On Sept. 27, the ISU volleyball team started a long roller coaster of a ride. Unfortunately for the Cyclones, it’s not the fun kind.

Iowa State (11-7, 3-4 Big 12) opened a Big 12 play that late-September day with a road loss to Texas Christian. It lost the next match to No. 2 Texas, and since then has alternated victories and defeats in conference play.

While the Cyclones have successfully defended home court in all three league matches at Hilton Coliseum, they have not been able to steal a contest on the road. To ISU coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, the latter has to change on Oct. 25 when the Cyclones head to Baylor.

“We’ve had now two really nice wins at home, in terms of the Big 12,” Johnson-Lynch said following Iowa State’s win against Kansas on Oct. 22. “Can we go do that on the road? I think that’s where we’ve struggled a little bit, is playing at a high level on the road [and] Baylor’s a good team.”

The hard-fought, come-from-behind victory on national TV gave the Cyclones their first taste of victory against a top-20 RPI team, a feat they had yet to accomplish in four prior attempts this season.

To libero Caitlin Nolan, the emotion from that win will be advantageous against Baylor (11-11, 1-6 Big 12).

“I think it’s going to be good. I think it’s going to [get] people excited,” Nolan said. “I feel like [the KU] game showed everybody what we can do so I think everybody’s excited and everybody’s going to come into practice [Thursday] wanting to be that good again.”

If the Cyclones are that good in Waco, Texas and come out with the win, not only will it be their first Big 12 road win of the year, but it will also put them at .500 in league play for the first time this year.

Since the conference only has nine teams that play volleyball, each team takes on every other team at home and on the road once. The Bears mark the midway point in conference play for Cyclones, who will then play 5-of-8 remaining matches at home to end the regular season.

Getting out of Baylor with a 4-4 Big 12 record could poise Iowa State for a big run to end the year.

“That would be awesome,” said outside hitter Ciara Capezio with a bit of a laugh. “We didn’t have a great start in the season, but we know it’s not about the beginning of the season – it’s about the end of the season. I think that what we’re striving for is to be great in the end.”

To accomplish that goal and get off the Big 12 roller coaster, Iowa State has to put its road woes in the rearview mirror and find a little Hilton magic down in Waco.

“We need to play this kind of level of volleyball on the road,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I’m not saying we’re not good on the road. I just don’t think we’ve played [in the Big 12] the level we can play at when we’ve traveled…We cannot continue to be up and down; we’ve got to maintain a level of play.”

The ISU volleyball team will round out the first half of Big 12 play when it heads south to face the Baylor Bears. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.