A Historic Night
Nov 09, 2023 | Volleyball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
First-year Kansas State head coach Jason Mansfield wears a purple quarter-zip pullover splotched with the darkness of water from the post-match water-bottle celebration inside the locker room. He sniffles.
"You need to go home and take your vitamins," senior outside hitter Aliyah Carter says, sliding into a chair at the postgame news conference.
"I'm going to try and get some sleep," he says, smiling. "It's worth it, though."
Nothing, not even a sniffle, can dampen the aftermath of K-State's 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) against No. 3 Texas at a sold-out Morgan Family Arena on Wednesday night. A crowd of 3,044 packs every crevice and witnesses the Wildcats snap a 39-game losing streak to the Longhorns. The victory over the defending national champions ranks as one of the best by K-State in its history. It's the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever beaten in a regular-season match. The atmosphere is incredible. It's electric. Guys in the crowd chant "S-E-C" and Sandstorm booms across the arena sound system and a videoboard sign reads: "ON YOUR FEET."
This is what it's all about. This is what Mansfield has been saying all along — that K-State can win in these big moments. K-State swept BYU twice in late October prior to taking down Texas, giving the Wildcats three top-1o victories in the last 14 days. Nothing can quite prepare you for that, unless you're Mansfield, and you're speaking to your team, and they believe.
And they do believe.
"There's no reason for us to believe that we can't compete with a team like this and beat them," Mansfield says.
It's been quite a year so far. K-State, 14-10 overall and 8-7 in the Big 12 Conference, faces Texas Tech on November 17-18 and then travels to No. 22 Houston to wrap up the regular season. It goes forth with ample confidence after snapping Texas' 13-match winning streak and dropping the Longhorns to 18-4 and 13-1.
Texas entered the 2023 season as the No. 1 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coach's Poll and brought back one All-American and three other players selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. It has won or shared 11 of the last 12 league championships. The Longhorns entered Wednesday having won 50 of 58 all-time matches against K-State, and they were 21-5 against the Wildcats in Manhattan.
Texas also had won 38 of its last 41 road matches dating to the 2019 season. Since the 2011 season, Texas was 119-21 in true road matches with only six of those losses coming to unranked teams.
K-State had never beaten a team ranked in the top-3 during a regular season match — until now. It defeated No. 2 Nebraska in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. That is the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever defeated — but that wasn't in a regular-season match.
No, Texas has its own place in K-State lore.
"There was no possible way that the girls on this team were going to go off with another loss to Texas," Carter says. "We weren't going to go out that way. We knew that this was the team that could do it. It feels great."
Carter totals 20 kills with a .311 hitting efficiency, and Mackenzie Morris leads the backrow with 20 digs while Sydney Bolding has a match high-tying three blocks. It's Carter who seemingly dazzles. On a night in which Taylor Swift songs ring throughout the arena, it's Carter who's the best performer — on her own stage. The match point goes back-and-forth nine times over a span of 34 seconds before Carter throws down the hammer with a shot that the Longhorns simply cannot handle. Carter jumps into a celebratory huddle with her teammates. The crowd goes nuts. Did this just happen? Yes, it happened.
"It's about how intentional and in the moment they were over and over and over again," Mansfield says. "You give yourself the best chance to win when you don't dwell on the last play and you're ready for the next one. We just did that for three straight sets, and we did that before against BYU and Iowa State.
"It's just who we can be and it's really, really cool to see that."
K-State players on the sideline flash the Mob sign typically reserved for the football team, yet it's entirely appropriate for the moment and all the defensive prowess and what Carter calls the "dog" mentality of the Wildcats.
"We have a whole bunch of dogs back there that are going to get anything up," she says. "That's the mindset going into each and every game. We pride ourselves on defense and keeping balls alive so our offense can work."
Mansfield, hired by K-State Athletic Director Gene Taylor as the ninth head coach on December 27, 2022, has been a part of seven NCAA Final Fours and one national championship during stints at Stanford and Washington. He's seen greatness. He's seen it done. Prior to this season, he went out and got Oregon State transfer Izzi Szulczewski and Wisconsin transfer Liz Gregorski. He believed they could help. And they've been tremendous.
"When I took this job, I believed in the players that wanted to stay," Mansfield says. "Getting Izzi and Liz was a big deal to our culture and certainly our play. I know what good volleyball looks like, and the girls on this team can play. It's about the players making plays. It's not about me. But I knew that we had enough talent that if we just believed and kept getting better and found a way to be a team — we've had lots of examples this year of not only can we play with teams but we can beat quality teams and that we have players on our team that need to be recognized in the same way that these other girls on these other teams are being recognized. I'm just really proud that they're showing it over and over and over again.
"I'm not a big stat guy, but anybody getting 20 kills in three sets like Aliyah or 20 digs in three sets like Mackenzie is absolutely exceptional against one of the best teams in the country. If that doesn't prove that we have great players on this team, then I don't know what does."
Meanwhile, K-State continues to build upon it resume for a potential berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"There's a lot of confidence and encouragement," Carter says. "I think of this team as a big circle, and without part of that circle being there, it's not going to work because it's not a circle. From the bench to the coaches to people playing to practice to weights, everything is working and everything just feels good."
But the rush from beating the defending national champions for one of the biggest wins in history?
Priceless.
First-year Kansas State head coach Jason Mansfield wears a purple quarter-zip pullover splotched with the darkness of water from the post-match water-bottle celebration inside the locker room. He sniffles.
"You need to go home and take your vitamins," senior outside hitter Aliyah Carter says, sliding into a chair at the postgame news conference.
"I'm going to try and get some sleep," he says, smiling. "It's worth it, though."
Nothing, not even a sniffle, can dampen the aftermath of K-State's 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) against No. 3 Texas at a sold-out Morgan Family Arena on Wednesday night. A crowd of 3,044 packs every crevice and witnesses the Wildcats snap a 39-game losing streak to the Longhorns. The victory over the defending national champions ranks as one of the best by K-State in its history. It's the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever beaten in a regular-season match. The atmosphere is incredible. It's electric. Guys in the crowd chant "S-E-C" and Sandstorm booms across the arena sound system and a videoboard sign reads: "ON YOUR FEET."
This is what it's all about. This is what Mansfield has been saying all along — that K-State can win in these big moments. K-State swept BYU twice in late October prior to taking down Texas, giving the Wildcats three top-1o victories in the last 14 days. Nothing can quite prepare you for that, unless you're Mansfield, and you're speaking to your team, and they believe.
And they do believe.
"There's no reason for us to believe that we can't compete with a team like this and beat them," Mansfield says.
It's been quite a year so far. K-State, 14-10 overall and 8-7 in the Big 12 Conference, faces Texas Tech on November 17-18 and then travels to No. 22 Houston to wrap up the regular season. It goes forth with ample confidence after snapping Texas' 13-match winning streak and dropping the Longhorns to 18-4 and 13-1.
Texas entered the 2023 season as the No. 1 ranked team in the AVCA Preseason Coach's Poll and brought back one All-American and three other players selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. It has won or shared 11 of the last 12 league championships. The Longhorns entered Wednesday having won 50 of 58 all-time matches against K-State, and they were 21-5 against the Wildcats in Manhattan.
Texas also had won 38 of its last 41 road matches dating to the 2019 season. Since the 2011 season, Texas was 119-21 in true road matches with only six of those losses coming to unranked teams.
K-State had never beaten a team ranked in the top-3 during a regular season match — until now. It defeated No. 2 Nebraska in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. That is the highest-ranked opponent K-State has ever defeated — but that wasn't in a regular-season match.
No, Texas has its own place in K-State lore.
"There was no possible way that the girls on this team were going to go off with another loss to Texas," Carter says. "We weren't going to go out that way. We knew that this was the team that could do it. It feels great."
Carter totals 20 kills with a .311 hitting efficiency, and Mackenzie Morris leads the backrow with 20 digs while Sydney Bolding has a match high-tying three blocks. It's Carter who seemingly dazzles. On a night in which Taylor Swift songs ring throughout the arena, it's Carter who's the best performer — on her own stage. The match point goes back-and-forth nine times over a span of 34 seconds before Carter throws down the hammer with a shot that the Longhorns simply cannot handle. Carter jumps into a celebratory huddle with her teammates. The crowd goes nuts. Did this just happen? Yes, it happened.
"It's about how intentional and in the moment they were over and over and over again," Mansfield says. "You give yourself the best chance to win when you don't dwell on the last play and you're ready for the next one. We just did that for three straight sets, and we did that before against BYU and Iowa State.
"It's just who we can be and it's really, really cool to see that."
K-State players on the sideline flash the Mob sign typically reserved for the football team, yet it's entirely appropriate for the moment and all the defensive prowess and what Carter calls the "dog" mentality of the Wildcats.
"We have a whole bunch of dogs back there that are going to get anything up," she says. "That's the mindset going into each and every game. We pride ourselves on defense and keeping balls alive so our offense can work."
Mansfield, hired by K-State Athletic Director Gene Taylor as the ninth head coach on December 27, 2022, has been a part of seven NCAA Final Fours and one national championship during stints at Stanford and Washington. He's seen greatness. He's seen it done. Prior to this season, he went out and got Oregon State transfer Izzi Szulczewski and Wisconsin transfer Liz Gregorski. He believed they could help. And they've been tremendous.
"When I took this job, I believed in the players that wanted to stay," Mansfield says. "Getting Izzi and Liz was a big deal to our culture and certainly our play. I know what good volleyball looks like, and the girls on this team can play. It's about the players making plays. It's not about me. But I knew that we had enough talent that if we just believed and kept getting better and found a way to be a team — we've had lots of examples this year of not only can we play with teams but we can beat quality teams and that we have players on our team that need to be recognized in the same way that these other girls on these other teams are being recognized. I'm just really proud that they're showing it over and over and over again.
"I'm not a big stat guy, but anybody getting 20 kills in three sets like Aliyah or 20 digs in three sets like Mackenzie is absolutely exceptional against one of the best teams in the country. If that doesn't prove that we have great players on this team, then I don't know what does."
Meanwhile, K-State continues to build upon it resume for a potential berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"There's a lot of confidence and encouragement," Carter says. "I think of this team as a big circle, and without part of that circle being there, it's not going to work because it's not a circle. From the bench to the coaches to people playing to practice to weights, everything is working and everything just feels good."
But the rush from beating the defending national champions for one of the biggest wins in history?
Priceless.
Players Mentioned
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