K-State, West Virginia Meet Thursday in Bramlage

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State opens a two-match home stretch facing off against West Virginia at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State (13-11, 4-7 Big 12) cut a three-match slide Friday with a victory over No. 25-ranked Iowa State in Ames, defeating the Cyclones in four sets.

There were multiple Wildcats in double-figure kills, led by senior Sydney Bolding with career-high 14 kills at a .414 clip. Senior Elena Baka earned her eighth double-double of the season with 13 kills and digs on the night. Setter Loren Hinkle also collected a double-double, posting 46 assists and 15 digs for the Cats. The team downed ISU with 56 kills at a .207 tempo.

West Virginia (7-17, 0-11 Big 12) have yet to come away with a victory since conference play started and are still looking for its first Big 12 win this season.

K-State owns a 13-8 lead in the all-time series, which started when WVU joined the Big 12 Conference ahead of the 2012 season. The Cats are 6-4 all-time at home against the Mountaineers and have won four of the last five in the series overall.

Friday's match will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Fans can also listen to Rob Voelker's call on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM), online at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

MATCH #25
K-STATE (13-11, 4-7 BIG 12) vs WEST VIRGINIA (7-17, 0-11 BIG 12)
Thursday, November 10 // 6:30 p.m. // Bramlage Coliseum // Manhattan, Kansas
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM) // Rob Voelker
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

K-State and Iowa State meet for the second time this season and the first time in Manhattan.
The Wildcats are coming off a huge upset win over #25 Iowa State last Friday.
Against the Cyclones, K-State swung at a .207 pace and collected 56 kills, the second-highest total of four-set matches.
Sydney Bolding led with 14 kills, a career-best (.414).
Elena Baka followed with 13 kills and secured her eighth double-double with 13 kills.
Loren Hinkle collected her sixth double-double (46 assists, 15 digs) and added two aces to her career (105).
Kayde Fernholz (.417) and Shaylee Myers (.154) gathered 11 kills each.
Haley Warner led both teams with six blocks.
Mackenzie Morris picked up 17 digs, donning five of the last six matches with 17+ digs.
K-State sits fifth in the Big 12 with a 2.50 per set average in blocks.
The Cats lead the conference with 1.68 average aces.
The team's 14.03 digs per set ranks second in the league.
The eight three-set wins tie the most by the Wildcats since they collected eight during the 2018 season.
K-State is 11-0 when holding opponents to below .200 hitting percentage.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia (7-17, 0-11 Big 12) enters Wednesday having dropped five consecutive matches in Big 12 play.
The Mountaineers suffered back-to-back sweeps by Iowa State and Baylor before being swept again by Oklahoma at home Saturday.
WVU is 0-8 on the road, going 0-5 during league play.
Adrian Ell spearheads the Mountaineer offense with 2.93 kills per set (249 total kills) while Bailey Miller is next at 255 total kills (2.87 per set).
Ell is currently 10th in the conference in kills per set.
WVU's offense has a team efficiency of .140, which ranks last in the Big 12.
West Virginia also ranks ninth offensively in kills per set (11.45) and assists per set (10.52).
Skye Stokes sits sixth and fifth in aces per set (0.35) and digs per set (3.96).
Kamiah Gibson's 6.65 assists per set ranks eighth in the Big 12.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State leads the all-time series 13-8, which began when West Virginia joined the Big 12 ahead of the 2012 season.
The Wildcats swept the Mountaineers in Morgantown in the first meeting of the season (Oct. 05).
The sides split the season series a year ago in Manhattan, as the Cats won a four-set match to open the series before the Mountaineers claimed a straight-set win in the finale.
The Wildcats are 6-4 in Manhattan, never winning more than two consecutive matches.
K-State has won four of the last five matchups, but WVU has won six of the last 11 overall.
Head coach Suzie Fritz is 13-8 in her career against West Virginia and 6-4 at home.
The Wildcats are 6-3 in three-set matches and 5-2 in five set matches against WVU.

HOME SWEET HOME

K-State began its home schedule 4-0 for the first time since 2018.
In nine home matches this season, the Wildcats are hitting .230 while limiting opponents to a .196 team efficiency.
Myers is averaging 4.30 kills per set and hitting .361 at home while Bolding is hitting .371 with 1.94 kills per set.
The Cats have served up 64 aces at home, with Bolding accounting for 16 of them and 14 coming from Hinkle.
Opponents racked up just 46 service aces at home against the Wildcats.
K-State is 35-13 (.729) in matches played at Bramlage Coliseum and head coach Suzie Fritz has a career home record of 200-91 over her 22-year career.

FEELIN ACE-Y

K-State has racked up 153 service aces, the most in a single season since 2011 (153).
This ranks first in the Big 12.
The Wildcats' total aces sits in the top 100 of the NCAA.
The team's 1.69 average also leads the conference and is 64th nationally.
Sydney Bolding leads K-State with 33 aces, sitting fourth in the conference and fifth with her average (0.38).
Bolding has eight matches with multiple aces and has equaled her career high of four aces three times this season.
Elena Baka is second on the team and seventh in the league with 27 aces while Loren Hinkle holds eighth in the Big 12 at 26 aces.
Hinkle and Baka's 0.31 and 0.30 average aces post eighth and ninth in the conference rankings.
Six times the Cats have eclipsed the 10-ace mark, including in back-to-back matches at the UCF Challenge with 11 against Syracuse and a season-high 12 vs. North Florida.
The 12 aces were the most in a three-set match since the 2007 season and were tied for fourth-most in the rally-scoring era.
It was the first time K-State produced back-to-back matches with at least 10 aces since 2007.
Last season, K-State finished with 10 or more aces just twice.
Additionally, the six matches with 10 or more aces are the most since a rally-scoring-record seven matches in 2007.

DIGS FOR DAYS

K-State is one of the top passing teams in the Big 12, ranking second with 14.03 digs per set (1277 total).
The team has accumulated 72 digs in three matches – vs Creighton (9/17), at Oklahoma (10/19) and at Iowa State (11/04).
The Wildcats' dig totals versus Creighton and Iowa State were second and third in total for Big 12 four-set matches.
Junior libero Mackenzie Morris leads K-State with 403 digs.
Her average of 4.43 per set ranks fourth in the Big 12 and 72nd nationally.
Morris set a career-high 29 digs at Oklahoma (10/19), counting as the fourth-highest single-match dig total in the league this season.
She has carded at least 17 digs in 11 of her last 13 matches.
The Dallas native owns 18 career matches with at least 20 digs, as she now has sole possession of third place in program history.
Loren Hinkle is just shy of 900 career digs, needing 61 to reach the mark.
Aliyah Carter sits at the 454 career dig mark – 46 away from reaching 500.

GOING BOLDING

Senior middle blocker Sydney Bolding has been a hit for the Wildcats, averaging 1.94 kills per set.
Her 1.26 blocks per set is second-best in the Big 12 and ranks 44th nationally while her total (111) sits third in the conference and 50th in the NCAA.
The senior's hitting .319 hitting percentage tops the Wildcats for the season.
Bolding three times has produced four aces this season, including in K-State's first conference match against Iowa State and four coming in the first set alone against St. Thomas.
The four aces matched a career-high, as she has seven matches with multiple aces this season (two such matches last season).
Her 33 aces eclipse the most by a Wildcat middle blocker since 2018 (Zsofia Gyimes' 31).
The record for a K-State middle blocker in the rally-scoring era is 37 aces, done by Lauren Goehring (2001) and Kaitlynn Pelger (2013).
She was named to the Rambler Challenge All-Tournament Team, her second all-tournament team selection after also being voted to the K-State Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Bolding notched a career-high 14 kills Friday against the Cyclones (.414).
The Pickens, South Carolina, product has eclipsed double-figure kills eight times this season.
Bolding has hit .350 or better 12 times, including a career-best .588 at Rice.
She is 25 kills from reaching the 300 career mark and 10 blocks from the 200 career block achievement.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

K-State has won the opening set in 16 of 24 outings to begin the campaign, going 10-6 in those matches.
The Wildcats are 10-1 when hitting at a higher hitting percentage and when producing more kills than their opponents.
Additionally, the Cats are 10-0 when they have limited their opponents to a hitting efficiency under .200.
The Wildcats' 3-0 over Kansas City (Sept. 14) marked the 200th sweep under head coach Suzie Fritz.
Fritz collected her 200th career home win against Missouri on Sept. 7 and is nine away from her 400th career win at the helm of the Wildcats.
With one more win, she will eclipse the 200 mark for Big 12 wins in her career.
Currently, the Big 12 has the top RPI (rating percentage index) conference in the country.
K-State has the strongest strength of schedule of any team in the league.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sydney Bolding

Aliyah Carter

Loren Hinkle

Mackenzie Morris

Haley Warner

Kansas State University Athletics