No. 20 Wildcats Host Oklahoma Wednesday Night
Nov 16, 2004 | General
#20 Kansas State (17-8, 11-5)
vs. Oklahoma (11-14, 3-13)
Wednesday, November 17
Ahearn Field House
Manhattan, Kan.
Television: None.
Radio: Wednesday’s match will broadcast live on Sports Radio 1350 KMAN in Manhattan and online at k-statesports.com. Brian Smoller will handle the play-by-play.
Internet: Live Stats and a live webcast will be available at k-statesports.com.
Rankings: Kansas State is ranked 20th in this week’s USA Today/CSTV Top 25 poll. Oklahoma is not ranked.
Records: K-State enters the match with a 17-8 overall record, 11-5 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma is 11-14 and 3-13.
K-State Coach Suzie Fritz: Fritz (Florida Atlantic 94) is in her fourth year at Kansas State and owns a record of 88-30. The 2002 and 2003 Big 12 Coach of the Year is in her eighth season at K-State after spending her first four years as the program’s top assistant.
Series: Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 40-20-1, but Kansas State has won 11 in a row and 12 of the last 13 in the series. K-State is 9-14 all-time in Manhattan.
quick sets
The Wildcats, ranked 20th in this week’s USA TODAY/CSTV Poll, are currently fifth in the Big 12 standings at 11-5 heading into Wednesday night’s 7 p.m. match against Oklahoma.
quick look at the wildcats
The Wildcats are ranked 20th nationally this week... K-State’s school-record 21-match home winning streak was snapped on 10/9 after a 3-0 loss to No. 11 Texas... K-State has produced at least 19 wins for nine straight seasons, including 20 wins in each of the last five... Senior Lisa Martin is fourth in the Big 12 and in hitting percentage at .360... Senior Vali Hejjas is hitting .271 with 342 kills through 25 matches... Freshman Angie Lastra has collected 10 or more digs in 23 of 25 matches this season, is averaging 4.17 digs per game and leads the Big 12 and is 13th in the nation in service aces with 54 (.60 sapg)... Kansas State is 15th in the nation in blocks, averaging 3.03 per game, led by Joy Hamlin’s 1.44 bpg average.
quick look at the sooners
Oklahoma enters the match with an 11-14 overall record and a 3-13 mark in Big 12 play. The Sooners, who are hitting .195 as a team, are led by sophomore outside hitter Joanna Schmitt, who averages 4.08 kills a game. Two players, Anna Stadel and Laura Tomes, average over 1.25 blocks a game as the Sooners have averaged 2.70 blocks a game as a team.
hejjas joins 30-kill club
Vali Hejjas became just the sixth player in K-State history to record 30 kills in a match after she collected a career-high 30 in a 3-2 win at Baylor on November 13. The last time a Wildcat had eclipsed 30 kills was Lig Wegner back in 2000.
cats fire on all cylinders against buffs
Kansas State hit .326 for the match, led by seniors Vali Hejjas and Lisa Martin, collected 16 total blocks and served up 10 aces as the Wildcats defeated Colorado, 30-21, 30-11, 27-30, 30-19, before 1,007 fans on 11/10 at Ahearn Field House. Hejjas paced the Wildcats with 17 kills on .412 hitting and also collected 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the season, while Martin added 12 kills on .440 hitting with a team-high nine blocks. Four more Wildcats, Agata Rezende, Sandy Werner, Gabby Guerre and Rita Liliom, added six kills on the night. Guerre finished the night with 45 assists, eight digs, two service aces and three blocks to go along with her six kills. Rita Liliom, a freshman middle blocker making just her second start, hit .545 on the night and added seven blocks and three service aces.
guerre, wildcats storm past iowa state
SSenior Gabby Guerre recorded her first triple-double of the season and fifth of her career and senior Vali Hejjas added 21 kills on .315 hitting as No. 18 Kansas State defeated Iowa State, 30-26, 25-30, 30-20, 30-25, on 11/3 at Hilton Coliseum.
Guerre, who recorded her 10th kill on the night on the final point of the match, finished the night with 10 kills, 11 digs and 48 assists, giving her the fifth triple-double of her career, tying her with Kristin Martin for the school record in career triple feats. Hejjas turned in another solid night, finishing with 21 kills on 54 swings, both season highs. Freshman libero Angie Lastra collected 31 digs, the most in a four-game match this season in the Big 12, as she went over the 30-dig mark for the second time this season.
k-state continues dominance of jayhawks
Senior Vali Hejjas had 18 kills, including 12 in the first two games, and Agata Rezende pitched in 10 kills as No. 18 Kansas State swept in-state rival Kansas, 30-20, 30-19, 30-28, before a season-high 2,647 fans on 10/30 at Ahearn Field House. The win for Kansas State was the 20th straight over Kansas in the series as the Wildcats have not lost to the Jayhawks since the 1994 season. Hejjas paced K-State offensively Saturday as she tallied 18 kills on .286 hitting and added six digs. Rezende turned in her 10 kills on .208 hitting but also was a force at the net, finishing with six blocks. Joy Hamlin collected eight blocks and Lisa Martin six as K-State out-blocked Kansas, 15-9. Martin also pitched in seven kills on .333 hitting, while Gabby Guerre had another solid match, finishing with four kills, nine digs, three blocks and 35 assists.
guerre ties career triple-double mark
After collecting her first triple-double of the season on 11/3 against Iowa State, Gabby Guerre tied a school record with her fifth career triple-doubles. She tied Kristin Martin, who had five triple-doubles from 1986-1989.
no. 11 texas snaps 21-match home winning streak
Kansas State had no answer for Texas’ Mira Topic as the senior outside hitter tallied 25 kills last Saturday night to lead the No. 11 Longhorns to a 30-24, 32-30, 30-23, win over the No. 16 Wildcats before 1,682 fans at Ahearn Field House, snapping Kansas State’s 21-match home winning streak. Ironically, K-State’s last home loss was a 3-0 setback to the Longhorns back in 2002.
cats tame bears in 3-0 sweep
Kansas State collected 11 service aces, led by freshman Angie Lastra’s six, and 12.5 total blocks, as the No. 18 Wildcats swept Baylor, 30-22, 30-21, 30-26, on 10/20 at Ahearn Field House for their second straight win. K-State again went on the defensive as, after holding Texas Tech to -.017 hitting on Saturday, the Wildcats forced Baylor into 29 attack errors, including 12.5 K-State blocks, as the Bears were held to .019 hitting on Wednesday. Joy Hamlin led the charge with six blocks, while Lisa Martin had five and Agata Rezende and Sandy Werner each had four.
lastra serving it up
Freshman libero Angie Lastra is currently leading the Big 12 and is 13th in the nation in service aces with 54 (.60 sapg). In the first season of NCAA play in which the libero is allowed to serve, Lastra has moved into the K-State single season record books as her 54 aces are tied for the third-most in school history. She needs just one more to move all the way into second place on the list.
k-state among nation’s leaders in attendance
After 25 matches, Kansas State is ranked 19th nationally in attendance, averaging 1,500 fans so far at Ahearn Field House. Through 10 home matches, 15,002 fans have come to Ahearn with a season-high 2,647 for the October 30 win over Kansas.
the hungarian hammer: year two
A year after being named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Vali Hejjas again has established herself as one of the most complete outside hitters in the Big 12 Conference. So far in 2004, Hejjas is hitting .272 with 342 kills, has 30 service aces, 218 digs and 39 total blocks.
lastra making an immediate impact
Freshman libero Angie Lastra has quickly established herself as one of the league’s top liberos in just her first season of competition. Lastra is averaging 4.17 digs a game and has collected 10 or more digs in 23 of 25 matches this season. She also leads the team and Big 12 in service aces with 54 (.66 sapg) and is on track to move into the single season school records for aces and digs.
cats fight, but fall short of no. 4 huskers
After Kansas State took game one, 30-28, Nebraska used late runs in the final three games to pull away as the No. 4 Huskers knocked off the No. 16 Wildcats, 28-30, 30-21, 30-25, 30-23, on 10/13 before a season-high 2,123 fans at Ahearn Field House.
lastra comes up big in minnesota; named big 12 pow
Lastra became the first-ever libero to be named the Big 12 Player of the Week after a strong showing in four matches at the Diet Coke Classic. Lastra, a freshman from Carolina, Puerto Rico, recorded 84 digs on the week and averaged a whopping 5.69 digs per game against three of the nation’s top teams at the Diet Coke Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. Against then-No. 5 Minnesota, who is ranked No. 1 this week, Lastra set a new Wildcat five-game match record with 36 digs and also collected seven service aces on the weekend. She posted 10 or more digs in all four matches for the week and also had two 25-plus dig matches and one 35-plus dig performance.
deja vu, all over again
K-State battled No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Minnesota to the final points at the Diet Coke Classic on 9/9 and 9/10, dropping two close five gamers by the score of 15-13. The Wildcats took 2-1 leads in both matches before falling 13-15 in both fifth games. After the weekend, Minnesota, who knocked off K-State and Florida, moved up to the No. 1 spot in the national rankings.
hejjas hammers competition in houston, named big 12 player of the week
Senior outside hitter Vali Hejjas totalled 58 kills on .358 hitting in four matches, Wildcats to a 3-1 start. Hejjas opened up the Houston Tournament with 21 kills, her third career 20-kill match, on a sizzling .529 hitting percentage in a 3-0 win over Maryland. For her efforts, Hejjas was named the Big 12's Player of the Week for the second time in her career.
wildcat block party
So far in 2004, the Wildcats have collected 279 team blocks (3.03 bpg) as a team, compared to just 221 for their opponents. Kansas State has collected 10 or more team blocks in 17 of 25 matches, including a team-high 20 against No. 5 Minnesota. Individually, Lisa Martin (1.41 bpg) and Joy Hamlin (1.44) are both among the Big 12 Conference leaders in blocks.
ace in the hole
The Wildcats have been aggressive from behind the service line in 2004 as K-State has collected 179 service aces, tops in the Big 12 Conference, to just 106 for its opponents through 25 matches. Freshman libero Angie Lastra has led the way with 54 of those 179 aces, also tops in the Big 12 Conference.
guerre chasing assist records
Entering her senior season, Gabby Guerre is on pace to become one of the top setters statistically in school history. The Houston, Texas, native currently has 4,695 career assists, including 1,017 so far in 2004. She needs 203 more to pass Disney Bronnenberg for second place all-time. The all-time career leader is Devon Ryning, who accumulated 5,132 from 1994-1997.
wildcats gunning for record ninth straight postseason berth
Entering the 2004 season, Kansas State has advanced to the NCAA tournament a school-record eight straight seasons. Also, the Wildcats have won at least 19 matches for the past nine seasons, including eight 20-win seasons and last year’s 30-win season.
home sweet home
Kansas State finished the 2003 season with a perfect 16-0 record at home for the first time in school history and ran the streak to 21 straight after a win over Iowa State on 10/2. But, No. 11 Texas then snapped the streak on 10/9 with a 3-0 win over the Wildcats at Ahearn Field House. For the past nine seasons, the Wildcats are 111-24 at home and are 61-7 since the 2000 season.
martin manning the middle
Senior Lisa Martin, a 2003 Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection, will move into a leadership role in 2004 as she will be the main force in the middle after All-American Lauren Goehring’s departure. Martin amassed 136 block assists in 2003 and is currently fifth in the K-State record books in block assists with 366. She headed into the season with 245 career block assists and has 121 so far in 2004. Martin has led Kansas State the past two seasons in block assists with 100 back in 2002 and 136 last season. Lisa is also the Big 12’s fourth-most efficient hitter this season at .360 and is among the career leaders in hitting percentage as her .318 percentage currently ranks her fifth all-time.
k-state opens with 3-0 win over oral roberts
14th-ranked Kansas State opened up the 2004 season with a 3-0 sweep of Oral Roberts, 30-28, 30-23, 30-21, Wednesday night before 1,282 fans at Ahearn Field House and upped its current home winning streak to a record 17 matches. The Wildcats were led Wednesday by senior Michaela Franklin and sophomore Sandy Werner. Franklin, a right-side attacker, came in and propelled Kansas State early with some key kills. The senior finished the night with eight kills on .500 hitting, while Werner, an outside hitter, was the lone Wildcat to tally 10 kills. Werner finished the night with two digs, three blocks and hit .241.
cats receive highest preseason ranking
The No. 14 preseason ranking in the 2004 USA Today/CSTV poll is the highest in the history of Kansas State volleyball and marks the sixth straight season that the Wildcats have been present in the poll. Kansas State opened the 1999 season ranked 23rd and was ranked 17th in 2000, 19th in 2001, 22nd in 2002 and 15th last season. Other Big 12 teams making the top 25 were Nebraska (2nd) and Texas A&M (15th). Four other Big 12 teams, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Colorado, received votes in the poll, while four non-conference opponents for the Wildcats checked in the poll as well as Florida was ranked fourth, Minnesota fifth, California 10th and Northern Iowa 21st.
wildcats face tough slate in big 12 defense
The defense of the 2003 Big 12 title will not be easy as Kansas State plays one its toughest non-conference and conference schedules in recent years, which includes 13 home matches and 15 matches against 2003 NCAA tournament teams. The Wildcats will open the season September 1 at home when Oral Roberts visits Ahearn Field House for a 7 p.m. match. After facing NCAA tournament teams Maryland and California, along with Houston at the Houston Tournament on September 3-4, the Wildcats will host Wichita State at Ahearn Field House on September 7. The Wildcats finished the 2003 season undefeated at home (16-0) for the first time in school history. On September 9-11, K-State heads to Minnesota for the Diet Coke Invitational where it will square off against two 2003 Final Four teams, Minnesota and Florida, as well as 2003 NCAA tournament qualifier Northern Iowa. The Wildcats open up conference play September 15 at Colorado before hosting North Dakota State in the final non-conference home match on September 16. The Cats will welcome Texas A&M to Manhattan on September 22 in the first conference home match before heading to Missouri on September 25. The month of October will have five home conference matches with Iowa State, Texas, Nebraska, Baylor and Kansas making trips to Ahearn.
k-state returns eight from 2003, welcomes eight newcomers
Though the loss of four key seniors from last season’s Big 12 Championship team certainly will be noticeable, the cupboard certainly is not bare for head coach Suzie Fritz and company as eight letterwinners return from a year ago. Among the eight are 2003 Honorable Mention AVCA All-American setter Gabby Guerre, 2003 Big 12 Newcomer of the year Vali Hejjas, an outside hitter and Honorable Mention All-Big 12 middle blocker Lisa Martin. Other players returning that saw playing time a year ago include outside hitters Michaela Franklin, Katie Stanzel and Sandy Werner, middle blocker Joy Hamlin and outside hitter/defensive specialist Jamie Perkins. Also, Fritz and company signed perhaps the largest recruiting class in school history as eight newcomers will join the program in 2004. Among the high lighted newcomers are right side hitter Agata Rezende, a junior college transfer from Western Nebraska, freshman setter Stacey Spiegelberg, who participated in spring practice after graduating high school early and defensive specialists Angie Lastra and Lauren Rosenthal. Also joining the Wildcats are middle blockers Megan Farr and Megan Kroeker, outside hitter Jenny Jantsch and defensive specialist Leslie Townsend.
cats successful on the court and in the classroom
For the past three seasons, Kansas State has established itself as not only one of the top volleyball programs in the nation, but in the classroom as well. For the third straight season, Kansas State has finished the regular season ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll and has received the AVCA/Molten Team Academic Award. The award is given to programs who have at least a 3.3 team grade-point average for the entire school year.
fritz leaving her mark on k-state program
One of the nation’s youngest head coaches, Suzie Fritz became the fastest coach in Kansas State school history to reach both 50 and 70 wins and also guided the Wildcats to their first-ever conference title in 2003. Fritz also became the first coach in school history to be named the league’s coach of the year for two straight seasons (2002 and 2003). In 2003, Fritz also became the first KSU coach to earn Region Coach of the Year honors. In three-plus seasons, Fritz has compiled an 88-30 overall record and a 60-16 mark in Big 12 play.
internationally speaking
Senior Vali Hejjas was the lone Wildcat last season to hail from another country, but recruiting coordinator Justin Ingram added three more players from other countries, giving the Wildcats four for 2004. Joining Hejjas this season is RS Agata Rezende, a native of Franca, Brazil, MB Rita Liliom of Budapest, Hungary and DS/OH Angie Lastra from Puerto Rico.
wildcats on the air
Sports Radio 1350 KMAN will once again carry Kansas State volleyball on the radio as Brian Smoller enters his sixth season as the “Voice of the Wildcats.” All Big 12 matches and 12 of the 13 home matches in 2004 will be broadcast live on the radio and on the internet at k-statesports.com.
the suzie fritz show
Smoller will once again host the bi-weekly radio show, “Wildcat Volleyball Weekly,” on KMAN with head coach Suzie Fritz and selected players. The show will air every other Thursday evening, beginning September 2, from 6:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Sports Radio 1350 KMAN.
