Rainbow Wahine to test new lineup against Iowa State

Less than three hours away from the Iowa State campus is Dyersville, home to acres of cornfields, the Little Prairie Baseball League and, of course, the “Field of Dreams” movie site.

It didn’t take the Cyclones volleyball team long to figure out it wasn’t in heaven or Iowa anymore, not after hiking Diamond Head, visiting the Pearl Harbor Memorial, seeing whales during a catamaran cruise and enjoying plate lunches from a North Shore shrimp truck.

Today, the featured attraction will be the Stan Sheriff Center, college volleyball’s version of the “Field of Dreams,” where Hawaii was the national attendance leader from 1994 — when the arena opened — through 2012, and has been second to Nebraska the past three seasons.

Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch never played in the Sheriff Center during her All-America setting career at Nebraska, where she led to Huskers to the 1995 NCAA championship. The spring exhibition match against the Rainbow Wahine will be the daily highlight of a week full of highlights.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for most of our team,” Johnson-Lynch, in her 12th year at Ames, said. “We’ve loved our time here and we’re making the most of it.

“I watched Hawaii in Des Moines (the NCAA third and fourth rounds) and they’re really, really good. They’ve got a great right-side (junior opposite Nikki Taylor) and they’re physical. This is our first match after two weeks of training. We want to see where we’re at.”

The Cyclones return six starters from a 19-11 team that finished third in the Big 12 and lost to Wisconsin in the NCAA second round. The big loss is defensively, where Caitlin Nolan was the Big 12 Libero of the Year the past two years and second-team All-American as a senior.

“Replacing her is probably our biggest challenge,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We have three candidates competing for it and I like our options.”

Iowa State also has options at setter, where rising junior Monique Harris had the job most of the season after Johnson-Lynch switched from a 4-2 to a 5-1 offense. Suzanne Horner set the Cyclones as a sophomore in 2014 after transferring from Mississippi State and again will do battle with Harris.

There should be an intriguing matchup at middle today, where Hawaii pits 6-foot-3 sophomore Emily Maglio and 6-3 junior Annie Mitchem against All-Big 12 sophomores Samara West (6-4) and Alexis Conaway (6-foot), who are 1-2 in program single-season hitting percentage.

Jess Schaben, a 6-2 hitter, is the reigning Big 12 and AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year, leading the Cyclones last season with 345 kills (3.29 kps).

“We’re getting pretty experienced,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Hawaii graduated two seniors in hitter Tai Manu-Olevao and middle Olivia Magill, and also will be without sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley (shoulder surgery). Hawaii coach Dave Shoji expects to use all three middles — Maglio, Mitchem and redshirt freshman Natasha Burns — while freshman hitters McKenna Granato and Casey Castillo will be included in the passing formation.

“McKenna and Casey have shown improvement (passing), but it’s different in a game situation,” Shoji said. “They look good when taking reps (repetitions in practice). They’ll have a chance Friday to do it in a game.”

Both setters — junior Tayler Higgins and sophomore Kendra Koelsch — are expected to play in, but Koelsch likely will see time on the outside for a set.

“We want to give Nikki one game on the left (side),” Shoji said of moving his All-America opposite.

Mitchem, who missed the last 12 matches with a mangled pinkie finger, is happy to be back on the court. She missed Hawaii’s first run to the elite eight since the Wahine reached the national semifinals in 2009.

“I’m pretty excited,” the two-time national junior college player of the year said. “It’s been nice to be able to practice after finally getting done with this pinkie injury.”