Iowa State volleyball team heads to NCAA tournament

Tomorrow night's NCAA tournament crowd at the Qwest Center in Omaha could be the largest an Iowa State volleyball team has seen.

“There's going to be a lot of people,” ISU Coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said, “most of whom will be rooting against us.”

ISU's opponent is a Nebraska team that will have a decided advantage in the 7 p.m. match. It took the Cyclones (27-4) an incredible 75 tries before finally beating the Huskers for the first time Oct. 21.

The pressure is on Nebraska, which comes in with a top-10 national ranking, a 25-6 record and a storied history of NCAA success.

“They have the home court advantage,” said middle blocker Jamie Straube, one of four Nebraska natives on ISU's roster. “I don't think anyone expects us to come in and be able to win against a crowd like that.”

The Cyclones advanced to the round of 16 for the third straight season with home court victories over George Mason and Wichita State last weekend in Ames. They were the odds-on favorite, a role this team isn't used to playing. Things will be back to normal tonight.

“We get nervous and tense when we are supposed to win,” said senior setter Kaylee Manns. “We are more relaxed when we are the underdog.”

The teams split the season series in Big 12 play, with each winning on the other's home floor. The Cyclones have been red-hot since that Nov. 7 loss to the Cornhuskers, winning all seven matches in straight sets.

“We're ready to prove we are the better team,” Manns said.

The winner will play either Texas or Texas A&M - both of whom ISU has beaten - Saturday for a berth in the Final Four in Tampa, Fla.

Four Big 12 teams were placed in the same region, an odd but unavoidable situation. Johnson-Lynch said unlike the men's and women's basketball tournaments, the NCAA volleyball committee is not allowed to manipulate seeds to avoid match-ups of teams from the same conference.

“It's probably not fair, but there's nothing we can do about it now,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We are better off spending our energy on preparing.”

There should be a good chunk of Cyclone fans in attendance. Johnson-Lynch is a native of Omaha and played at Nebraska in the 1990s. She was the starting setter on the Huskers' 1995 NCAA championship team.

This already has been the most successful season in ISU history.

“To play a very good team that is playing well right now, on its home court, is a tough task for us,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We'll have to put out a great effort.”