindset that she has to make a perfect pass every time to ensure that Iowa State’s success. 

Once she got used to that mindset, Hillegas’ play started to get better as she got more comfortable with the role.

“I thought she kind of took it and ran with it,” Johnson-Lynch said.

While Hillegas succeeded, Johnson-Lynch has stated she will have to compete for the spot. During the spring season, Hillegas shared the role with sophomore Sami Hillmer. However, this offseason, Johnson-Lynch has seen Hillegas pick up her play from where she left off in the fall.

“I think you can expect another level from her this season,” Johnson-Lynch said.

The next level in Hillegas’ mind is reestablishing the libero tradition at Iowa State by winning the Libero of the Year.

Johnson-Lynch believes Hillegas has what it takes to win the Big 12 Libero of the Year award. Hillegas is such a steady player which makes for a great libero in Johnson-Lynch’s mind.

While the goal is to win the libero honor, that is not the most important thing for Hillegas. She would rather win a conference championship first.

“Winning a Big 12 title and then making the NCAAs,” Hillegas said.