Cyclones Open Season With Iowa State Challenge

AMES, Iowa - It was 265 days ago inside the UW Field House in Madison, Wisconsin that the Iowa State volleyball team saw its 2015 season come to an end at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship. That night, the journey began towards the 2016 season. Student-athletes and coaches departed and arrived, winter workouts were completed, the spring season happened, summer workouts went down and finally the fall practice schedule began two-and-a-half weeks ago. Everything done across all of those days came with one date in mind: Aug. 26, 2016 when Iowa State would be able to begin a new season and make another run towards the NCAA Championship.

That race begins again tomorrow, as the Iowa State volleyball team begins the 2016 season against Wichita State at 6:30 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum. The match is the first of the Iowa State Challenge, which also features the No. 18 Creighton Bluejays. ISU returns to Hilton on Sunday to take on the Jays at 2 p.m. Creighton and Wichita State will play on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum.

Led by head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, the Cyclones will be pursuing an 11th-straight appearance in the NCAA Volleyball Championship. The road there, like always under Johnson-Lynch's watch, will feature a challenging non-conference schedule that features seven matches against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, including both of this weekend's opponents. Creighton went to the program's first Sweet 16 in 2015.

Tickets to the Iowa State matches are $5, and can be purchased online here, or on the day of the match at the Hilton Coliseum Ticket Office at the lower Southwest corner of Hilton. Ticket purchasing options this year include both reserved and general admision tickets. The Creighton-Wichita State match on Saturday will have free admission, with doors opening at 3 p.m.

Friday's match against WSU will feature free admission for all students with an Iowa State Student I.D. Prior to the match, students can visit the free Student Luau outside the North entrance of Hilton Coliseum for free food, and to join Iowa State's volleyball student section, the CYd Out Crew. The CYd Out Crew has a new home in 2016, as they will now be in the lower portion of section 131. Students also receive free admission to Sunday's match against Creighton.

Both Iowa State matches will be shown live on Cyclones.TV Powered by Mediacom and on the Cyclones.TV Web Player. For more information about Cyclones.TV, and how to subscribe, click here. There will be no live video of the Wichita State-Creighton match.

Live stats for all Iowa State Challenge matches will be provided on cyclones.com. For live stats for ISU's two matches, please visit the schedule here. Live stats for the Wichita State-Creighton match can be found here.

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