Cats, Cyclones Set to Battle Wednesday Night

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Fresh off its first bye week of the conference schedule, Kansas State is set to battle Iowa State Wednesday night at Ahearn Field House in a key Big 12 matchup, with first serve slated for 7 p.m.

K-State (10-6, 0-5 Big 12) looks to snap its five-match skid to open league play while Iowa State (8-10, 1-4 Big 12) comes to Manhattan having lost its last four matches overall. The Cyclones have taken the last three meetings in the series.

Wednesday night's match will air live on FOX College Sports Central and stream on K-StateHD.TV. Fans can watch on mobile devices through the K-State Sports Roku app and Apple TV as well as FOX Sports Go. Rob Voelker will be on the call on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, live audio available at K-StateSports.com/watch.

MATCH #17
K-STATE (10-6, 0-5 Big 12) vs. IOWA STATE (8-10, 1-4 Big 12)
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 // 7 p.m. // Ahearn Field House (5,000) // Manhattan, Kan.
TV: FOX College Sports Central // FOX Sports Go // Brian Smoller (pxp) and Liz Wegner-Busch (analyst)
Watch Online: K-StateHD.TV
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Rob Voelker
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch | Live Stats
Promotion: Wednesday Wildcat 4-Pack | Buy Tickets

AT A GLANCE

Following its first bye of the conference season, K-State (10-6, 0-5 Big 12) seeks its first Big 12 win after a five-set loss at Texas Tech last Wednesday.
The Wildcats dropped their fifth straight match, extending their season-long losing skid.
Against the Red Raiders, four players reached double-figure kills - Kylee Zumach (16), Gloria Mutiri (12), Peyton Williams (11) and Alyssa Schultejans (10).
Five Cats had at least 10 digs at TTU in Devan Fairfield (26), Zumach (19), Sarah Dixon (12), Mutiri (11) and Reilly Killeen (10).
Senior middle blocker Macy Flowers matched set a season-high with 10 block assists, helping K-State its season-best output of 15.0 team blocks.
Fairfield's 26 digs were a career high for the redshirt senior and the first 25-dig match for a Wildcat this season.
Zumach's 19 were also a career best as she turned in her team-leading seventh double-double of the year.
Along with Zumach, Dixon and Mutiri each added double-doubles in the Cats' second five-set match of the season.
K-State begins Big 12 play 0-5 for the first time since starting 0-6 in the 2009 season.

SCOUTING IOWA STATE

Iowa State (8-10, 1-4 Big 12) comes to Manhattan having lost its last four matches.
ISU is 1-2 on the road in conference play, losing in straight sets at No. 4 Texas Saturday and falling in four sets at Texas Tech on September 28.
Jess Schaben leads the Cyclones with her 3.62 kills/set to go with 2.82 digs a set.
Two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week Hali Hillegas is tops in the conference with 5.13 digs per set.
Historically one of the best defensive teams in the Big 12, Iowa State leads the league in digs/set with 16.22 while ranking second in blocks per set at 2.65.
The Cyclone offense ranks third in the conference in both assists/set (12.75) and kills/set (13.60).

INSIDE THE SERIES

Iowa State leads the all-time series, 51-41, dating back to 1976.
The Cyclones have won the last three meetings and claimed the first season sweep by either team in the series since 2011.
K-State is 22-19 all-time at home vs. ISU.
The Cats are 4-6 in the last 10 against the Cyclones and are 5-5 in the last 10 at home.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 17-17 in her career against ISU and is 11-6 at home.

BY THE NUMBERS

K-State enters Wednesday night having lost its last five matches while Iowa State is on a four-match skid, both season highs for each team.
The Wildcats are 10-0 this season when hitting at a higher efficiency than their opponent and are 8-0 when producing more kills than their opponent.
When holding its opponent to a .200 hitting percentage or lower, K-State is 7-0.
Texas Tech handed the Cats their first loss this season when leading 2-1 (4-1). Fritz is now 123-19 (.866) in her career when holding a two-sets-to-one lead.

BATTLE OF THE BLOCK

Senior middle blocker Macy Flowers leads the Big 12 and is fourth in the nation at 1.60 blocks per set.
Flowers set a season high with 10 block assists at Texas Tech Wednesday.
Last season in Lubbock, Flowers produced her career high with 13 blocks.

NICE DIGS

In her first season as the full-time libero, redshirt senior libero Devan Fairfield has put up career-best numbers.
In just 57 sets, she has already eclipsed a career single-season high with 216 digs.
Her 26 digs at Texas Tech last Wednesday set a career high and the first 25-dig match by a Wildcat this season.
Her season average of 3.79 digs/set is more than 2.00 digs higher than any other single season output of her career.
At over 4.00 digs/set in Big 12 matches, she ranks in the league's top 10 in both overall matches and conference matches.
Fairfield has 23 career matches with 10 or more digs, with 12 of them coming in 2018.
Redshirt senior Kylee Zumach is also having a career year in terms of digs, as her 3.05 digs/set rank second on the team and more than double her career average.
Zumach eclipsed her career high with 19 digs at TTU, five more than her previous career-best output of 14 earlier this season, and has reached at least 10 digs in eight of her last nine matches.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sarah Dixon

Devan Fairfield

Macy Flowers

Reilly Killeen

Gloria Mutiri

Alyssa Schultejans

Peyton Williams

Kylee Zumach

Kansas State University Athletics