The ISU volleyball team’s opening weekend was a mixed bag of success, defeat and the first taste of Division I play for ISU newcomers as coach Christy Johnson-Lynch juggled lineups, searching for the perfect combination.

“I had three different starting lineups this weekend,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I just have to figure out who should be part of that rotation.”

The No. 21 Cyclones went 2-1 in the Cyclone Invitational, which took place at Hilton Coliseum. They won their first match against the Dayton Flyers in four sets, (20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-21).

The second match against North Dakota played much the same, as Iowa State won in four sets (20-25, 25-15, 25-20, 26-24).

Then came the Marquette Golden Eagles, and the first ISU loss of the young season.

The Golden Eagles swept the Cyclones in three sets (25-20, 25-21, 26-24), and Iowa State’s offensive play doomed the team from the start.

“They had an incredible defense,” said freshman hitter Jess Schaben. “And we made quite a few errors in the first two sets that didn’t help us.”

Iowa State’s offensive hitting percentage was abysmal against Marquette — .075 percent during the course of the three games. Johnson-Lynch expected difficulties in that area, but she didn’t imagine her front line would struggle so mightily against the Golden Eagles.

“I did anticipate it being low, but not to that extent,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I didn’t know we were going to have troubles putting the ball away.”

Even when Iowa State’s offense was running smoothly, it still took a while to get going. The Cyclones lost the opening set in all three of their weekend matches.

Against Dayton, the Cyclones ramped up their play as the match rolled along, producing their best offensive showing in the third set with a .371 hitting percentage. They followed that effort in the fourth set with a .308 hitting percentage.

Johnson-Lynch attributed the slow starts to her own difficulties determining who should be the full-time starters and which player combinations would prove the most effective.

But that isn’t necessarily a bad problem to have. 

“My desk is covered with lineups,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Some creative, some traditional, that is the beauty of having a deep team.”

Injuries complicated lineup configurations at the Cyclone Invitational, however, flipping the problem of having too many worthy players to work with into one of talent scarcity. 

Junior outside hitter Ciara Capezio, who started the first match, went down with an ankle injury in the first set of the season. Johnson-Lynch also sat out sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker Alexis Conaway against North Dakota, who is battling an ankle injury of her own.

Right now, there are a lot of ideas running around in Johnson-Lynch’s head.

Johnson-Lynch is not only searching for a solution to the lineup puzzle, but is juggling schematic issues at the same time — weighing the cost/benefit of the 5-1, the traditional ISU system, against the less conventional 6-2 scheme, which was the saving grace of last year’s team.

Although there are some kinks that the Cyclones must work out before the Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville, Va., on Sept. 4 and 5, they showed flashes of what they can be when all the pieces come together.

“Imagine what we can do later on in the season,” said redshirt sophomore middle blocker Samara West.