The Iowa State men’s club volleyball team has been having an impressive season so far, and are peaking at the right time ahead of the national meet this weekend. The team is ranked No. 9 in the nation right now, and have achieved the top-10 ranking by what they call unselfish play throughout the season.

The team has played in four different tournaments this semester. They placed third at both Iowa and Illinois, and placed third at their home tournament. In their final tournament, the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Championships last month at Northern Illinois, the Cyclones took second place.

Now heading into the national meet the Cyclones hope to continue its string of success.

“We all played strong together,” fifth-year senior Brendan Kelly said about the MIVA Championships. “We came out fighting and no one gave up on each other.”

Iowa State said it hopes to build off its recent success at the MIVA Championships last month, which is the second biggest tournament it competes in all season.

The Cyclones are built up of two fifth-year seniors, one grad student, two seniors, six juniors, and one sophomore, so the team have a lot of experience together. They hope to use that experience together to have one last strong showing this season.

“This was my first year on A team so this year I have been trying to prove to my team, and myself that I can play up,” junior Alex Mortimer said. “I have learned a lot from the older guys. At the MIVA Championships we played amazing together, and we also saw the defending champions, UW-Oshkosh lose, so anything is possible this Nationals.”

Nationals will be held at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, and Friday the team will play six games each, then on Saturday the team will play until they lose.

At nationals the Cyclones will be facing teams from across the nation, including Notre Dame, Ball State, Marquette, Kentucky, Southern California, Arizona, and four time defending National Champions UW-Oshkosh.

And even though the Cyclones are ranked in the top-10 and are garnering national attention in the collegiate club volleyball world, they aren’t letting it get to their heads. They know this meet is their last chance, and they said they won’t let it go to waste.

“Being ranked 9th puts a lot of pressure on our backs. Our goal for the nationals is to become national champions,” senior Aaron Hauser said. “This is our last big chance. We are losing five starters next year, so we are teaching the young players to fill in our footsteps. It’s all or nothing.”