Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, August 26
Portland, Ore.
3 p.m.
Kansas State University
2-0,0-0Big 12
3
vs
0
San Diego State
1-1,0-0Mountain West
1
2
3
F
San Diego St.
14
13
25
0
Kansas St.
25
25
27
3
Wildcats Top San Diego State in Three Straight
Aug 26, 2023 | Volleyball
PORTLAND, Ore. – Eight players produced kills Saturday to lead to Kansas State's incredible .532 attack percentage as the Wildcats swept past San Diego State (25-14, 25-13, 27-25) at Viking Pavilion.
The Wildcats' (2-0) .532 attack percentage ranks second in the three-set single match records among the rally-scoring era and fourth overall in school history – marking the first .500 three-set match since 2013. Saturday's performance was .013 short of matching the program rally-scoring record.
Aliyah Carter, an All-Big 12 Preseason Team selection, guided the Wildcats' offense with a match-high 14 kills followed by underclassmen Aniya Clinton with 10 and Shaylee Myers with nine. Senior Kadye Fernholz hit .875 in the match with seven kills.
For the second consecutive match, Izzi Szulczewski led in assists with 38 to go along with eight digs.
Defensively, seven Wildcats recorded a block assist while Myers earned her first solo of the season. Senior Mackenzie Morris compiled a match-leading 14 digs, bringing her career total to 1,299. Morris ranks sixth all-time in career digs at K-State.
The Wildcats had just seven errors over the three-set matchup, as they generated 49 kills on 79 swings to hit an outstanding .532. K-State totaled 42 assists and seven aces – three coming from Carter – along with 28 digs and five team blocks.
San Diego State (1-1) hit .243 as a team, totaling 30 kills with 12 errors on 74 attempts to go with five aces, 21 digs and a pair of blocks.
Seven Aztecs produced a kill led by senior outside Heipue Tautua'a with nine while Fatimah Hall and Sarena Gonzalaz combined for 25 assists to pace the 6-2 offense.
SET-BY-SET
Set One
The match's first set saw just four tied scores before the Wildcats put together a 7-1 run to push out their lead to six, 12-6. SDSU cut the Cats lead to five before back-to-back kills by Kadye Fernholz sparked a 10-5 closing run.
Set Two
K-State hit .577 in the second with just two errors across 26 swings while the defense nearly forced SDSU into as many errors (5) as kills (6) for a team .040 efficiency in the set. The Wildcats registered three blocks in the set and three services aces with two by Carter.
Set Three
With 14 tied scores, the third set sung a different tune as the Aztecs collected a 7-3 run to level the score at 23-all. After a called timeout by K-State, a service ace for Kat Cooper gave the Aztecs their third lead of the set. Tied at 25-25, Sydney Bolding came down with her fifth kill before teaming up with Shaylee Myers with a block assist to hold off the Aztecs.
IN HIS WORDS
Head Coach Jason Mansfield
On the match overall…
"Just so much more like what we've seen in the last couple of weeks, especially on the offensive side. You know, just individuals attacking the way we want to, Izzi running a great offense, and we're a pretty tough offensive stop. We control the ball and attack with that aggression and range. So I think that was the thing that stood out the most compared to last night, is that we were really struggling at times offensively, but really proud of our offense today.
On underclassmen Shaylee Myers and Aniya Clinton…
"I think that what Shaylee was today is what we've seen the last couple of weeks. Who she was last night she was definitely pressing and maybe trying to do a little bit too much, but I love how free she played today. Aniya has a chance to be special. You know, she's very aggressive and what we saw in that match, and what we saw a little bit last night too, is just what she's been doing the last couple of weeks in practice. So really excited for both."
On team hitting percentage…
"I think anytime we hit over .400-.500 we're going to have a good chance to win. It's obviously not going to happen all that often, but I think it speaks to the fact we don't necessarily have one great hitter. We want to have five great hitters. I think that we were closer to that in this match, and I think if we do that and we control the ball well, I think that we're going to be a tough offense to stop."
INSIDE THE BOX
K-State concludes the Hotel Vance Rose City Showdown Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT with the program's fourth match against Cal State Fullerton. The Wildcats and Titans meet for the first time since 2013 with K-State leading the series 2-1.
The Wildcats' (2-0) .532 attack percentage ranks second in the three-set single match records among the rally-scoring era and fourth overall in school history – marking the first .500 three-set match since 2013. Saturday's performance was .013 short of matching the program rally-scoring record.
Aliyah Carter, an All-Big 12 Preseason Team selection, guided the Wildcats' offense with a match-high 14 kills followed by underclassmen Aniya Clinton with 10 and Shaylee Myers with nine. Senior Kadye Fernholz hit .875 in the match with seven kills.
For the second consecutive match, Izzi Szulczewski led in assists with 38 to go along with eight digs.
Defensively, seven Wildcats recorded a block assist while Myers earned her first solo of the season. Senior Mackenzie Morris compiled a match-leading 14 digs, bringing her career total to 1,299. Morris ranks sixth all-time in career digs at K-State.
The Wildcats had just seven errors over the three-set matchup, as they generated 49 kills on 79 swings to hit an outstanding .532. K-State totaled 42 assists and seven aces – three coming from Carter – along with 28 digs and five team blocks.
San Diego State (1-1) hit .243 as a team, totaling 30 kills with 12 errors on 74 attempts to go with five aces, 21 digs and a pair of blocks.
Seven Aztecs produced a kill led by senior outside Heipue Tautua'a with nine while Fatimah Hall and Sarena Gonzalaz combined for 25 assists to pace the 6-2 offense.
SET-BY-SET
Set One
The match's first set saw just four tied scores before the Wildcats put together a 7-1 run to push out their lead to six, 12-6. SDSU cut the Cats lead to five before back-to-back kills by Kadye Fernholz sparked a 10-5 closing run.
Set Two
K-State hit .577 in the second with just two errors across 26 swings while the defense nearly forced SDSU into as many errors (5) as kills (6) for a team .040 efficiency in the set. The Wildcats registered three blocks in the set and three services aces with two by Carter.
Set Three
With 14 tied scores, the third set sung a different tune as the Aztecs collected a 7-3 run to level the score at 23-all. After a called timeout by K-State, a service ace for Kat Cooper gave the Aztecs their third lead of the set. Tied at 25-25, Sydney Bolding came down with her fifth kill before teaming up with Shaylee Myers with a block assist to hold off the Aztecs.
IN HIS WORDS
Head Coach Jason Mansfield
On the match overall…
"Just so much more like what we've seen in the last couple of weeks, especially on the offensive side. You know, just individuals attacking the way we want to, Izzi running a great offense, and we're a pretty tough offensive stop. We control the ball and attack with that aggression and range. So I think that was the thing that stood out the most compared to last night, is that we were really struggling at times offensively, but really proud of our offense today.
On underclassmen Shaylee Myers and Aniya Clinton…
"I think that what Shaylee was today is what we've seen the last couple of weeks. Who she was last night she was definitely pressing and maybe trying to do a little bit too much, but I love how free she played today. Aniya has a chance to be special. You know, she's very aggressive and what we saw in that match, and what we saw a little bit last night too, is just what she's been doing the last couple of weeks in practice. So really excited for both."
On team hitting percentage…
"I think anytime we hit over .400-.500 we're going to have a good chance to win. It's obviously not going to happen all that often, but I think it speaks to the fact we don't necessarily have one great hitter. We want to have five great hitters. I think that we were closer to that in this match, and I think if we do that and we control the ball well, I think that we're going to be a tough offense to stop."
INSIDE THE BOX
- Wildcats generated an incredible .532 attack percentage – most by any Big 12 school in the opening weekend
- K-State had 49 kills on 79 swings with just seven errors and seven service aces
- SDSU hit .243 with 30 kills on 74 attempts with 12 errors and five aces while picking up 21 digs and two blocks on defense
- Two Wildcats produced double figure kills with Aliyah Carter (14) and Aniya Clinton (10)
- Seven Wildcats recorded a block assist while Shaylee Myers picked up her first solo of the season
- Izzi Szulczewski paced the offense with 38 assists (12.7 per set)
- Mackenzie Morris totaled 17 digs
- Myers and Clinton combined for 19 kills, each hitting over .570
- Kadye Fernholz hit a match-high .875 with seven kills on eight attempts
- Liz Gregorski, Carter, Fernholz, Myers, Szulczewski, and Sydney Bolding earned a start in each set along with libero Mackenzie Morris
- K-State leads the series 2-0 with San Diego State
- Wildcats .532 attack percentage ranks second in school history in the rally-scoring era; fourth overall
- First .500+ three-set match since Sept. 6, 2013 against Southern Illinois
- Mackenzie Morris has 1,299 career digs; ranks sixth all time
- K-State has the only sweep of the PSU tournament
- K-State is 18-12 against members of the Mountain West Conference
K-State concludes the Hotel Vance Rose City Showdown Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT with the program's fourth match against Cal State Fullerton. The Wildcats and Titans meet for the first time since 2013 with K-State leading the series 2-1.
🧹🧹🧹
— K-State Volleyball (@KStateVB) August 27, 2023
📰---> https://t.co/kSbOobNXoV#KStateVB pic.twitter.com/dBhj7Yi4DN
Team Stats
SDSU
KState
Kills
30
49
Errors
12
7
Attempts
74
79
Hitting %
.243
.532
Points
37.0
61.0
Assists
28
42
Aces
5
7
Blocks
2
5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
14
Aces
3
Blocks
1
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ VolleyballMB/OPP
/ Volleyball
OH/OPP
/ Volleyball
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/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ Volleyball
S
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