Cats Eye Road Win at OU Wednesday

Wednesday, October 16

Norman, Okla.

7 p.m.

Kansas State University

Oklahoma

K-State's Megan Vernon spikes the ball against Texas at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kansas.

Oct 15, 2019 | Volleyball

Watch Listen Live Stats Match Notes

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Following a two-match homestand, K-State travels to Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the Oklahoma Sooners in a Wednesday night matchup at 7 p.m. from at McCasland Field House.

The Wildcats (6-11, 1-4 Big 12) hope to break a season-long four-match losing skid and end Oklahoma's (11-5, 3-2 Big 12) six-match home winning streak. K-State has won seven of the last 10 meetings overall after the Sooners claimed both matchups in 2018.

Wednesday's match is OU's Mental Health Awareness Match, as both teams will wear green accessories including shoelaces, tape, warm-up shirts and ribbons in support of Mental Health Awareness.

The match will be broadcast on FOX Sports Oklahoma and the FOX Sports app. Fans can also listen to Rob Voelker on the call on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Free, live audio is also available at K-StateSports.com/watch.

MATCH #18
K-STATE (6-11, 1-4 BIG 12) at OKLAHOMA (11-5, 3-2 BIG 12)
Wednesday, October 16 // 7 p.m. // McCasland Field House (4,640) // Norman, Okla.
Watch: FOX Sports Oklahoma // Chad McKee, Kelly Files
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

K-State looks to snap its season-long four-match losing skid Wednesday night at Oklahoma.
Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers topped the Wildcats in four sets at Ahearn Field House.
The Cats claimed the opening set, 25-18, but WVU rallied to take the next three sets and end its own four-match losing streak to begin conference play.
Freshman Anna Dixon (11) led the Cats for the third straight match and extended her season-long streak to seven matches reaching double-digit kills.
Setter Sarah Dixon turned in her team-leading ninth double-double with 31 assists and 14 digs.
Megan Vernon turned in a team-high four blocks and paced the Wildcat defense for the fourth consecutive match.
Freshman libero Loren Hinkle turned in 11 digs to go with a pair of aces, upping her team-best season total to 17.
K-State tallied six service aces, its second straight match with at least six aces.
K-State has 13 service aces over its last two matches after having 11 aces in its previous four outings combined.
Over the final three sets, West Virginia produced 52 kills to K-State's 33.
WVU hit .291 - a season high for a K-State opponent during Big 12 play.
The Wildcats finished the match with a .254 hitting percentage.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma (11-5, 3-2 Big 12) is coming off a straight-set loss at No. 4 Texas on Saturday.
The Sooners have an unblemished record at McCasland Field House, going 6-0, including a pair of Big 12 home wins over Kansas and TCU.
OU's offense is led by Ashlynn Dunbar and her 181 kills and 3.48 per-set average, good for fifth in the league.
Sarah Sanders is second on the team with 159 kills (2.79 kills per set) while Paige Anderson is third with 138 kills (2.38 per set).
Opponents are hitting just .177 against the Sooners, the second-lowest rate in the Big 12 this season.
OU's defense is tops in the conference at 15.88 digs per set and rank third with 2.28 blocks per set.
Keyton Kinley is the Big 12's leader with 5.02 digs per set while a pair of Sooners rank in the top 10 in blocks per set: Briana Kadiku (second, 1.23 per set) and Sanders (10th, 1.02 per set).
Kinley, along with setter Kylee McLaughlin, were named to the All-Big 12 Preseason team as Oklahoma was voted sixth in the coaches' preseason poll.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State trails the all-time series with Oklahoma, 34-55-1, dating back to 1975.
The Sooners swept the season series a year ago, their first season sweep since 2012.
K-State had won the last six meetings as the Wildcats swept the last three season series.
The Wildcats are 14-26 on the road vs. Oklahoma and are 3-7 in their last 10 trips to Norman.
K-State has won three of the last four matchups at McCasland Field House.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 21-15 in her career vs. OU and is 9-9 on the road.
K-State is 7-3 in its last 10 matches vs. Oklahoma.

GOING THE DISTANCE

Through 17 matches, all but three of K-State's matches this season have gone at least four sets.
Seven matches have gone the full five sets - three shy of matching the single-season record of 10 such matches (2017).
Through the season's first 13 matches, the Wildcats did not play a three-set match, breaking the program record to begin a season.
K-State played three consecutive three-set matches before a four-setter vs. WVU last Saturday.
The Cats have also played seven four-set matches (3-4) in addition to seven five-setters.
The Cats played just three five-set matches a season ago - equaling the lowest such matches in a single season.
The Cats have split the first two sets of a match in 12 of 17 outings this season.
K-State has won the opening set eight times, going 2-6 in those matches.

BATTLE OF THE BLOCK

In its first five conference matches, K-State leads the Big 12 with 47 total blocks and ranks second with 2.76 blocks per set.
K-State's 18 total blocks at TCU in its Big 12 opener marked the Cats' third-highest total in program history in a four-set match (rally-scoring era).
The Wildcats' block total marked a single-match high for any team in the Big 12 this season.
Peyton Williams (9), Megan Vernon (8) and Sarah Dixon (7) all set career highs in the four-set win over the Horned Frogs.
Vernon has led the Wildcats in blocks in each of the last four matches as she has picked up 20 total blocks in that stretch.
Vernon leads the league with 1.65 blocks per set in conference-only matches while Williams is ninth at 1.06 blocks/set.
Vernon has recorded at least three blocks in seven straight matches.
In 12 non-conference matches, the Cats averaged just 1.65 blocks per set and reached double-digit blocks just twice.
K-State has eclipsed 10 or more blocks in two of its five conference matches.

AD COMING ON STRONG

Freshman Anna Dixon has registered double-digit kills in each of the last seven matches - a season-long streak - and leads the Wildcats with 81 kills (3.24 per set) over that stretch.
Dixon ranks seventh in the Big 12 in conference-only matches with 3.41 kills per set.
Over the last seven matches, Dixon has a team-best 88.0 points as she has also tallied 14 block assists.
The Louisburg, Kansas, product has 10 or more kills in 11 of her last 12 matches and set a career high with 16 against Omaha on Sept. 6.
Dixon is now in a tie for third on the team with 168 kills and is second at 2.80 per set.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Seven players have made their Wildcat debut in the first four weeks of the season in Teana Adams-Kaonohi, Abigail Archibong, Holly Bonde, Anna Dixon, Loren Hinkle, Dru Kuck and Kenzie Smith.
Adams-Kaonohi, Dixon, Hinkle and Kuck are all true freshmen, as Kuck played 54 of 72 sets as the K-State libero.
Kuck is the team leader with 227 digs (3.85 per set) while Hinkle has a team-high 17 service aces.
Hinkle had a string of at least one ace in eight consecutive matches from (Sept. 6-21)
Her string of eight straight matches with an ace was the longest by a Wildcat since Katie Brand's eight straight in 2016.
Dixon registered 16 kills, a career high, in a five-set win over Omaha in her first career start.

PEY DEY

Redshirt junior Peyton Williams is fourth in the Big 12 with her .333 hitting percentage and has hit over .300 in 11 of 17 matches this season.
Williams, who has registered double-digit kills in nine matches, has eclipsed the .400 plateau six times and set a career high with 17 kills vs. Central Arkansas (Sept. 7).
The two-sport star has led the Wildcats in hitting efficiency each of the last two seasons and her career mark of .321 currently ranks fourth in program history in the rally-scoring era.
The Topeka native was named K-State Invitational MVP in addition to all-tournament honors last weekend at the MSU Fall Invitational.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

K-State's 2019 roster features a total of 13 freshmen and sophomores (including redshirts) - its highest total since 2014 and third-most in the Fritz era (since 2001).
The combined 666 career sets played among returners are the Cats' fewest since 2009 (537).
The nine freshmen (four redshirts) match the highest number in the Fritz era.
Five incoming true freshmen help comprise the nation's 20th-best recruiting class.
Underclassmen have accounted for 694 of K-State's 899 kills this season, approximately 77 percent.
Five of the top six kill producers for K-State are freshmen or sophomores.