Cyclones Begin NCAAs Against Purdue Thursday

AMES, Iowa - It was only 96 days ago that 335 teams began the journey of the 2016 volleyball season. For Iowa State, the journey has been an adventure, with many peaks and valleys along the way. Thursday, however, a new journey begins for 64 teams with the start of the 2016 NCAA Volleyball Championship. For the Cyclones, the road to Columbus, Ohio begins in Columbia, Missouri and the Hearnes Center, where Iowa State will take on Purdue Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Iowa State will be competing for a spot in the second round of the tournament on Friday at 6 p.m., where ISU would play the winner of the No. 18 Missouri vs. Northern Illinois match that will also be taking place on Thursday.

All-session tickets for the matches on Thursday and Friday are on sale now through Mizzou Athletics, here. Single-match tickets will go on sale on the day of the matches, both online and aat the door at the Hearnes Center.

Thursday's match will be live streamed on ESPN3 via WatchESPN. For more information about ESPN3 and WatchESPN, click here.

Live stats will be provided by Missouri, here.

Iowa State enters the NCAA Volleyball Championship as one of the hottest teams in the country. After an 8-8 start, including 1-4 in the Big 12, ISU posted 10 wins in its final 12 matches to finish the regular season 18-10, and third in the Big 12 at 10-6. Reaching the tournament for the 11th-straight season, Christy Johnson-Lynch's Cyclones will look to build on past tournament success while setting the platform for making bigger steps in the postseason. Iowa State is 9-2 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Championship, including sweeps the past two seasons in the first round.

The Cyclones did receive one of their toughest first-round draws in the shape of Purdue. The Boilermakers out of the Big Ten finished the regular season 18-13 and 8-12 in conference play. Purdue was one of the stories of the non-confereence season, as they went out to Stanford to defeat the Cardinal in five sets and are one of only two teams to have beaten Kansas in 2016, defeating the Jayhawks in four sets in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Boilers have a strong 1-2 punch on offense in Danielle Cuttino and Faye Adelaja. Cuttino, an All-Big Ten selection, averaged 4.03 kills per set at a .264 hitting percentage on the pins, while Adelaja got her 2.26 kills per set at a .365 hitting percentage out of the middle.

Cyclones Begin NCAAs Against Purdue Thursday

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Cyclones Begin NCAAs Against Purdue Thursday

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