Wildcats, Horned Frogs Meet Wednesday on ESPNU

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State volleyball team travels to Fort Worth for its second straight Big 12 road match in the state of Texas, as it takes on TCU for a national telecast on ESPNU at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

K-State (8-8, 1-2 Big 12) seeks to snap its two-match conference losing skid and avenge a three-set loss at TCU (8-6, 0-3 Big 12) in 2016. The home team has won each of the last five meetings in the series and the Wildcats have won seven of the 10 meetings between the sides all-time, dating back to 2012 when the Frogs joined the Big 12.

The match will also mark head coach Suzie Fritz's 300^th Big 12 match coached at K-State (since 2001), as she has a 168-131 (.562) mark in conference play. Coincidentally, Wednesday will also be the program's 400^th all-time Big 12 match played.

Wednesday's match will air nationally on ESPNU and will stream live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Fans can also listen live to Rob Voelker call the action in Fort Worth on k-statesports.com.

AT A GLANCE

K-State (8-8, 1-2 Big 12) fell is straight sets to No. 5 Texas Saturday in Austin.
The loss was the Wildcats' 28th straight to the Longhorns, dating back to 2003.
Redshirt junior Kylee Zumach paced the Wildcat offense with 14 kills (.270).
Zumach surpassed 900 kills in her career in the match (902) and is the team's active career leader in the category.
Junior Alyssa Schultejans (8 kills) and senior Bryna Vogel (6) were the only other Cats to register multiple kills in the match.
Texas had just two attacking errors in the match on its way to hitting .494 (46k-2e-89ta) in the match.
The Longhorns hitting percentage was the highest allowed by a K-State team in the Suzie Fritz era (since 2001).
K-State failed to record a single team block for the first time under Fritz.
K-State's 8-8 mark is the first time being .500 or below after 16 matches since the 2009 season (6-10).
The Wildcats begin league play 1-2 for the third straight season.

SCOUTING THE HORNED FROGS

TCU (8-6, 0-3 Big 12) sits in a tie for eighth in the conference after a straight-set loss at No. 11 Kansas Saturday.
The Frogs' Ashley Martin is the team leader at 3.08 kills/set, ranking ninth in the conference.
Defensively, Dani Dennison is third in the league with 4.82 digs/set.
Anna Walsh posts a hitting percentage of .364, fifth-best efficiency in overall matches in the Big 12.
As a team, TCU ranks in the league's bottom three in hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage in overall matches.
In conference matches, the Horned Frogs hit at the lowest clip (.191) while allowing the second-highest hitting percentage (.331).
TCU ranks seventh in conference play in kills/set, assists/set and service aces/set.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State leads the all-time series with TCU, 7-3, dating back to 2012.
The Frogs swept K-State in Fort Worth in the series' latest meeting.
The home team has won each of the last five meetings in the series.
TCU has never defeated K-State in consecutive meetings.
K-State is 2-3 all-time in Fort Worth.

PEY DAY

Redshirt freshman Peyton Williams, who is also a member of the K-State women's basketball team, is shining in her first season on the volleyball court for the Cats.
Williams set a career high with 14 kills (.462) on Sept. 24 against KU. In the Big 12 opener against Oklahoma, she recorded a career-best 7.0 blocks in the Cats' five-set win over the Sooners.
The middle blocker continues to lead the team in efficiency at .373 - fourth-best in the Big 12.
The Topeka native has all four matches this season reaching double-digit kills - all in her last six matches played.
In her Wildcat debut at the Beaver State Classic, she was named Big 12 Freshman of the Week in the season's opening week after hitting .727 with 16 kills on 22 swings without an error.
Williams was twice named Freshman of the Week by the Big 12 during the 2016-17 basketball season - making her the first player in K-State history to earn freshman-of-the-week accolades in the two sports.

FIRSTS IN THE FRITZ ERA

Saturday's three-set loss at fifth-ranked Texas marked some dubious firsts under head coach Suzie Fritz.
K-State failed to record a single team block in the match, something that has never happened under a Fritz-coached team.
Texas hit .494 - with just two attacking errors - in the three-set match, a new opponent high since Fritz took over the program in 2001.

BACK ON TRACK

After starting the season 2-4, and dropping four straight, K-State has won six of its last 10 matches, including a 1-2 start to the Big 12 slate.
In its last 10 matches, K-State is averaging 13.49 kills/set with 12.44 assists/set and hitting at a .242 clip.
In the season's first six matches, the Cats posted 12.27 kills/set and 11.32 assists/set as a team with a .232 efficiency.
Defensively, the Wildcats have seen increases in digs/set - from 12.41 to 14.02.
K-State has recorded 49 service aces over its last 10 matches (1.20/set) after having just 19 (0.86/set) in its 2-4 start.
Over its last 40 sets played (10 matches), K-State has recorded 15 or more kills in a single set 19 times, including a season-high 20 in Set 3 against KU last Sunday. The Cats had seven 15-kill sets in six matches (22 sets).

MILESTONE WATCH

K-State head coach Suzie Fritz sits at 324 career wins in her 17th season at K-State.
Her career total is fifth-best ever in the Big 12 and is six away from moving into a tie for fourth and 12 shy of equaling the third-best total in league history.
Wednesday's match will be Fritz's 300th (168-131; .562) Big 12 match coached while at K-State. It will also mark the program's 400th Big 12 match (232-167; .581).
Zumach (902) and senior Bryna Vogel (764) sit within reach to join the 1,000-kill club. Zumach surpassed 900 career digs Saturday at Texas. Vogel eclipsed 800 career digs earlier this season and sits at 827.
Redshirt junior Devan Fairfield reached 400 career digs and junior Alyssa Schultejans eclipsed 500 career kills earlier this season.

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Players Mentioned

Devan Fairfield

Alyssa Schultejans

Bryna Vogel

Peyton Williams

Kylee Zumach

Kansas State University Athletics