Wildcats Hit West Coast for Gaucho Invitational

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State travels to the west coast for the season's second weekend of action, as the Wildcats will take on No. 21 Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State over two days at the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara, California, starting Friday.

K-State (1-1) split a pair of matches at the Husker Invitational to begin the year, taking down Colgate in four sets in the opener before pushing No. 5 Nebraska to four sets last Saturday. Aliyah Carter, the 2020 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, turned in a pair of double-doubles, including 21 kills vs. the Raiders and a career-high 16 digs against the Cornhuskers.

Opposite Haley Warner led the Wildcat offense in hitting percentage at .421, posting a .556 clip while totaling a career-best 11 kills against the Huskers. Libero Mackenzie Morris added 19 digs Saturday while the team also racked up 22.5 total team blocks in two contests.

Pepperdine will mark the second straight top-25 team and postseason qualifier the Cats will face. The last time K-State met the Waves was in the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA Championship in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Saturday match with the Gauchos will be streamed live through UCSBGauchos.com. All three matches at the Thunderdome can be heard online at K-StateSports.com/Watch with Rob Volker on the call. Friday's match with Pepperdine and the weekend finale against the Aztecs will be broadcast on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM).

MATCH #3
K-STATE (1-1, 0-0 BIG 12) vs. #21 PEPPERDINE (3-0, 0-0 WEST COAST)
Friday, September 3 // 5 p.m. CT // Thunderdome // Santa Barbara, Calif.
Radio: News Radio KMAN // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

MATCH #4
K-STATE (1-1, 0-0 BIG 12) at UC SANTA BARBARA (1-2, 0-0 BIG WEST)
Saturday, September 4 // 2 p.m. CT // Thunderdome // Santa Barbara, Calif.
Watch Live Stream
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

MATCH #5
K-STATE (1-1, 0-0 BIG 12) vs. SAN DIEGO STATE (0-0, 0-0 MOUNTAIN WEST)
Saturday, September 4 // 6:30 p.m. CT // Thunderdome // Santa Barbara, Calif.
Radio: News Radio KMAN // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

K-State travels to the west coast for its second non-conference weekend, as the Wildcats play three matches over two days at the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara, California.
While in the Golden State, the Cats will take No. 21 Pepperdine on Friday before a Saturday doubleheader with UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State.
K-State split two matches in the season's opening weekend at the Husker Invitational, defeating Colgate in four sets before finishing the weekend with a four-set defeat at the hands of No. 5 Nebraska.
Aliyah Carter turned in back-to-back double-doubles, recording 21 kills and 11 digs against the Raiders before 14 kills and 16 digs against the Cornhuskers.
Haley Warner led the offense with a .421 hitting percentage, including a .556 clip with 11 kills Saturday at Nebraska.
Along with Carter and Warner, Holly Bonde produced a pair of double-figure kill performances with 11 against Colgate and a dozen at Nebraska.
The K-State defense registered double-digit blocks in both matches, with 12 coming in the opener against Colgate.
Libero Mackenzie Morris produced double-figure digs in both contests, including a team-high 19 Saturday against the Huskers.
K-State's 25-11 third-set victory over the Cornhuskers marked Nebraska's lowest single-set point total at Devaney Center, which opened in 2013.

SCOUTING THE FIELD

While at the Gaucho Invitational, K-State will take on 21st-ranked Pepperdine in the opener before facing host UCSB and San Diego State in a Saturday doubleheader.
Pepperdine not only marks the second top-25 opponent the Wildcats will face, but the second straight 2020 postseason qualifier.
The Waves began the season with three victories at the Classic City Class, defeating Winthrop, Morehead State and host Georgia.
Rachel Ahrens paced the Pepperdine offense with 4.17 kills per set to go with a team-high 15 service aces.
Ahrens was an All-WCC first team selection and an AVCA All-America honorable mention pick.
WCC Libero of the Year Madison Shields and Freshman of the Year Meg Brown also return to a Waves squad that reached the Round of 32 at the NCAA Championship.
UC Santa Barbara, who did not compete during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, opened the 2021 campaign by going 1-2 at the Panther Invitational.
UCSB took both Illinois and Valparaiso to five sets before completing the weekend with a four-set victory over host Milwaukee.
The Gauchos offense was led by Tasia Farmer with 3.10 kills per set while hitting .250.
Senior libero Kobie Jimenez racked up 60 digs over 14 sets (4.29 per set) to lead the UCSB back row.
San Diego State opened the season winless at the Bearkat Invitational, hosted by Sam Houston.
SDSU dropped its opener in straight sets to Houston Baptist before Sam Houston claimed both matchups.
Zoi Faki averaged 2.73 kills a set while Victoria O'Sullivan added 2.64 per set to lead the Aztecs' offense.
As a team, San Diego State hit .151 over the weekend.
Senior Natalie Smith's 4.91 digs per set led her team by more than 2.50 a set.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State and Pepperdine will meet for just the fourth time, as the Waves own a 2-1 edge in the series.
The last time the Wildcats and Waves met was in the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA Championship in Honolulu, Hawaii, with Pepperdine claiming a straight-set victory.
UC Santa Barbara has taken the only previous meeting between the sides, a 3-0 win in 1989.
K-State and San Diego State will meet for the first time.
In her career, head coach Suzie Fritz is 10-4 against teams from the Big West, 9-6 against the West Coast Conference and 8-2 vs. the Mountain West.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

K-State's matchup with No. 21 Pepperdine Friday marks the Wildcats' second straight ranked opponent after dropping a four-set decision to No. 5 Nebraska last Saturday.
Last season, K-State finished 1-4 against ranked teams, picking up a four-set victory over No. 24 Creighton on March 20.
The victory over the Bluejays marked the program's first ranked win since the 2018 season.
K-State last defeated a ranked opponent away from home in 2018, taking down No. 24 Baylor in straight sets.
The Wildcats' last neutral-site ranked victory was a three-set victory over Dayton in 2012.
Since 2014, K-State is 4-33 (.108) against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

RECORD PACE

In just 23 career matches, Aliyah Carter has accumulated 360 kills, which puts her on pace to match Natalya Korbkova as the fastest Wildcats to reach 400 kills in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
Natalya Korbkova was a junior transfer and played during the 2007-08 seasons.
She is also the quickest to 500 career kills at just 32 matches.
Kylee Zumach reached 400 career kills in 30 matches and is the fastest to reach the milestone beginning as a true freshman.

KILLER CARTER

Aliyah Carter picked up right where she left off in the season's opening weekend at the Husker Invitational.
In Lincoln, Carter logged 21 kills in the opener against Colgate with 14 more coming at Nebraska.
Entering the season with one double-double, Carter produced back-to-back double-doubles to begin the season - with a career-high 16 digs coming against the Huskers Saturday.
Carter, who began playing six rotations in the spring portion of the schedule, has now reached double-digit digs in four of her last six matches.
With her 21 kills against the Raiders, she has now reached the 20-kill mark seven times in her career, which already places her fifth in program history during the rally-scoring era.
Her career-best 27 kills against Texas State last season are a K-State freshman record, as she owns the top three kill totals by a Wildcat freshman.

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Players Mentioned

Holly Bonde

Aliyah Carter

Mackenzie Morris

Haley Warner

Kansas State University Athletics