Wildcats Return to Ahearn, Host Texas Tech Saturday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – After three of its first four Big 12 matches on the road, the K-State volleyball team returns to Ahearn Field House Saturday as the Wildcats play host to Texas Tech at 1 p.m.

K-State (8-9, 1-3 Big 12) seeks to snap its three-match conference losing skid while extending its six-match winning streak against Texas Tech (12-5, 1-3 Big 12). Both the Wildcats and the Red Raiders sit in a five-way tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings.

Head coach Suzie Fritz is 15-1 at home against TTU and is 28-4 overall in her career. K-State leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 36-10, including winning each of the last four in straight sets.

Saturday's match will stream live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Fans can also listen live to Rob Voelker call the action on k-statesports.com.

AT A GLANCE

K-State (8-9, 1-3 Big 12) dropped a four-set decision in Fort Worth to TCU Wednesday night.
K-State lost for the third straight season in Fort Worth, as the Horned Frogs won consecutive meetings for the first time in the series' history.
Two different sets reached at least 30 points Wednesday night - a first for K-State since the adoption of 25-point sets (2008).
Three Wildcats - Bryna Vogel (16), Kylee Zumach (15), Brynn Carlson (10) - reached double-digit kills.
Carlson's 10 were a career best in a Big 12 match.
Vogel, (14 digs), along with Sarah Dixon (22 assists, 14 digs), each turned in a double-double. Dixon leads the team with seven on the season while Vogel is second with six.
A match after not recording a single block, the Cats blocked a dozen against TCU, their third-highest total of the season.
Vogel led the way with seven while Peyton Williams posted six.
K-State is under .500 through 17 matches for the first time since 2009 (7-10)
The Wildcats begin league play 1-3 for the first time since 2015.

SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS

Texas Tech (12-5, 1-3 Big 12), along with K-State, sits in a five-way tie for fifth in the Big 12.
The Red Raiders have lost three of their last four matches, including their last two conference matches (vs. Iowa State, at Oklahoma).
TTU has two hitters - Emily Hill (3.42) and Chandler Atwood (3.03) - over 3.00 kills per set.
Junior middle blocker Katy Keenan leads the team with a .388 hitting percentage, which ranks third in the Big 12.
She hits .405 in conference matches - fourth best clip in the league.
Setter Missy Owens' 10.98 assists/set is third-best in the league in overall matches.
The Red Raiders are 7-1 this season in three-set matches and 3-4 on the road.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 36-10, dating back to 1982.
The Wildcats swept the season series with TTU each of the last three seasons.
K-State has won in straight sets each of the last four meetings and is 18-0 in three-set matches in the series.
Texas Tech last defeated K-State in 2013 and have won in Manhattan only once (2004).
The Cats are 20-1 all-time at home vs. the Red Raiders and head coach Suzie Fritz is 28-4 in her career against TTU (15-1 at home).

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 .357 - fourth-best in the Big 12.
The Topeka native has all four matches this season reaching double-digit kills - all in her last seven 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.

ACES IN SPADES

In conference-only matches, K-State is tops in the Big 12 with 19 service aces along with its 1.12 aces/set.
The Wildcats recorded seven against TCU Wednesday, a team Big-12 high this season.
K-State had six service errors along with its seven aces, the first time this season recording more aces than errors in a match.
In overall matches, Brooke Smith (0.33, 4th) and Zumach (0.24, 6th) rank in the league's top 10 in aces per set.

FIRSTS IN THE FRITZ ERA

Last 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.

BIG 12 RANKS

In overall matches this season, K-State ranks eighth with 12.13 assists/set and 13.85 digs/set and sit in ninth with 1.87 blocks/set.
The last time the Wildcats finished a season under 14.00 digs per set rate was 2008 (13.59).
Under Fritz, K-State has never ended a season under 2.00 blocks per set.

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.
Zumach (917) and Vogel (780) sit within reach to join the 1,000-kill club.
Junior Alyssa Schultejans eclipsed 500 career kills earlier this season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brynn Carlson

Sarah Dixon

Alyssa Schultejans

Brooke Smith

Bryna Vogel

Peyton Williams

Kylee Zumach

Kansas State University Athletics