Wildcats Stuff Buffs in Win

BOULDER, Colo. - Kansas State saw a career night from freshman Alex Muff as she had 11 kills in a 3-1 win on the road over Colorado on Wednesday night. Muff surpassed her previous career-high of two kills and also tallied two block assists in the win 25-19, 19-25, 25-21, 25-17.

Muff was not the only bright spot for the Wildcats with four players reaching double digits in kills and libero Lauren Mathewson moving into ninth all-time in career digs at K-State. Middle blocker Kelsey Chipman shined again in Colorado with a team leading 16 kills and had four block assists and two solo stuffs. Chipman also hit an amazing .696 without an error. Outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm also had 16 kills. Mathewson posted 25 digs on the night - the 12^th 20-dig match of her career.

K-State (8-11, 2-7 Big 12) put together a complete team effort in the win hitting .248 on the night and a strong defensive effort with Caitlyn Donahue adding 14 digs to go along with Mathewson, and the K-State block accounted for 11.5 blocks. Colorado (6-13, 1-9) could not find a way to slow the attack from the middle blockers as K-State took advantage of openings on the slide and on the quick set up the middle all night.

Chisholm returned to form early in the match after an off-night against Kansas on Saturday as Chisholm pounded out seven kills in just the first set to help lead K-State to a 25-19 win over the Buffaloes out of the gate.

Chisholm hit .462 in the opening set and the rest of the team combined to hit .300 with setter Soriana Pacheco tallying 13 assists in the first set - also a strong performance for an individual set. K-State took advantage of that momentum from Chisholm to open a 17-11 lead in the first set going on a 5-0 run.

In the second set, the Wildcats were plagued by service errors allowing the Buffaloes to hang around. Then, Colorado found a rhythm on offense to go on a 7-2 run and open up a 17-12 lead. K-State rallied to pull within four points after a four-point run of its own, but could not overcome the lead of Colorado falling 25-19.

The big highlight for K-State during the second set was Mathewson, who tallied nine digs in the set alone to give her 12 for the match and pull herself within one of tying for third in school history for her career. Muff also pounded out four kills in the set en route to her career night.

K-State came out of the locker room sluggish in the third set falling behind 6-0 immediately. But the Wildcats would respond outscoring Colorado 12-7 to pull within one point at 13-12. K-State would later tie the set at 17 points apiece and go on a three-point run to take a 20-18 lead and force a Colorado timeout.

Out of the timeout, K-State would keep rolling with back-to-back kills from Chisholm for a five-point run and four-point lead. Colorado would score three of the next four points, however, to pull within two points and force K-State to take a timeout. The Wildcats would close out the set out their own timeout with back-to-back kills from Chipman as she became the third Wildcat to post double-digit kills in the run to win 25-21.

The Wildcats continued to pour on the attack with their middle blockers in the fourth set. Muff and Chipman kept the pressure on Colorado as Muff added a block and three block assists while Chipman pounded out five kills and two block assists in the set to close the door 25-17.

K-State will be back in action at home against No. 23 Baylor on Saturday with first serve set for 7 p.m. Saturday's match will be part of a Wildcat Weekend with K-State football taking on Colorado at 11:30 a.m. Fans can get into the volleyball match for just $3 with their ticket stub from Saturday's football game.