K-State Kicks Off Four-Match Road Trip at Iowa State

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State enters the final stretch of the regular season, kicking off a four-match road swing with two contests at Iowa State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.

K-State (14-7, 5-5 Big 12), who is fresh off its final bye weekend of the season, has won three straight matches after a two-match sweep of Texas Tech at Bramlage Coliseum. Against the Red Raiders, Aliyah Carter turned in two straight double-doubles while Teana Adams-Kaonohi handed out a career-high 61 assists in the Cats' five-set win on October 27.

Carter ranks second in the Big 12 in kills per set at 4.15 while Adams-Kaonohi is the Big 12 leader at 10.89 assists per set.

Iowa State (15-8, 7-5 Big 12) has won three of its last four outings, including a series sweep at Oklahoma last week. The Wildcats and Cyclones split two matches at Bramlage Coliseum a season ago and the Cats seek to earn their first victory at Hilton Coliseum since 2007.

The entire two-match set will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with live, streaming audio available at K-StateSports.com/Watch. Thursday's contest can also be heard on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM).

MATCH #22
K-STATE (14-7, 5-5 BIG 12) at IOWA STATE (15-8, 7-5 BIG 12)
Thursday, November 11 // 6:30 p.m. // Hilton Coliseum // Ames, Iowa
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

MATCH #23
K-STATE (14-7, 5-5 BIG 12) at IOWA STATE (15-8, 7-5 BIG 12)
Saturday, November 13 // 1 p.m. // Hilton Coliseum // Ames, Iowa
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: N/A
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

After its final bye week of the regular season, K-State begins a four-match roadtrip Thursday at Iowa State.
The Wildcats enter the two-match series on a three-match winning streak following a two-match sweep of Texas Tech in their last time on the court (Oct. 27-28).
K-State earned a five-set victory in the series opener before completing its first Big 12 series sweep with a four-set win on Thursday.
Holly Bonde and Aliyah Carter carded 21 kills apiece in Wednesday's opener to lead all players.
The outing marked a career high for Bonde while Carter notched her 11th career match with 20 or more kills.
Carter logged a double-double in both matches and now has a team-leading 12 double-doubles on the season, with 10 coming over her last 15 matches.
Setter Teana Adams-Kaonohi recorded a career-high 61 assists to go with 17 digs Wednesday, turning in the Big 12's first 60-assist outing of the season.
Adams-Kaonohi's double-double was her sixth of the season and ninth of her career.
Libero Mackenzie Morris averaged 4.56 digs per set over the two matches, with 19 coming in the opener before a match-best 22 in the finale.
Morris upped her career total to 11 matches with at least 20 digs.
Loren Hinkle served up three aces in back-to-back matches against the Red Raiders, as she now leads the team with 29 aces.
On Thursday, six players recorded an ace in the four-set win, as the Cats totaled eight service aces.
Additionally, five players turned in five blocks to help K-State to 11 total blocks, its 12th match this season with double-digit blocks.

SCOUTING IOWA STATE

Iowa State (15-8, 7-5 Big 12) has won three of its last four matches after the Cyclones picked up a road series sweep of Oklahoma last weekend.
ISU, who moved into third place in the Big 12 standings, has a pair of players with over 220 kills this season in Eleanor Holthaus (229) and Candelaria Herrera (221).
Herrera leads the Cyclones and ranks fifth in the Big 12 with her .346 hitting percentage while also pacing the league in blocks per set at 1.34.
Libero Marija Popovic is the Big 12 leader with 4.83 digs per set, while ISU ranks third in opponent hitting percentage at .175.
Annie Hatch was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week while Brooke Stonestreet was tabbed Big 12 Rookie of the week on Tuesday.
Hatch totaled 40 kills, 30 digs and nine blocks over the two matches against the Sooners.
Stonestreet picked up 18 digs in ISU's first matchup and added 13 more in the series finale while also recording five aces over two contests.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Dating back to 1976, Iowa State owns a 56-42 advantage in the all-time series.
A season ago, K-State and ISU split two matches at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats' 3-1 win in their last matchup snapped an eight-match losing streak to the Cyclones.
On the road, K-State is 14-28 all-time at Iowa State and has dropped its last 12 matches in Ames, last winning at Hilton Coliseum in 2007 (3-0).
Since 2008, the Cyclones are 20-6 against the Cats and have won 10 of the last 13 contests.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 18-22 in her career against the Cyclones and 6-13 on the road.

IT'S A PARTY

K-State has reached double-digit blocks in 12 of 20 matches this year, including 10 or more blocks in five of its last seven matches.
K-State put together four consecutive matches with double-figure blocks (Oct. 2-21), marking the Cats' longest stretch of 10-block matches since 2014.
The dozen 10-block contests are K-State's highest single-season total since 2016 (15).
On Oct. 21 at TCU, K-State totaled a season-best 16 team blocks with Kadye Fernholz notching a career-best 10.
Fernholz became the second Wildcat this season to reach double-figure blocks, joining Kayley Hollywood (Sept. 18 at Omaha).
Additionally, the Cats have out-blocked their opponents in 17 of 21 matches, going 13-4 in those contests.
With 11 total blocks against Texas Tech, Fernholz upped her team-leading total to 89 blocks and 1.20 blocks per set, which ranks sixth in the Big 12.
Fernholz has registered at least three blocks in 15 of 19 matches in which she has appeared.
A Wildcat has reached at least five blocks in a match 32 times this season, led by Fernholz's 11 five-block outings.

KILLER CARTER

Aliyah Carter is one of two players in the Big 12 averaging over 4.00 kills a set at 4.15, trailing only Baylor's Yossiana Pressley (4.71).
Five times Carter has eclipsed the 20-kill plateau, with her fifth coming on Oct. 27 against Texas Tech (21 kills).
Carter has hit over .320 in four of her five 20-kill outings, including a .327 mark when she picked up a season-high 23 against TCU on Oct. 22.
She now has 11 career matches with 20 or more kills, tying her for second in program history during the rally-scoring era.
Entering the season with one double-double, Carter has produced 12 double-doubles in 20 matches this season - with a career-high 20 digs coming against Fresno State (Sept. 11).
She has carded 10 double-doubles over her last 15 contests.

MACK ATTACK

Mackenzie Morris, who has played every set in her career as the Wildcat libero, is fourth in the Big 12 with her 4.13 digs per set.
She took home her first Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week award on Oct. 19 after leading the league with 5.68 digs per set over two matches against West Virginia.
Morris led all players with 19 digs over four sets on Thursday before tallying 22 more in three sets against the Mountaineers Friday.
Her 22 digs tied the third-highest total in a three-set match during the rally-scoring era in program history.
With 22 digs in the series finale against the Red Raiders, Morris now has 11 career matches with 20 or more digs, moving her into fourth place in K-State history during the rally-scoring era.
She has five 20-dig performances this season, with her 22 against WVU marking the second-highest total in a three-set match in the Big 12 this season.

CARDIAC CATS

In 2020, K-State went to five sets in nine of 21 matches, going 6-3 in those contests.
This season, the Cats are 4-0 in five-set matches after hanging on to beat TTU in five on Oct. 27 at home.
The Cats have won eight of their last nine and 10 of their last 12 five-set matches, dating back to last season.
The Wildcats went 4-0 in five-set matches last season on the road and twice came back from 1-2 deficits.
Since 2017, K-State has played 36 five-set matches, going 19-17.

ACE IN YO' FACE

The Wildcats put together a stretch of eight consecutive matches with five or more aces from September 4-18.
The stretch was the longest since the Cats' stretch of 11 matches in a row with at least five aces during the 2007 season.
From 2008-20, K-State never had a streak of more than five straight matches with five or more service aces.
With eight aces in each matchup with TTU, K-State now has 14 matches this season with at least five service aces.
Eleven times a player has recorded three or more, led by five from Morris and four by Hinkle.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Wildcats are 7-1 this season when winning the first set and 5-0 when leading 2-0.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 298-59 (.838) in her career when leading a match 1-0.
K-State has hit over .300 in a match three this season, with two of those being five-set contests.
It marks the first time in program history (rally-scoring era) that the Cats have two five-set matches with better than a .300 efficiency in the same season.
The last time K-State hit .300 or better in a five-set match was the 2017 season.
The Cats' .321 clip in their five-set win at UCSB marked the second-best percentage in five sets in the rally-scoring era and highest since 2008.
In her career, Fritz is 136-3 when her team hits north of .300 while she is 71-0 when holding opponents under .100.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Teana Adams-Kaonohi

Holly Bonde

Aliyah Carter

Kadye Fernholz

Loren Hinkle

Kayley Hollywood

Mackenzie Morris

Kansas State University Athletics