K-State to Begin Final Homestand Saturday vs. OU

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State begins its final homestand of the 2017 season as it welcomes Oklahoma to Ahearn Field House on Saturday night, with first serve set for 7 p.m.

K-State (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) claimed a five-set victory over OU (7-19, 4-9 Big 12) in its Big 12 opener back on September 20 in Norman. The Cats eye a season sweep of the Sooners for the third straight season, as they have won the last five meetings in the series.

Saturday's match will stream live on WatchESPN and the ESPN app, while fans can also listen to Rob Voelker call the action on KMAN 1350 AM, 93.3 FM and at k-statesports.com.

Tickets for the match between the Wildcats and Sooners are available for as little as $3 and can be purchased by calling 1.800.221.CATS, visiting the K-State Athletics Ticket Office or by clicking here.

AT A GLANCE

In its last match, K-State (9-18, 2-12 Big 12) dropped a four-setter at No. 19 Baylor Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
The match was K-State's 10th matchup with a top-25 opponent, the most such matches in a season since facing 11 in 2010.
Setter Sarah Dixon turned in her team-leading 11th double-double with 23 assists and 11 digs.
Outside hitters Brynn Carlson and Kylee Zumach led the offense with eight kills each while middle blockers Macy Flowers and Peyton Williams both collected seven.
Defensively, Flowers had a match-high nine blocks while libero Reilly Killeen registered 14 digs, her 13th consecutive match reaching double digits.
K-State extended its season-long losing streak to nine matches, the second-longest such streak under head coach Suzie Fritz.

SCOUTING THE SOONERS

Oklahoma (7-19, 4-9 Big 12) is in a tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings after a three-set loss vs. No. 23 Iowa State Wednesday night.
The Sooners had won two straight before the setback.
In their last six matches, OU is 2-4, with all four losses coming at the hands of teams in the AVCA top 25.
Junior outside hitter Alyssa Enneking is No. 2 in the Big 12 with her 4.14 kills per set in league matches.
Fellow outside Madison Drescher is eighth at 3.39 kills a set.
In conference-only matches, the Sooners rank last in team hitting percentage (.182) and blocks per set (1.59).

INSIDE THE SERIES

Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 53-33-1, dating back to 1975.
K-State claimed the season's first matchup in five sets and seek to sweep the season series with the Sooners for the third straight year.
Overall, the Cats have taken seven of the last eight meetings with OU.
K-State's five-match winning streak is its longest active streak against a Big 12 opponent.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 20-13 all-time against Oklahoma.
Fritz is 11-5 at home in her career vs. Oklahoma, having won the last four meetings in Manhattan.

MS. 1,000

Last week at Kansas, Kylee Zumach became just the fifth Wildcat to play her entire career in the rally-scoring era (since 2001) to join the 1,000-kill club.
She is the 18th player in program history to reach the plateau and her total places her seventh in program history during the rally-scoring era.
A redshirt junior, Zumach reached the 1,000-kill milestone in just three seasons.
She joins former outside hitter Brooke Sassin (2014-16) as the only Wildcats to reach 1,000 kills in three seasons in the rally-scoring era.
Her career total of 1,036 puts her 19 kills away from passing Sassin for sixth on K-State's all-time list (rally scoring).

FLOWER POWER

Junior middle blocker Macy Flowers has been a force at the net this season.
The Chanute, Kansas, product has led or tied for the team lead in blocks in K-State's last five matches - and six of its last seven overall.
In that span, she has recorded at least eight blocks four times, including a career-high 13 at Texas Tech on Oct. 28.
Flowers has tallied 46 total blocks over the Cats' last seven matches, accounting for more than half of the team's 77 over that time (Peyton Williams is second with 27 total blocks).
Her 1.48 blocks per set in the last seven matches is tops on the team as she has helped the Wildcats average 2.48 blocks a set as a team.
Flowers ranks fourth in the Big 12 in league matches with her 1.30 blocks per set average.

GOING THE DISTANCE

K-State's 10 five-set matches this season is a new single-season program record.
The Wildcats are 3-7 in five-setters, as their last three victories have all come in five sets.
The seven losses are the most in a season since 2006 (0-7).
Eight of K-State's last 15 matches have gone to a fifth set.
The next-highest five-set total in the conference is Kansas' six matches (4-2).
Conversely, K-State's eight three-set matches would set a new single-season low (9 in 1986).

ACES IN SPADES

In conference-only matches, K-State is best in the Big 12 with 68 service aces and second with 1.13 aces/set.
K-State last led the Big 12 in aces/set in league-only matches in 2012 with 1.42.
The Cats have registered multiple service aces in 15 consecutive matches, including tying their season high of eight.
In conference matches, Zumach (0.30) ranks third in aces per set.
Setter Brooke Smith (0.26) is third while Zumach (0.25) is fourth in the conference in aces/set in overall matches.
This season, Zumach has more than doubled her career total with 28 aces behind six matches with multiple aces.
Zumach had recorded an ace in six consecutive matches until Wednesday's match at Baylor, the longest streak by any Wildcat since Lilla Porubek's six straight in 2012.
Zumach had 20 career aces entering the 2017 season.
Seven times she has been the team's leader in aces in a match.
As a team, the Cats have at least five aces in 13 of 27 matches.

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Players Mentioned

Brynn Carlson

Sarah Dixon

Macy Flowers

Reilly Killeen

Brooke Smith

Peyton Williams

Kylee Zumach

Kansas State University Athletics