K-State Heads to Arkansas for Final Non-Conference Tune-Up
Sep 15, 2016 | Volleyball
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW
ARKANSAS INVITATIONAL
BARNHILL ARENA • FAYETTEVILLE, AR
K-STATE vs UMKC
SERIES: K-State Leads, 29-3
? NOTES
? GAMECENTER
? LIVE AUDIO
K-STATE vs ARKANSAS
SERIES: K-State Leads, 7-2
? NOTES
? GAMECENTER
? LIVE AUDIO
K-STATE vs SOUTHERN MISS
SERIES: K-State Leads, 1-0
? NOTES
? GAMECENTER
? LIVE AUDIO
MANHATTAN,
Kan. – After seven straight matches at home, the No. 25 Kansas State
volleyball team travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for its final tune-up before
Big 12 play begins next week. The Arkansas Invitational will feature K-State, Arkansas,
UMKC and Southern Mississippi at Barnhill Arena.
The Wildcats will take on UMKC Friday at 10
a.m., before facing off with host Arkansas in the nightcap at 7 p.m. K-State
finishes the four-team tournament with Southern Miss at 10 a.m., on Saturday. The
Cats will return home and host Big 12 rival Iowa State on Wednesday, Sept. 21
at 7 p.m., at Ahearn Field House.
AT A GLANCE
·
Kansas State travels to
Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Arkansas Invitational. The tournament marks the
final weekend of non-conference play and features Arkansas, UMKC and Southern
Mississippi.
·
K-State capped its longest
homestand (7 matches) since 1995 with six consecutive victories.
·
The six straight wins equal the
longest streak of 2015.
·
Four of K-State’s opponents have
been ranked or received votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll.
·
Kansas State owns the Big 12’s lone
victory over a ranked team this season - August 27 at No. 6 Hawaii (3-1).
·
All matches at the Arkansas
Invitational can be heard at K-StateSports.com.
A LOOK AT K-STATE
·
K-State cracked the AVCA Top 25 for
the first time since the week of Nov. 10, 2014, coming in at No. 25 in the
latest poll.
·
Though the official NCAA RPI is not
released until October, the latest unofficial RPI has Kansas State ranked No.
13.
·
The highest RPI K-State has
finished with in the Suzie Fritz era is sixth in 2003.
·
Kansas State has won its last six
matches after losing its home opener Sept. 2 against Michigan.
A LOOK AT UMKC
·
UMKC enters the weekend with a 7-3
record, having won five of its last six matches.
·
The Kangaroos are currently atop
the WAC standings - where they were picked to finish fourth in the eight-team
conference.
·
K-State will be the second Big 12
team the Roos have squared off against, already having lost a 3-0 decision to
Oklahoma on August 27.
·
K-State owns a 29-3 all-time record
against UMKC and have won the last 27 meetings, a series that dates back to
1974. UMKC has now won in the series since 1977.
·
The Cats and Roos last squared off
in 2010, when K-State won a five-set decision.
·
K-State head coach Suzie Fritz is
7-0 all-time against current WAC members.
A LOOK AT ARKANSAS
·
Arkansas owns a 1-7 record in 2016
and have dropped its last three matches, two of which were against top-five
opponents (No. 1 Nebraska and No. 4 Kansas).
·
Arkansas took KU to five sets
before falling on September 3.
·
K-State will be the fourth ranked
opponent the Razorbacks have faced (0-3).
·
The Razorbacks were picked in the
preseason to finish fifth in the 13-team SEC.
·
The Arkansas Invitational will be
the first home matches for the Razorbacks in 2016.
·
K-State leads the head-to-head
series with Arkansas, 7-2, but dropped its meeting last season in five sets.
·
This will be the fourth straight
season in which the Wildcats and Razorbacks have faced off.
·
Fritz is 39-22 all-time vs. the
SEC, her most wins against any conference outside the Big 12.
A LOOK AT SOUTHERN MISS
·
Southern Miss is 9-3 so far this
season, winning three of its last four matches.
·
The Golden Eagles have not lost
back-to-back matches yet this year.
·
Southern Miss is 9-0 in three- and
four-set matches while dropping all three of its five-set matches.
·
The Golden Eagles were selected No.
4 in the 13-team Conference USA preseason poll.
·
K-State and Southern Miss have only
one previous meeting, with the Cats winning in three sets in 1995.
·
K-State is 14-1 all-time vs.
Conference USA, while coach Fritz is 5-0.
EFFICIENCY IS THE KEY
·
K-State committed just seven
attacking errors as a team in the four-set victory over Mississippi State. The
fewest in a four-set match in the Big 12 this season.
·
The .420 (57k-7e-119ta) is the
highest percentage in program history in a four-set match - more than 50 points
higher than the previous record of .369 set in 1995.
·
It was the team’s highest
percentage this season and the highest since Sept. 4, 2014 when it posted a
.429 mark in a three-set win over Arkansas.
·
K-State hit .402 (47k-12e-87ta) in
the sweep of Miami Friday, marking the second straight match with an efficiency
over .400.
·
K-State has hit better than .400 in
three of its last six matches. The last time K-State hit over .400 in multiple
matches in a season was 2012 (twice).
HOME COOKIN'
·
K-State concluded a seven-match
homestand, the most consecutive home matches since 1995 when the Wildcats
hosted eight straight matches.
·
Since 2010, the Cats are 31-2 in
non-conference matches at home.
·
The Cats have won all four matches
in their return to Ahearn Field House - defeating Mississippi State (3-1),
Miami (3-0), Loyola (3-0) and Creighton (3-1).
·
Kansas State has posted a losing
home record just once in the last 22 seasons (7-8, 2009).
NEAR THE TOP OF THE BIG 12
·
Kansas State ranks second in the
Big 12 with 13.59 assists per set.
·
The Wildcats are third in the
conference in kills per set, blocks per set and digs per set.
·
Katie Brand ranks second in the Big
12 with 11.57 assists/set while Kersten Kober is fourth in the league with 4.24
digs/set.
·
The Cats’ 110 digs vs. Georgia Tech
are the most in any match among Big 12 teams this season and the most since
Aug. 29, 2015 vs. Illinois State.
THREE-HEADED MONSTER
·
Outside hitters Brooke Sassin
(3.44), Bryna Vogel (2.83) and Kylee Zumach (3.43) all average better than 2.50
kills per set.
·
Vogel has hit over .400 in the last
three of the last four matches and in four of her last six matches overall -
and a season-high .500 in the sweep against Loyola.
·
Sassin, Vogel or Zumach have led
the Cats in kills in each of the past five matches.
·
Vogel set a new career high with 18
kills in the four-set win over Creighton on Tuesday (.375) and set a new season
high with five blocks.
·
Vogel, along with Katie Brand, was
voted to the all-tournament team at the Wildcat Classic.
·
Sassin posted a season-best .485
(18k-2e-33ta) attack percentage against Mississippi State - the school she
transferred from three years ago.
·
Zumach has nine service aces
through 10 matches this season. She had five in her career entering 2016.
·
Zumach also has the only 20-kill
matches by a Wildcat this season, accomplishing the feat twice.
FLOWER POWER
·
Sophomore middle blocker Macy
Flowers leads the team with 41 total blocks and 1.24 blocks per set.
·
Flowers has led her team in blocks
in eight of the ten matches this season, including being the team leader in the
last five.
·
Flowers is the only Wildcat to
register multiple blocks in every match she has appeared in.
·
She also leads K-State with a .368
attacking efficiency while killing 51 balls (1.55 per set).
GETTING DEFENSIVE
·
K-State is 7-0 in matches in which
it has more or equal number of blocks than its opponent.
·
The Wildcats recorded 10.0 blocks
against Creighton Tuesday, the fifth match reaching double-digit blocks.
·
Twice K-State has posted more than
10 blocks in back-to-back matches, a feat the Cats never accomplished in 2015.
· K-State also owns the Big 12’s single-match high this season with 16.0 team blocks against Georgia Tech.
· The 16.0 total team blocks are the most the Cats have recorded since 2014.
