Cats Eye Season Sweep of Sooners Wednesday
Nov 15, 2016 | Volleyball
GAME PREVIEW
NOV 16, 7:00 PM
Ahearn Field House
Manhattan, KS
NR
OKLAHOMA
SOONERS
14-12 (5-8 Big 12)
NR
K-STATE
WILDCATS
18-8 (7-6 Big 12)
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MANHATTAN,
Kan. – The Kansas State volleyball team returns home to Ahearn Field
House as it welcomes the Oklahoma Sooners for its second-to-last home match of
the season on Wednesday. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
K-State (18-8, 7-6 Big 12) took a four-set
decision in the season’s first meeting with the Sooners (14-12, 5-8) back on
Oct. 15. The Wildcats seek a season sweep of OU for the second straight year.
The match will be broadcast nationally on FOX College Sports
Central and worldwide on K-StateHD.TV, with Brian Smoller calling the action
and former Wildcat Liz Wegner-Busch serving as match analyst. Fans can also
listen to Rob Voelker call the match on local radio at 1350 KMAN and at k-statesports.com.
AT A
GLANCE
·
Kansas State returns to Ahearn
Field House for its second match with the Oklahoma Sooners (14-12, 5-8 Big 12)
on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
·
K-State claimed a four-set victory
in Norman in the season’s first meeting between the teams back on Oct. 15.
·
K-State looks to sweep the season
series with the Sooners for the second straight year.
·
K-State and Oklahoma are the top
two teams in the Big 12 in terms of assists/set.
·
The Wildcats and Sooners are both in
the top three of the league in kills/set.
·
Each team has five players
averaging better than 2.00 kills/set.
·
The match will be broadcast
nationally on FOX College Sports Central and world-wide on K-StateHD.TV.
·
Fans can also listen to the match
on local radio at 1350 KMAN and on K-StateSports.com.
LAST
TIME OUT
·
K-State snatched a five-set victory
(26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10) from West Virginia on Nov. 9 in Morgantown.
·
It was the second five-set match
the Wildcats have played in their last three outings.
·
The 18 wins on the season eclipses
last season’s total of 17.
·
The win snapped a season-long
two-match losing streak for the Cats.
·
K-State posted a season-best 18.0
team blocks in the win over the Mountaineers, led by freshman Elle Sandbothe
who tallied a career-high nine blocks.
·
K-State held its opponent to under
.200 for the third time in the last four matches.
·
Six Wildcats recorded at least
seven kills, paced by Brooke Sassin with 14.
·
Sassin and Katie Brand each picked
up double-doubles.
·
Kersten Kober picked up a team-best
25 digs, the first 25-dig match by a Wildcat since Sept. 3.
·
Bryna Vogel had a career-high four
service aces.
A LOOK
AT K-STATE
·
Kansas State (18-8, 7-6 Big 12)
enters the match 6-4 over its last 10 matches and 2-2 in the last four.
·
K-State’s 18 wins eclipsed last
season’s win total of 17.
·
K-State is 14-1 this season when
winning the first set and 10-0 when leading 2-0.
·
K-State tied a program record with
10 four-set victories this season.
·
In the NCAA’s latest RPI release of
the season, K-State comes in at No. 19 - the third-highest of any Big 12 team
(Texas, Kansas).
·
K-State has registered more kills
than its opponent in 13 of the last 19 matches.
·
The team’s 13.27 assists/set are
tops in the conference and 23rd-best in the NCAA.
·
Kansas State is third in the Big 12
in team kills/set with 13.87, which ranks 47th nationally.
·
Overall, K-State ranks in the top
three of the Big 12 in 10 major team statistical categories.
A LOOK
AT OKLAHOMA
·
Oklahoma enters the match 14-12
overall and 5-8 in the Big 12.
·
OU is 4-6 over its last 10 matches
and is 2-2 in its last four.
·
The Sooners lead the Big 12 with
14.07 kills/set and are second with a .253 team hitting percentage.
·
Oklahoma has five players that
average better than 2.40 kills/set, led by Madison Ward with her 3.03 per game.
·
OU has had three Big 12 players of
the week - Audrey Alford, Kimmy Gardiner and Marion Hazelwood
·
The Sooners average the fewest
service aces/set in the conference.
A LOOK
AT THE SERIES
·
Oklahoma leads the all-time series,
53-31-1, dating back to 1975.
·
K-State has won the last three
meetings in the series.
·
K-State is 16-19 at home vs. OU and
have won the last three meetings in Manhattan.
·
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 18-13
against Oklahoma and is 10-5 at home.
·
The teams last split the season
series in 2014 as the Wildcats seek to sweep OU for the second straight season.
·
In the season’s first meeting,
K-State rallied to a four-set victory after dropping the opening set.
·
A trio of Wildcats - Brooke Sassin
(17), Alyssa Schultejans (15), Bryna Vogel (10) - registered double-figure
kills in the first matchup.
·
Sassin and Katie Brand recorded
double-doubles in the first meeting.
CLIMBING
THE CHARTS
·
Senior setter Katie Brand (4,656
career assists) moved into second place on K-State’s all-time career assists
list in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
·
Her career double-double total
currently sits at 67, which is two shy of equaling K-State’s all-time mark of
69 held by Kim Zschau (1995-98).
·
Senior libero Kersten Kober (1,500
career digs) moved into third place all-time (rally-scoring era) on K-State’s
career list.
·
Senior outside hitter Brooke Sassin
has 998 career kills as a Wildcat. With two more, she will become just the
sixth Wildcat to reach 1,000 in the rally scoring era.
ASSASSIN
·
Senior outside hitter Brooke
Sassin’s 998 career kills ranks her seventh on K-State’s career kill list in
the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
·
With two more kills, she will
become the sixth Wildcat in the rally-scoring era to reach 1,000 career kills.
·
Sassin has eclipsed 300 kills for
the third straight season.
·
She leads the team with 18 matches
in double-figure kills, having done so in six of the last seven and 10 of the
last 12.
·
Sassin has led the team in kills in
six of the last seven matches.
·
Eleven times she has either led or
tied for the team lead in kills in a match.
·
She has recorded six double-doubles
this season, four of which have come in the last six matches.
ON AND OFF THE COURT
·
It was announced that Katie Brand
is one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award that recognizes
student-athletes for contributions in the community, classroom, character and
competition.
·
Brand would become the first
Wildcat to ever win the award.
·
Brand, along with Kersten Kober,
were both named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team.
·
It marks the second straight season
the pair have achieved the first-team honor.
D-D-D
DEFENSE
·
The Cats have 12 matches this
season reaching double-digit blocks, including a season-high 18.0 in their last
match vs. West Virginia.
·
In 2015, K-State only had six
matches with double-figure blocks.
·
K-State is 10-2 when recording 10.0
or more team blocks.
·
K-State has recorded double-figure
blocks in back-to-back matches four time this season, something the Cats only
did once in 2015.
·
The Cats have held three of their
last four opponents to under a .200 attacking percentage.
BRAND
RECOGNTION
·
Redshirt senior setter Katie Brand
leads the Big 12 lead with 16 double-doubles this season.
·
Brand has recorded an assist-dig
double-double in 12 of the last 15 matches, including six of the last seven.
·
Brand eclipsed 1,000 assists this
season - her fourth 1,000-assist season as a Wildcat.
·
She became the eighth Wildcat to
join the Double-Grand Club as she now has over 4,000 career assists and 1,000
career digs.
Brand is the Big 12’s active career leader in
assists, leading the next highest by nearly a thousand, and is No. 4 on the
NCAA’s active career assists list.
