K-State Outlasts Omaha in Five Sets Friday Night

MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the second straight night, K-State won a five-set battle at the K-State Invitational, outlasting Omaha 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 20-25, 15-10 Friday night at Bramlage Coliseum.

"I like their resilience," said head coach Suzie Fritz. "I've been impressed with their ability to play under pressure and be good when it's required of them. That's often time when a young team really struggles – when it gets hard, they lock up on you. I think they've done a nice job of trying to figure that out and be good in those moments."

K-State (3-1) and Omaha (5-2) alternated set victories, with the Wildcats closing out the night on a 4-0 run that included two kills from both freshman Anna Dixon and sophomore Gloria Mutiri. The Cats' four-point burst came on the heels of an Omaha 6-1 stretch that brought the Mavericks within a point at 11-10.

Dixon (16 kills) and Mutiri (11) were two of four Wildcats to reach double-figure kills. Dixon's total marked a career-best output while Brynn Carlson paced the Cats offense with 17. Peyton Williams added 14 and hit at a .294 clip.

For the fifth straight match to start the season, setter Sarah Dixon produced a double-double with a season-high 50 assists along with a dozen digs.

Freshman libero Dru Kuck picked up a match-high and career-high 29 digs while fellow freshman Loren Hinkle added 11 and a team-best three service aces. Jacque Smith recorded 10 digs as four Cats ended the night with 10 or more digs.

Mutiri added career-high seven blocks while middle blocker Megan Vernon contributed five block assists.

K-State utilized two five-point runs in the opening set, the first to help erase a four-point deficit while the latter handed the Cats a 22-18 lead. Williams tallied five kills in Set 1 while Carlson added four and Dixon three.

UNO led by as many as six points in Set 2 before four straight points by the Cats cut the Mavs' lead to 20-18. Carlson and Williams each added four kills in the frame, but Omaha held on to tie the match 1-1.

A string of 11 straight points scored by the Wildcats that included three Hinkle aces highlighted the third set. The freshman stepped back to serve with K-State trailing 14-13 and when Omaha finally sided out, the Cats owned a 24-14 advantage.

A 9-2 Omaha run midway through Set 4 aided the Mavericks as they forced a fifth set. Omaha tallied four team blocks in limiting K-State to a .146 efficiency in the frame. Dixon was credited with four kills for K-State in the set.

"We are feeling a lot of ebbs and flows right now, specifically in our transition game right now," Fritz added. "It's difficult because we are trying to get better in the matches right now and we don't have a lot of time to address the things we are finding.

"We hit .320 or so in first-swing offense and that's a pretty good night for us. I didn't think we won that serve-receive battle. That is a very tough serving team, Omaha, probably the toughest serving team we have faced this year. So that was a good test. Loren Hinkle and Dru Kuck and Jacque Smith, specifically, did a really nice job of battling through that with our passing."

Omaha was led by Isabella Sade and her 19 kills while Sadie Limback had 14 and Claire Leonard added 10. Jaclyn Taylor turned in a double-double with 45 assists and 11 digs.

The Cats conclude the annual K-State Invitational Saturday against Central Arkansas at 5 p.m. The match vs. the Mavericks will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The game will also be carried on News Radio KMAN with live, streaming audio available at K-StateSports.com/watch.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

K-State finished with a team efficiency of .179 (61 kills, 26 errors, 195 attacks).
Omaha hit .148 as a team (53 kills, 26 errors, 182 attacks).
Carlson led K-State in kills for the fourth time in five matches.
Dixon tallied her fifth straight double-double to open the season and now has 25 for her career.
The Wildcats picked up a season-high seven service aces.
Vernon set a career-high with five blocks.
Four Cats produced double-digit kills while four players recorded 10 or more digs.
Omaha tallied 14 team blocks and nine service aces.

NOTES

K-State leads the all-time series with Omaha, 12-6.
The Wildcats have won the last four meetings, including each of the last three seasons.
K-State is now 16-3 in all-time in Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats improve to 39-6 at home against non-conference foes since 2010.
The Wildcats are 13-3 in their last 12 non-conference matches.
K-State has played three straight five-set matches (2-1).

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Team Stats

Brynn Carlson

Anna Dixon

Peyton Williams

Gloria Mutiri

Players Mentioned

Brynn Carlson

Anna Dixon

Sarah Dixon

Loren Hinkle

Dru Kuck

Gloria Mutiri

Jacque Smith

Megan Vernon

Peyton Williams

Players Mentioned

Brynn Carlson

Anna Dixon

Sarah Dixon

Loren Hinkle

Dru Kuck

Gloria Mutiri

Jacque Smith

Megan Vernon

Peyton Williams

Kansas State University Athletics