SE: An Oral History of the Night K-State Volleyball Shocked Nebraska
Sep 25, 2020 | Volleyball, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
79-1.
That's the record of the top two volleyball teams in the country in the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Since 2000, if you played the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country on the tournament's opening weekend, you lost. The names of those teams change every year. The outcome never does.
Almost never.
Part 1: Fake It 'Till You Make It
"The Wildcats will look young on paper with no seniors on the squad…"
The first line of the K-State Volleyball media almanac got right to the point – the Wildcats were going to let the kids play in 2011. Coming off a 12-19 season, K-State had started seven players who were freshmen or sophomores in 2010.
The rest of the Big 12 wasn't exactly convinced. In the 2011 Preseason Coaches Poll, the Wildcats were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team conference.
Tristan McCarty, Sophomore Defensive Specialist – Manhattan, Kansas: When I was a kid, I had the media guides that they would put out for the volleyball team. I used to have that thing memorized from front to back. I know it sounds silly, but like every girl had their favorite thing about volleyball, their favorite school tradition and where they were from. I grew up loving K-State volleyball. I've met a lot of coaches, but there's nobody like Suzie Fritz.
Suzie Fritz, Head Coach – Clay Center, Kansas: I have a terrible memory. I laughed when I heard that somebody wanted to talk to me about something that happened nine years ago, because I can't remember what happened three days ago. So, let me start off by saying that I have a terrible memory. But we thought that 2011 team could be special.
Caitlyn Donahue, Junior Setter – Overland Park, Kansas: We were coming off two pretty average seasons where we didn't make the tournament. It was like a new beginning for us.
Alex Doller (née Muff), Junior Middle Blocker – Concordia, Kansas: We didn't have any seniors, so my class were the oldest members of the team. We got to step into that leadership role right away. I think that's what made us hungrier to really do well that year.
McCarty: Kuulei coming from a junior college program and winning a national championship, we were in awe of a lot of her skill and experience. So many people on that team had to come together and kind of fake it 'till you make it.
Kuulei Kabalis-Bianconi, Junior Libero – Hilo, Hawaii: The level was a lot different and a lot higher. I had to step into a team where I didn't quite understand that and realize quickly, "Hey, I need to get my butt into gear if I want to play."
Kathleen Rush (née Ludwig), Junior Opposite – Shawnee, KS: We had such a good balance with our team leadership. My role was to be communicative and loose like, "Let's have fun, let's get out there and do our thing." Caitlyn, Alex and Kuulei brought a higher level of intensity in terms of, "It's game time, let's go." I'm sure we drove Suzie nutty most of the time.
Lilla Sooter (née Porubek), Sophomore Outside Hitter – Budapest, Hungary: I was 12 years old when I met Coach Fritz in Hungary. She was recruiting Vali Hejjas, who played at K-State and was really good friends with my mother. I remember she was joking about, "Well, when you're 18 you've got to come to the states and play on my team." And I was super scared. But when I was 16 and 17, and really starting to play at a high level, Suzie came to watch me play with the Hungarian youth national team. She offered me a scholarship and I said yes right away.
Donahue: I think any of the younger players or any new players could look up and find themselves in one of the older players on the team.
Rush: It felt like we had really done a lot of work in the previous year, being young and getting through a tough season together.
Doller: When the preseason rankings came out, we were ranked pretty low in the Big 12.
McCarty: Suzie always told us at the beginning of the season, it's not about who's playing well in August, it's about who's playing well at the end of the year. We had some success that season, but we also had a few games that slipped out of our hands.
Rush: As we got further and further into matches, the training that we did and the heart that we had as a team just kind of allowed us to stick some of those matches out.
Donahue: Suzie would help us celebrate the big wins, and I know the kids don't say this anymore, but she encouraged us to walk around with some swag and know that we had earned everything we had done so far. But there was also this side of her, she expected us to walk into the gym and be ready to work. There was never this sense of, "Ok, you did it, you're good now."
McCarty: Every team looks at stats all day long. When we looked at our games that season where we were able to make it to five sets, Suzie was like, "When you guys are losing, it's usually in three to four games, but if you can make it to five sets, you win those games."
Part 2: We're Going to Have to Fight
By the time the Wildcats reached October, the team had already surpassed their win total from a season ago, including a nine-game winning streak heading into conference play.
But unless K-State could improve its record against the rest of the Big 12, it wouldn't matter.
Doller: Going and playing at Texas was always the one game that we were always like, let's go in and actually get them this year. That was always a big goal: Go to Austin and really compete. That year, we didn't actually play well against them. I remember being so frustrated. I thought we were really good that year and we were going to go in and fight – I think it kind of motivated us because we weren't quite there yet. We were like, "OK, it's not just going to come because we've been winning."
Kabalis-Bianconi: I struggled in the beginning; I can't lie about that. Being the first Hawaiian player there was pretty cool, but it was also challenging. I almost went home at one point. Overall, the experience was amazing, but that first year was very hard for me.
Sooter: The language was the biggest challenge. My English was not even close to where it should have been. I struggled with my first Econ class, and I'm an Economics major. Adjusting to the culture, I had never lived in a dorm or been away from my family. I had to explore on my own, which was a challenge. But I was never left alone. Suzie and the girls were always there.
Doller: We realized after the Texas match, if we want to really be good and hang with the big dogs in the tournament, we're going to have to fight a little bit harder than we thought.
Fritz: Caitlyn and Kathleen built a really strong relationship that season. Kathleen was almost like a quick hitter, because she was a left-hander playing on the right side, there was a really high degree of trust between them.
Rush: I felt like every day that we were in the gym, we were getting better. We all had an understanding that we were going to have to give it everything we had every time we stepped out there. Playing a tough Big 12 schedule really helped prepare us for the tournament.
McCarty: At the end of the season, we were really playing our best volleyball.
Donahue: Our coaches did a fantastic job of only allowing us to focus on the next match.
Kabalis-Bianconi: There was such a strong bond and we didn't have to speak about it. That was something that helped us, it just took a little bit of time.
Doller: Suzie always did such a good job of putting everything in perspective and to not just do it for ourselves but for future generations of Wildcats and the people who came before us.
Fritz: Every person on that team had their thing. An identity, if you will. I think we knew going in that if we could use what was special about each one of those players, we could be pretty good.
Sooter: We got to know her style a little better. I don't think Suzie and her coaching style ever really changed; it was us who adjusted. She brought the same drills from our freshman year, but we didn't have to work on learning each new drill. We already knew the system.
Kabalis-Bianconi: She poured confidence into us, but also created an atmosphere where we could have pressure on us and still be successful.
Part 3: Their Tickets Were Purchased
Relative to the rest of the country, Kansas State had held its own against Nebraska, a program with four national championships before leaving for the Big Ten in 2010.
The problem? The rest of the country usually had their hands full.
K-State beat Nebraska in Lincoln in 1999 and twice in 2003, when the Wildcats won a Big 12 title. When they left the conference, Nebraska held an 80-3 lead in the all-time series.
After a 22-win season, that was the reward awaiting K-State in the NCAA Tournament: A trip to Lincoln to play at the historic Nebraska Coliseum and a second-round matchup with the Huskers.
Fritz: Going into it, we thought we were going to win that match.
Sooter: She expected us to win? I love Suzie so much.
McCarty: The previous year we were so young and that was when Nebraska was still in the Big 12, so we traveled up there to play them and we got our butts kicked.
Doller: It was always a packed house, always red. I remember when we would go play Nebraska, you would just get this adrenaline rush that you wouldn't get at any other Big 12 school.
Rush: The week building up to the tournament, Suzie and Jeff [Grove] did a really good job, as they always do, of not looking forward and staying super present on the task at hand, which was in the first round against Wichita State.
Donahue: Suzie always talked about the season in four stages: there was preseason, the first half of the Big 12, the second half of the Big 12 and postseason. So, one thing I remember was this idea that going into the tournament, the playing field was kind of level.
Rush: Most of our week before the tournament was staying in our routine and preparing for Wichita State, because that was our first task. You win or you go home.
Donahue: Knowing volleyball in the Midwest, and knowing Nebraska, it's historic and they have a huge tradition. It's a very intense arena to step into.
Rush: I did feel like the people around me were very, very excited for this tournament. Not that I wasn't, but I had texts from uncles and random cousins being like, "You need to really enjoy this and soak it in." When you're 19 or 20 you're like, "OK cool, thanks Uncle Bob. Gotta go to class." But it all makes sense now. We were preparing for this epic weekend.
Fritz: The Devaney Center that they play in now is a tremendous arena, but the Coliseum was really a unique and special volleyball environment.
McCarty: Ahearn Field House is my favorite place that I've ever played but that was probably a close second.
Rush: We had some younger teammates who grew up in Nebraska and as we were walking through the arena, they were kind of like, "Oh my god, I can't believe we're here, I can't believe we're doing this."
Kabalis-Bianconi: When we watched the tournament draw, I saw that Hawaii was one of the regional sites that would host Sweet 16 matches. I had never gotten to play at home.
McCarty: We shared a training room with Nebraska while we there. The entire team was talking about how they were going to take their finals in Hawaii and what they were going to do.
Doller: "Oh I'm going to have to take my finals online. Gotta get that figured out."
Rush: It was like, wait a second, give us a minute here.
Doller: That didn't sit well with us. I think there were a lot of little things that just fueled our fire.
Donahue: We didn't even talk about Nebraska until we got the job done against Wichita State.
Fritz: We had some success against Nebraska historically. Not a lot, but not many people did.
Rush: Before the match, the arena was filled with thousands of fans in Hawaiian shirts.
Kabalis-Bianconi: All of the Nebraska fans were wearing leis around their necks. That gave me extra fuel, like they thought they already won the match and it hadn't even started yet.
McCarty: They were totally convinced that they were going.
Rush: Their tickets were purchased. It wasn't just the team feeling like that was the next step.
Donahue: I don't remember feeling a bunch of nerves. Suzie and our coaching staff told us that Nebraska was a very beatable team. I don't think she would have said that if she didn't mean it.
Part 4: We Could Have Beaten Anybody
After the Wildcats beat Wichita State 3-0, they faced a Nebraska team ranked No. 2 in the country.
The Huskers were just two years away from leaving the 87-year-old Nebraska Coliseum and had advanced to the Sweet 16 every year since 1993.
Fritz: Nebraska is pretty notorious for their "Go Big Red" chant. In the Coliseum, at different points in that match when it would get tied, you couldn't hear yourself think.
McCarty: We weren't the tallest. We weren't the most powerful at the net. And we weren't necessarily the best defensive team. We had to take on an identity and become a really good serving and passing team.
Rush: I remember the first ball that I got set, I think it was literally the first or second point of the match, I thought to myself mid-air, "You've got to go for it, 110 percent, just swing away." We got the point and I got the kill, and it was like, "OK, I'm so relieved."
McCarty: It felt like an out-of-body experience where you're playing really well and making the digs that you always wanted to make and suddenly you win the point.
Rush: And then of course, the next time up I get roofed and thousands of people are chanting "Roof, Roof, Roof." But that's OK. I was just so excited to put that first ball down.
Kabalis-Bianconi: Because of that foundation that Suzie created at the beginning of the year, we didn't have any doubt or fear when we had to face the No. 2 team in the country.
Doller: They had some pretty heavy hitters on the outside, and we knew we were going to have to outlast them. Hannah Werth could just hit the crap out of the ball.
McCarty: Hannah Werth was an All-American for Nebraska. She ended up playing professionally and now she does the color for some of the games. I aced her twice in a row and got her subbed out. With all due respect to her – because she's phenomenal – that felt really good.
Kabalis-Bianconi: I think we knew that if we could win the first set, that would boost our confidence up.
Donahue: I don't remember ever feeling a bunch of nerves or like we weren't going to be able to stick with them. I think winning the first set definitely helped fuel that.
Kabalis-Bianconi: And then we lost the second set.
Sooter: When two teams are so close like that, it's the small things that make a huge difference.
Fritz: That particular group, they thrived in that. I think they felt a little like an underdog yet had the confidence that if they played well, they had a chance to win.
Sooter: I think our passing made a huge difference. Our offensive system was so good, there wasn't just a single person who took all the swings. It was everybody.
Fritz: If you play together long enough, you start to develop this connection, where you can feel where people are at and you don't necessarily need to see where they are on the court.
Donahue: I've gone back and watched old matches. There are little things where I'm facing right front and I'm going to dump one to Kathleen and she's there, she's ready. Or I'm on my hands and knees and I'm just going to fling it and she's there and makes it work.
Rush: Everyone was on board. It didn't matter who subbed in or what rotation we were in. As the match went on, that momentum spoke for itself.
Doller: It was just figuring out how to play calm, but also with some tenacity. I remember feeling so jittery at the net during those last few points. One mistake is amplified so much more.
Kabalis-Bianconi: The crowd was right there when you were serving the ball. There's not a lot of space if you're serving. They were right in your face.
Donahue: Pelger and Porubek, Traxson and Muff all had great nights. That's really a testament to Kuulei's wonderful passing and my ability to move the ball around. We were moving the ball around and getting them in situations where they couldn't have four hands in front of us.
McCarty: We had a really good sports psychologist and he talked to us after the game about when we were down in that match and how we kind of got it together. Every single person said there wasn't any point where they felt that sense of worry.
K-State and Nebraska went back and forth through four sets: K-State won the first set 25-22, then Nebraska 25-22, K-State 31-29, Nebraska 25-22.
After missing a chance to close out the Huskers in four sets, the Wildcats went to a winner-take-all fifth set in Lincoln.
McCarty: That was the five-set thing that Suzie always talked about. She told us that if we could win the serve and pass battle, you can beat a lot of teams.
Doller: When that fifth set came along, I remember going into the huddle and being like, "We do this. This is our game. We win five-set matches."
Rush: I think the message was, "Hey, we're winning this." Almost like an unspoken agreement.
McCarty: For us to have the opportunity to go to Hawaii, I know Kuulei was excited that was even on the board.
Kabalis-Bianconi: Right before the last point, the ball was going back-and-forth, I just feel like we all had tunnel vision.
Sooter: I knew the fans were there because they were so loud, but I was so focused on the game that I only heard what my setter, teammates and coach were telling me.
Doller: I was going up to block on the last point and I remember turning around and just waving my hands like, "I didn't touch it. There was no touch. I let it go out."
Sooter: I was in the front row and I was coming down from a block, so my first thought was, is this ball out or in?
Kabalis-Bianconi: And then the ball went out and I just remember jumping up and down. Donahue was like, "You're going home!"
McCarty: We were like, "You're taking us with you!"
Fritz: That really made it special for her to be able to do that, to be able to take her home.
Sooter: I still get goosebumps just talking about it.
Rush: During the match I was hyper-focused. It was like measured energy. After the last point, I remember I was finally like, "Oh my god, this so exciting. We're doing it." Reality just set in.
Donahue: It took me a couple seconds because I was so locked into the match.
Doller: My roommate at the time was Ashley Kelican. She was our backup setter and didn't ever really play that season. But I remember she was just so overcome with excitement. She was like the best teammate you could ever ask for. Having people like that on our bench doesn't really get talked about, but having those people to support you, that really fueled us.
Donahue: I remember getting to hug my dad after the match which was huge because he's been my number one throughout all of this. He got me into volleyball at a young age, I think I started playing around age 10. He never missed a match.
McCarty: Alex was one of the first people that I tackled in the dog pile.
Doller: It was just like a dog pile on top of Kathleen.
Kabalis-Bianconi: I just kept saying, "I'm going home!"
Sooter: After the game, I called my mom. She watched the whole game even though it was super early in Hungary. I just told her I couldn't believe it. We were going to the Sweet 16.
Donahue: The Nebraska fans were outstanding. Yeah, they were all decked out in their Hawaiian shirts and leis, but they lined the hallways after we exited the locker room and put their leis around our necks.
Rush: I remember looking around at my teammates and locking eyes with them. Seeing my family in the stands and just giving Suz a huge squeeze. She was just so calm and collected.
Fritz: They were a really competitive, driven, talented group of young women. We enjoyed them immensely. And to have them win on top of that was even more satisfying. But to be honest, I don't think one moment defines your experience as a coach. It was tremendous to be part of that, but there were a lot of really cool moments along the way with that group.
Sooter: It was an interesting atmosphere that I had never felt before with any other team. I think we were at the point where we could have beaten anybody. It's such a hard feeling to explain. I wish every athlete could experience that, when everybody is fighting for each other.
Rush: I remember thinking, "This moment is special, and I'll remember this for a very long time." So, my uncles were right. It kind of clicked in that moment – this is what they were talking about.
Fritz: That experience of playing our best volleyball at the end of the year and to move on in the NCAA Tournament, those things are really special.
Rush: We kinda shocked the world for a minute.
79-1.
That's the record of the top two volleyball teams in the country in the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Since 2000, if you played the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country on the tournament's opening weekend, you lost. The names of those teams change every year. The outcome never does.
Almost never.
Part 1: Fake It 'Till You Make It
"The Wildcats will look young on paper with no seniors on the squad…"
The first line of the K-State Volleyball media almanac got right to the point – the Wildcats were going to let the kids play in 2011. Coming off a 12-19 season, K-State had started seven players who were freshmen or sophomores in 2010.
The rest of the Big 12 wasn't exactly convinced. In the 2011 Preseason Coaches Poll, the Wildcats were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team conference.
Tristan McCarty, Sophomore Defensive Specialist – Manhattan, Kansas: When I was a kid, I had the media guides that they would put out for the volleyball team. I used to have that thing memorized from front to back. I know it sounds silly, but like every girl had their favorite thing about volleyball, their favorite school tradition and where they were from. I grew up loving K-State volleyball. I've met a lot of coaches, but there's nobody like Suzie Fritz.
Suzie Fritz, Head Coach – Clay Center, Kansas: I have a terrible memory. I laughed when I heard that somebody wanted to talk to me about something that happened nine years ago, because I can't remember what happened three days ago. So, let me start off by saying that I have a terrible memory. But we thought that 2011 team could be special.
Caitlyn Donahue, Junior Setter – Overland Park, Kansas: We were coming off two pretty average seasons where we didn't make the tournament. It was like a new beginning for us.
Alex Doller (née Muff), Junior Middle Blocker – Concordia, Kansas: We didn't have any seniors, so my class were the oldest members of the team. We got to step into that leadership role right away. I think that's what made us hungrier to really do well that year.
McCarty: Kuulei coming from a junior college program and winning a national championship, we were in awe of a lot of her skill and experience. So many people on that team had to come together and kind of fake it 'till you make it.
Kuulei Kabalis-Bianconi, Junior Libero – Hilo, Hawaii: The level was a lot different and a lot higher. I had to step into a team where I didn't quite understand that and realize quickly, "Hey, I need to get my butt into gear if I want to play."
Kathleen Rush (née Ludwig), Junior Opposite – Shawnee, KS: We had such a good balance with our team leadership. My role was to be communicative and loose like, "Let's have fun, let's get out there and do our thing." Caitlyn, Alex and Kuulei brought a higher level of intensity in terms of, "It's game time, let's go." I'm sure we drove Suzie nutty most of the time.
Lilla Sooter (née Porubek), Sophomore Outside Hitter – Budapest, Hungary: I was 12 years old when I met Coach Fritz in Hungary. She was recruiting Vali Hejjas, who played at K-State and was really good friends with my mother. I remember she was joking about, "Well, when you're 18 you've got to come to the states and play on my team." And I was super scared. But when I was 16 and 17, and really starting to play at a high level, Suzie came to watch me play with the Hungarian youth national team. She offered me a scholarship and I said yes right away.
Donahue: I think any of the younger players or any new players could look up and find themselves in one of the older players on the team.
Rush: It felt like we had really done a lot of work in the previous year, being young and getting through a tough season together.
Doller: When the preseason rankings came out, we were ranked pretty low in the Big 12.
McCarty: Suzie always told us at the beginning of the season, it's not about who's playing well in August, it's about who's playing well at the end of the year. We had some success that season, but we also had a few games that slipped out of our hands.
Rush: As we got further and further into matches, the training that we did and the heart that we had as a team just kind of allowed us to stick some of those matches out.
Donahue: Suzie would help us celebrate the big wins, and I know the kids don't say this anymore, but she encouraged us to walk around with some swag and know that we had earned everything we had done so far. But there was also this side of her, she expected us to walk into the gym and be ready to work. There was never this sense of, "Ok, you did it, you're good now."
McCarty: Every team looks at stats all day long. When we looked at our games that season where we were able to make it to five sets, Suzie was like, "When you guys are losing, it's usually in three to four games, but if you can make it to five sets, you win those games."
Part 2: We're Going to Have to Fight
By the time the Wildcats reached October, the team had already surpassed their win total from a season ago, including a nine-game winning streak heading into conference play.
But unless K-State could improve its record against the rest of the Big 12, it wouldn't matter.
Doller: Going and playing at Texas was always the one game that we were always like, let's go in and actually get them this year. That was always a big goal: Go to Austin and really compete. That year, we didn't actually play well against them. I remember being so frustrated. I thought we were really good that year and we were going to go in and fight – I think it kind of motivated us because we weren't quite there yet. We were like, "OK, it's not just going to come because we've been winning."
Kabalis-Bianconi: I struggled in the beginning; I can't lie about that. Being the first Hawaiian player there was pretty cool, but it was also challenging. I almost went home at one point. Overall, the experience was amazing, but that first year was very hard for me.
Sooter: The language was the biggest challenge. My English was not even close to where it should have been. I struggled with my first Econ class, and I'm an Economics major. Adjusting to the culture, I had never lived in a dorm or been away from my family. I had to explore on my own, which was a challenge. But I was never left alone. Suzie and the girls were always there.
Doller: We realized after the Texas match, if we want to really be good and hang with the big dogs in the tournament, we're going to have to fight a little bit harder than we thought.
Fritz: Caitlyn and Kathleen built a really strong relationship that season. Kathleen was almost like a quick hitter, because she was a left-hander playing on the right side, there was a really high degree of trust between them.
Rush: I felt like every day that we were in the gym, we were getting better. We all had an understanding that we were going to have to give it everything we had every time we stepped out there. Playing a tough Big 12 schedule really helped prepare us for the tournament.
McCarty: At the end of the season, we were really playing our best volleyball.
Donahue: Our coaches did a fantastic job of only allowing us to focus on the next match.
Kabalis-Bianconi: There was such a strong bond and we didn't have to speak about it. That was something that helped us, it just took a little bit of time.
Doller: Suzie always did such a good job of putting everything in perspective and to not just do it for ourselves but for future generations of Wildcats and the people who came before us.
Fritz: Every person on that team had their thing. An identity, if you will. I think we knew going in that if we could use what was special about each one of those players, we could be pretty good.
Sooter: We got to know her style a little better. I don't think Suzie and her coaching style ever really changed; it was us who adjusted. She brought the same drills from our freshman year, but we didn't have to work on learning each new drill. We already knew the system.
Kabalis-Bianconi: She poured confidence into us, but also created an atmosphere where we could have pressure on us and still be successful.
Part 3: Their Tickets Were Purchased
Relative to the rest of the country, Kansas State had held its own against Nebraska, a program with four national championships before leaving for the Big Ten in 2010.
The problem? The rest of the country usually had their hands full.
K-State beat Nebraska in Lincoln in 1999 and twice in 2003, when the Wildcats won a Big 12 title. When they left the conference, Nebraska held an 80-3 lead in the all-time series.
After a 22-win season, that was the reward awaiting K-State in the NCAA Tournament: A trip to Lincoln to play at the historic Nebraska Coliseum and a second-round matchup with the Huskers.
Fritz: Going into it, we thought we were going to win that match.
Sooter: She expected us to win? I love Suzie so much.
McCarty: The previous year we were so young and that was when Nebraska was still in the Big 12, so we traveled up there to play them and we got our butts kicked.
Doller: It was always a packed house, always red. I remember when we would go play Nebraska, you would just get this adrenaline rush that you wouldn't get at any other Big 12 school.
Rush: The week building up to the tournament, Suzie and Jeff [Grove] did a really good job, as they always do, of not looking forward and staying super present on the task at hand, which was in the first round against Wichita State.
Donahue: Suzie always talked about the season in four stages: there was preseason, the first half of the Big 12, the second half of the Big 12 and postseason. So, one thing I remember was this idea that going into the tournament, the playing field was kind of level.
Rush: Most of our week before the tournament was staying in our routine and preparing for Wichita State, because that was our first task. You win or you go home.
Donahue: Knowing volleyball in the Midwest, and knowing Nebraska, it's historic and they have a huge tradition. It's a very intense arena to step into.
Rush: I did feel like the people around me were very, very excited for this tournament. Not that I wasn't, but I had texts from uncles and random cousins being like, "You need to really enjoy this and soak it in." When you're 19 or 20 you're like, "OK cool, thanks Uncle Bob. Gotta go to class." But it all makes sense now. We were preparing for this epic weekend.
Fritz: The Devaney Center that they play in now is a tremendous arena, but the Coliseum was really a unique and special volleyball environment.
McCarty: Ahearn Field House is my favorite place that I've ever played but that was probably a close second.
Rush: We had some younger teammates who grew up in Nebraska and as we were walking through the arena, they were kind of like, "Oh my god, I can't believe we're here, I can't believe we're doing this."
Kabalis-Bianconi: When we watched the tournament draw, I saw that Hawaii was one of the regional sites that would host Sweet 16 matches. I had never gotten to play at home.
McCarty: We shared a training room with Nebraska while we there. The entire team was talking about how they were going to take their finals in Hawaii and what they were going to do.
Doller: "Oh I'm going to have to take my finals online. Gotta get that figured out."
Rush: It was like, wait a second, give us a minute here.
Doller: That didn't sit well with us. I think there were a lot of little things that just fueled our fire.
Donahue: We didn't even talk about Nebraska until we got the job done against Wichita State.
Fritz: We had some success against Nebraska historically. Not a lot, but not many people did.
Rush: Before the match, the arena was filled with thousands of fans in Hawaiian shirts.
Kabalis-Bianconi: All of the Nebraska fans were wearing leis around their necks. That gave me extra fuel, like they thought they already won the match and it hadn't even started yet.
McCarty: They were totally convinced that they were going.
Rush: Their tickets were purchased. It wasn't just the team feeling like that was the next step.
Donahue: I don't remember feeling a bunch of nerves. Suzie and our coaching staff told us that Nebraska was a very beatable team. I don't think she would have said that if she didn't mean it.
Part 4: We Could Have Beaten Anybody
After the Wildcats beat Wichita State 3-0, they faced a Nebraska team ranked No. 2 in the country.
The Huskers were just two years away from leaving the 87-year-old Nebraska Coliseum and had advanced to the Sweet 16 every year since 1993.
Fritz: Nebraska is pretty notorious for their "Go Big Red" chant. In the Coliseum, at different points in that match when it would get tied, you couldn't hear yourself think.
McCarty: We weren't the tallest. We weren't the most powerful at the net. And we weren't necessarily the best defensive team. We had to take on an identity and become a really good serving and passing team.
Rush: I remember the first ball that I got set, I think it was literally the first or second point of the match, I thought to myself mid-air, "You've got to go for it, 110 percent, just swing away." We got the point and I got the kill, and it was like, "OK, I'm so relieved."
McCarty: It felt like an out-of-body experience where you're playing really well and making the digs that you always wanted to make and suddenly you win the point.
Rush: And then of course, the next time up I get roofed and thousands of people are chanting "Roof, Roof, Roof." But that's OK. I was just so excited to put that first ball down.
Kabalis-Bianconi: Because of that foundation that Suzie created at the beginning of the year, we didn't have any doubt or fear when we had to face the No. 2 team in the country.
Doller: They had some pretty heavy hitters on the outside, and we knew we were going to have to outlast them. Hannah Werth could just hit the crap out of the ball.
McCarty: Hannah Werth was an All-American for Nebraska. She ended up playing professionally and now she does the color for some of the games. I aced her twice in a row and got her subbed out. With all due respect to her – because she's phenomenal – that felt really good.
Kabalis-Bianconi: I think we knew that if we could win the first set, that would boost our confidence up.
Donahue: I don't remember ever feeling a bunch of nerves or like we weren't going to be able to stick with them. I think winning the first set definitely helped fuel that.
Kabalis-Bianconi: And then we lost the second set.
Sooter: When two teams are so close like that, it's the small things that make a huge difference.
Fritz: That particular group, they thrived in that. I think they felt a little like an underdog yet had the confidence that if they played well, they had a chance to win.
Sooter: I think our passing made a huge difference. Our offensive system was so good, there wasn't just a single person who took all the swings. It was everybody.
Fritz: If you play together long enough, you start to develop this connection, where you can feel where people are at and you don't necessarily need to see where they are on the court.
Donahue: I've gone back and watched old matches. There are little things where I'm facing right front and I'm going to dump one to Kathleen and she's there, she's ready. Or I'm on my hands and knees and I'm just going to fling it and she's there and makes it work.
Rush: Everyone was on board. It didn't matter who subbed in or what rotation we were in. As the match went on, that momentum spoke for itself.
Doller: It was just figuring out how to play calm, but also with some tenacity. I remember feeling so jittery at the net during those last few points. One mistake is amplified so much more.
Kabalis-Bianconi: The crowd was right there when you were serving the ball. There's not a lot of space if you're serving. They were right in your face.
Donahue: Pelger and Porubek, Traxson and Muff all had great nights. That's really a testament to Kuulei's wonderful passing and my ability to move the ball around. We were moving the ball around and getting them in situations where they couldn't have four hands in front of us.
McCarty: We had a really good sports psychologist and he talked to us after the game about when we were down in that match and how we kind of got it together. Every single person said there wasn't any point where they felt that sense of worry.
K-State and Nebraska went back and forth through four sets: K-State won the first set 25-22, then Nebraska 25-22, K-State 31-29, Nebraska 25-22.
After missing a chance to close out the Huskers in four sets, the Wildcats went to a winner-take-all fifth set in Lincoln.
McCarty: That was the five-set thing that Suzie always talked about. She told us that if we could win the serve and pass battle, you can beat a lot of teams.
Doller: When that fifth set came along, I remember going into the huddle and being like, "We do this. This is our game. We win five-set matches."
Rush: I think the message was, "Hey, we're winning this." Almost like an unspoken agreement.
McCarty: For us to have the opportunity to go to Hawaii, I know Kuulei was excited that was even on the board.
Kabalis-Bianconi: Right before the last point, the ball was going back-and-forth, I just feel like we all had tunnel vision.
Sooter: I knew the fans were there because they were so loud, but I was so focused on the game that I only heard what my setter, teammates and coach were telling me.
Doller: I was going up to block on the last point and I remember turning around and just waving my hands like, "I didn't touch it. There was no touch. I let it go out."
Sooter: I was in the front row and I was coming down from a block, so my first thought was, is this ball out or in?
Kabalis-Bianconi: And then the ball went out and I just remember jumping up and down. Donahue was like, "You're going home!"
McCarty: We were like, "You're taking us with you!"
Fritz: That really made it special for her to be able to do that, to be able to take her home.
Sooter: I still get goosebumps just talking about it.
Rush: During the match I was hyper-focused. It was like measured energy. After the last point, I remember I was finally like, "Oh my god, this so exciting. We're doing it." Reality just set in.
Donahue: It took me a couple seconds because I was so locked into the match.
Doller: My roommate at the time was Ashley Kelican. She was our backup setter and didn't ever really play that season. But I remember she was just so overcome with excitement. She was like the best teammate you could ever ask for. Having people like that on our bench doesn't really get talked about, but having those people to support you, that really fueled us.
Donahue: I remember getting to hug my dad after the match which was huge because he's been my number one throughout all of this. He got me into volleyball at a young age, I think I started playing around age 10. He never missed a match.
McCarty: Alex was one of the first people that I tackled in the dog pile.
Doller: It was just like a dog pile on top of Kathleen.
Kabalis-Bianconi: I just kept saying, "I'm going home!"
Sooter: After the game, I called my mom. She watched the whole game even though it was super early in Hungary. I just told her I couldn't believe it. We were going to the Sweet 16.
Donahue: The Nebraska fans were outstanding. Yeah, they were all decked out in their Hawaiian shirts and leis, but they lined the hallways after we exited the locker room and put their leis around our necks.
Rush: I remember looking around at my teammates and locking eyes with them. Seeing my family in the stands and just giving Suz a huge squeeze. She was just so calm and collected.
Fritz: They were a really competitive, driven, talented group of young women. We enjoyed them immensely. And to have them win on top of that was even more satisfying. But to be honest, I don't think one moment defines your experience as a coach. It was tremendous to be part of that, but there were a lot of really cool moments along the way with that group.
Sooter: It was an interesting atmosphere that I had never felt before with any other team. I think we were at the point where we could have beaten anybody. It's such a hard feeling to explain. I wish every athlete could experience that, when everybody is fighting for each other.
Rush: I remember thinking, "This moment is special, and I'll remember this for a very long time." So, my uncles were right. It kind of clicked in that moment – this is what they were talking about.
Fritz: That experience of playing our best volleyball at the end of the year and to move on in the NCAA Tournament, those things are really special.
Rush: We kinda shocked the world for a minute.
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at Colorado
Thursday, February 26
K-State Rowing | Media Day
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Rowing | Weights Practice
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Tennis | Weekend Recap vs Old Dominion & Minnesota
Tuesday, February 24
