SE: K-State Volleyball Ready to Put Experienced Youth to the Test
Aug 27, 2019 | Volleyball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
The K-State volleyball roster is deceiving in the eyes of redshirt senior setter Sarah Dixon.
Sure, it lists out 13 active underclassmen and only three upperclassmen, an 81 to 19 percent split, respectively. But that only tells part of the team's experience story.
"I think you'll hear some people say we're a really young team, but I really don't think age matters at all," Dixon, a starter the last two seasons, said. "It's all about maturity and discipline, and I think our team has been doing a really good job of showing that in a lot of areas."
K-State's maturity derived partly from the players' time in the program.
Dixon is in her fourth year at K-State. So is middle blocker Peyton Williams, a redshirt junior who's started 52 matches and has a career hitting percentage of .315.
Three Wildcats — Brynn Carlson, Jacque Smith and Megan Vernon — are redshirt sophomores. If the third-year Wildcats are included as upperclassmen, the percentage of upperclassmen jumps to 38 percent. Carlson has the most on-court experience of the three, with 37 matches played in her career.
Gloria Mutiri, a true sophomore, played in all 27 matches last season and earned AVCA All-America Honorable Mention recognition.
"I think we've got enough of a base of experience that we can feel good about having new personnel in there, whether they be young or just inexperienced and maybe their roles are changing," K-State head coach Suzie Fritz said, as her team opens the season against N.C. State on Friday at the Wolfpack Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. "We feel good about it right now."
It certainly played out this way on Saturday in K-State's five-set exhibition win against Missouri, which has advanced in the NCAA Tournament in four straight seasons.
Carlson led with 19 kills, while Mutiri added 12 and Williams chipped in 10. Younger players contributed without the pressure of a lot of expectations. Vernon, for instance, tallied six blocks in the match.
"It's really helpful for those young players to have an anchor to go back to when they're feeling a little bit heavy and they're feeling a little bit out of sorts, to look at those four, at least, and say, 'Hey, help me,'" Williams said. "And then we can be there with experience from a couple years."
Even K-State's five-person freshmen class, ranked by PrepVolleyball.com as the No. 20 class in the country, has more experience than one might expect. Four of them arrived on campus last spring. It was a more valuable spring than usual, too, as it was expanded because of K-State's five-match foreign tour in Brazil.
"We got to play pretty high-level competition," Fritz said. "Those have been pretty significant advantages in terms of preparedness for the young players."
"The trip to Brazil was a really good test for us and, I think, we grew in a lot of ways," Dixon added. "Here, being in the gym together for all of double (practice) days has shown that we're really invested and, regardless of our age, we're each committed to getting better every and every day."
Even more, freshman outside hitter Anna Dixon played for USA Volleyball's 2019 Women's Junior National Team (WJNT) at the FIVB Women's U20 World Championship this summer in Mexico. Also, freshman setter Teana Adams-Kaonohi joined Mutiri and Carlson for a USA Volleyball experience in Anaheim, California, where the three Wildcats trained with the U.S. Collegiate National Team.
"I think any experience helps," Sarah Dixon said. "Your mentality is a big thing, so it helps a lot of girls had that experience in Brazil and with Team USA."
"They got to have some experiences this summer to really raise the bar, raise their own expectations, be around great players, be in competitive situations," Fritz added. "I think we felt like that accelerated some things to where we're a little further ahead now than we were with all them."
Now, Fritz said, it's a matter of consistency.
"I think their confidence level has gotten better. The ebbs and flows for a young player aren't necessarily in their ability to do something well. It's in their ability to do something well over time and consistently," Fritz said. "Can they hold it down 60 percent of the time? Can they hold it down 70 percent of the time? Can they get to the point where they can hold it down 80 percent of the time? Because if we can get them to do that, we'll be pretty good."
K-State will also play both Austin Peay, which won 27 games last season, and Maryland on Saturday at the Wolfpack Invitational. The Wildcats will open their home schedule on September 5, when the K-State Invitational begins.
The K-State volleyball roster is deceiving in the eyes of redshirt senior setter Sarah Dixon.
Sure, it lists out 13 active underclassmen and only three upperclassmen, an 81 to 19 percent split, respectively. But that only tells part of the team's experience story.
"I think you'll hear some people say we're a really young team, but I really don't think age matters at all," Dixon, a starter the last two seasons, said. "It's all about maturity and discipline, and I think our team has been doing a really good job of showing that in a lot of areas."
K-State's maturity derived partly from the players' time in the program.
Dixon is in her fourth year at K-State. So is middle blocker Peyton Williams, a redshirt junior who's started 52 matches and has a career hitting percentage of .315.
Three Wildcats — Brynn Carlson, Jacque Smith and Megan Vernon — are redshirt sophomores. If the third-year Wildcats are included as upperclassmen, the percentage of upperclassmen jumps to 38 percent. Carlson has the most on-court experience of the three, with 37 matches played in her career.
Gloria Mutiri, a true sophomore, played in all 27 matches last season and earned AVCA All-America Honorable Mention recognition.
"I think we've got enough of a base of experience that we can feel good about having new personnel in there, whether they be young or just inexperienced and maybe their roles are changing," K-State head coach Suzie Fritz said, as her team opens the season against N.C. State on Friday at the Wolfpack Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. "We feel good about it right now."
It certainly played out this way on Saturday in K-State's five-set exhibition win against Missouri, which has advanced in the NCAA Tournament in four straight seasons.
Carlson led with 19 kills, while Mutiri added 12 and Williams chipped in 10. Younger players contributed without the pressure of a lot of expectations. Vernon, for instance, tallied six blocks in the match.
"It's really helpful for those young players to have an anchor to go back to when they're feeling a little bit heavy and they're feeling a little bit out of sorts, to look at those four, at least, and say, 'Hey, help me,'" Williams said. "And then we can be there with experience from a couple years."
Even K-State's five-person freshmen class, ranked by PrepVolleyball.com as the No. 20 class in the country, has more experience than one might expect. Four of them arrived on campus last spring. It was a more valuable spring than usual, too, as it was expanded because of K-State's five-match foreign tour in Brazil.
"We got to play pretty high-level competition," Fritz said. "Those have been pretty significant advantages in terms of preparedness for the young players."
"The trip to Brazil was a really good test for us and, I think, we grew in a lot of ways," Dixon added. "Here, being in the gym together for all of double (practice) days has shown that we're really invested and, regardless of our age, we're each committed to getting better every and every day."
Even more, freshman outside hitter Anna Dixon played for USA Volleyball's 2019 Women's Junior National Team (WJNT) at the FIVB Women's U20 World Championship this summer in Mexico. Also, freshman setter Teana Adams-Kaonohi joined Mutiri and Carlson for a USA Volleyball experience in Anaheim, California, where the three Wildcats trained with the U.S. Collegiate National Team.
"I think any experience helps," Sarah Dixon said. "Your mentality is a big thing, so it helps a lot of girls had that experience in Brazil and with Team USA."
"They got to have some experiences this summer to really raise the bar, raise their own expectations, be around great players, be in competitive situations," Fritz added. "I think we felt like that accelerated some things to where we're a little further ahead now than we were with all them."
Now, Fritz said, it's a matter of consistency.
"I think their confidence level has gotten better. The ebbs and flows for a young player aren't necessarily in their ability to do something well. It's in their ability to do something well over time and consistently," Fritz said. "Can they hold it down 60 percent of the time? Can they hold it down 70 percent of the time? Can they get to the point where they can hold it down 80 percent of the time? Because if we can get them to do that, we'll be pretty good."
K-State will also play both Austin Peay, which won 27 games last season, and Maryland on Saturday at the Wolfpack Invitational. The Wildcats will open their home schedule on September 5, when the K-State Invitational begins.
Players Mentioned
S
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
OPP
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballK-State Volleyball | 2025 Season Recap
Thursday, December 18
K-State Volleyball | Postmatch Press Conference vs Nebraska (NCAA Tournament Second Round)
Sunday, December 07
K-State VB | Postmatch Press Conference vs Nebraska (NCAA Tournament Second Round)
Saturday, December 06
K-State VB | Recap vs San Diego (NCAA Tournament First Round)
Saturday, December 06
