Wildcats Sweep Buffs on Senior Day

MANHATTAN, Kan. - On Senior Day the Kansas State Wildcats gave Kelsey Chipman and Soriana Pacheco a win with strong performances across the board. K-State (11-17, 5-13 Big 12) swept Colorado (7-20, 2-15) 25-21, 25-15, 25-16 with both seniors shining in the win.

Chipman tallied a team-high 12 kills while hitting .444 without an error. She also added six digs, four block assists and a solo stuff. Pacheco had 36 assists and had three kills on dump attempts to catch the Buffaloes off guard on defense. Pacheco also had seven digs in the win.

"It's hard to imagine not coaching a volleyball team without Sori or Kelsey on it," said head coach Suzie Fritz. "They both played well and their teammates played well for them."

Libero Lauren Mathewson put together another strong performance on the back row to lead the team with 18 digs. Kathleen Ludwig added 12 digs and seven kills with a hitting percentage of .333. Vanessa Murray also had a good afternoon tallying 10 kills and seven digs hitting .308. The team combined to hit .280 in the win while holding Colorado to .122.

The Wildcats jumped on the Buffaloes early in each set building large leads right out of the gate. K-State was not able to continue the push, however, and Colorado fought back in the first set to keep it close. The Wildcats were able to put together more runs later in the second and third sets to hold off any charge from the Buffaloes to get the win.

"I would like to string more success together longer," Fritz said. "Early on I felt we did, but we did some things that hurt our momentum. I think we started all the games well. Overall it was a good effort and I'm happy with the win, but we made some mistakes I feel hurt us."

Chipman is now tied for 10^th in career block assists in Big 12 Conference history with 451. Her showing against Colorado came as no surprise to Fritz as Chipman has had some of her best matches against the Buffaloes throughout her career.

"Chipman is very good," Fritz said. "She always hits for a high efficiency, but I can't recall a bad performance she's had against Colorado."

The Wildcats will play one more home match before closing the season at Texas Tech next Saturday. K-State will play host to No. 9 Nebraska at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ahearn Field House to close out the home schedule.

- k-statesports.com -