Saturday, September 2
Manhattan, Kan.
1:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
2-4
0
vs
3
Wisconsin
5-0
1
2
3
F
Wisconsin
25
25
25
3
K-State
17
16
20
0
No. 6 Wisconsin Too Much for K-State Saturday
Sep 02, 2017 | Volleyball
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MANHATTAN, Kan. – The sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers were efficient on offense in a straight-set (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) victory over K-State Saturday afternoon at Ahearn Field House on the final day of the K-State Invitational.
Wisconsin (5-0), behind three players in double-figure kills, hit .436 on its way to a fifth consecutive sweep to begin the season. K-State's (2-4) losing streak hits four matches, its longest since dropping the final four matches of the 2015 season.
Wildcat senior Bryna Vogel, who was voted to the all-tournament team, finished with eight kills at a .227 clip. Redshirt junior Kylee Zumach was the only Wildcat to reach double-digit kills with 10 to go along with five digs. Junior Alyssa Schultejans finished with eight kills.
"That is a high-efficiency offensive machine right there," head coach Suzie Fritz said of Wisconsin. "I don't know if we can measure ourselves, necessarily. They're going to sideout, no matter who you put in front of them. We felt like we had to match them offensively. In game one, I thought we were okay. We hit for a high efficiency in game one. We've had our defensive struggles and it's an area of focus for us right now."
K-State posted its best offensive effort in the first set, as the Cats recorded 15 kills against just three errors on 35 swings (.343). Zumach posted five of her 10 kills in the opening set.
The Badgers led from start to finish in both sets one and three and reached 20 kills as team. UW had two attacking errors through the match's first two sets while accumulating 32 kills and finished with a 52-33 edge in total kills.
"It was hard to play a top-10 team like that and stay composed, "said Zumach. "It's hard when they are rolling like that to stop them. Our goal this weekend has been defense, defense, defense because we need to keep working on that to contend with those top team."
Wisconsin recorded 11 team blocks on the day, including six in a second set in which it forced K-State into as many attacking errors as it had kills (11) for a .000 hitting efficiency.
"They're a big team, they had their hands in the right places so it was hard to compete with that," Zumach added. "We are a young team. We would rather have our struggles early in the season than the end, so we are just going to keep working and come together as a team and find out what works for us."
Zumach registered the Wildcats' lone service ace. Defensively, sophomore middle blocker Elle Sandbothe had a team-best two blocks and junior libero Reilly Killeen led the Cats with nine digs. Setter Sarah Dixon dished out 20 assists.
"We are trying to get better," Fritz added. "The worklist right now, for us, is pretty long and the things that we have to do better. Our job is to try to prioritize that worklist and put the them in order that makes the most sense."
K-State will head to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational beginning Thursday, September 7. The Cats will face off with North Florida, Xavier and Georgia Tech. Fans can listen to all three K-State matches in Atlanta on KMAN 1350 AM with Friday's match at Georgia Tech airing on ACC Network Plus.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers were efficient on offense in a straight-set (25-17, 25-16, 25-20) victory over K-State Saturday afternoon at Ahearn Field House on the final day of the K-State Invitational.
Wisconsin (5-0), behind three players in double-figure kills, hit .436 on its way to a fifth consecutive sweep to begin the season. K-State's (2-4) losing streak hits four matches, its longest since dropping the final four matches of the 2015 season.
Wildcat senior Bryna Vogel, who was voted to the all-tournament team, finished with eight kills at a .227 clip. Redshirt junior Kylee Zumach was the only Wildcat to reach double-digit kills with 10 to go along with five digs. Junior Alyssa Schultejans finished with eight kills.
"That is a high-efficiency offensive machine right there," head coach Suzie Fritz said of Wisconsin. "I don't know if we can measure ourselves, necessarily. They're going to sideout, no matter who you put in front of them. We felt like we had to match them offensively. In game one, I thought we were okay. We hit for a high efficiency in game one. We've had our defensive struggles and it's an area of focus for us right now."
K-State posted its best offensive effort in the first set, as the Cats recorded 15 kills against just three errors on 35 swings (.343). Zumach posted five of her 10 kills in the opening set.
The Badgers led from start to finish in both sets one and three and reached 20 kills as team. UW had two attacking errors through the match's first two sets while accumulating 32 kills and finished with a 52-33 edge in total kills.
"It was hard to play a top-10 team like that and stay composed, "said Zumach. "It's hard when they are rolling like that to stop them. Our goal this weekend has been defense, defense, defense because we need to keep working on that to contend with those top team."
Wisconsin recorded 11 team blocks on the day, including six in a second set in which it forced K-State into as many attacking errors as it had kills (11) for a .000 hitting efficiency.
"They're a big team, they had their hands in the right places so it was hard to compete with that," Zumach added. "We are a young team. We would rather have our struggles early in the season than the end, so we are just going to keep working and come together as a team and find out what works for us."
Zumach registered the Wildcats' lone service ace. Defensively, sophomore middle blocker Elle Sandbothe had a team-best two blocks and junior libero Reilly Killeen led the Cats with nine digs. Setter Sarah Dixon dished out 20 assists.
"We are trying to get better," Fritz added. "The worklist right now, for us, is pretty long and the things that we have to do better. Our job is to try to prioritize that worklist and put the them in order that makes the most sense."
K-State will head to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational beginning Thursday, September 7. The Cats will face off with North Florida, Xavier and Georgia Tech. Fans can listen to all three K-State matches in Atlanta on KMAN 1350 AM with Friday's match at Georgia Tech airing on ACC Network Plus.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State posted a season-low .149 attacking efficiency while Wisconsin finished with a .436 hitting percentage.
- The Cats hit under .100 in sets two and three. Wisconsin hit over .390 in all three sets.
- Schultejans posted the highest hitting efficiency of any Wildcat with at least 10 attempts (.294).
- K-State had three service errors compared with one ace. UW had one ace and 11 errors.
- The Badgers had a 52-33 edge in total team kills and 49-29 advantage in team assists.
- Zumach led K-State in kills for the fifth time in six matches.
- Vogel's all-tournament selection was the fourth of her career.
- Wisconsin now leads the all-time series, 4-2, and have won the last four meetings dating back to 2000.
- The Cats and Badgers have now faced off each of the past three seasons with Wisconsin being ranked in the national's top 15.
- The four-match losing streak is K-State's longest since ending the 2015 season on a four-game skid.
- K-State is 0-3 at home for the first time in program history.
- K-State is under .500 for the first time since beginning the 2011 season 0-2.
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Team Stats
WIS
KSU
Kills
52
33
Errors
8
19
Attempts
101
94
Hitting %
.436
.149
Points
64.0
37.0
Assists
49
29
Aces
1
1
Blocks
11.0
3.0
Game Leaders
Kills
10
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
S
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DS/L
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
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/ VolleyballOH
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