Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, September 16
Manhattan, Kan.
12 p.m.
Kansas State University
6-3,0-0Big 12
0
vs
3
Rice
6-4,0-0AAC
1
2
3
F
Rice
25
25
25
3
Kansas St.
15
23
21
0
K-State Falls in Straight Sets to Rice
Sep 16, 2023 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Behind a match-high 23 kills from Danyle Courtley, Rice handed K-State a three-set defeat in the K-State Invitational finale Saturday at Morgan Family Arena, 25-15, 25-23, 25-21.
Rice earned the tournament title after going undefeated against LIU and K-State. Two Wildcats received all-tournament recognition with outside hitter Aniya Clinton and libero Mackenzie Morris. Clinton was second on the team with 17 kills with a .157 attack percentage while Morris averaged 4.67 digs per set.
K-State (6-3) was paced by senior outside hitter Aliyah Carter on the offensive side, tallying 11 kills, six digs and four blocks followed by Sydney Bolding with a team-best five blocks.
Sophomore Shaylee Myers chipped in seven kills and a team-high .261 hitting percentage.
Izzi Szulczewski notched her third double-double of the season with 23 assists and 12 digs.
Rice held K-State to 35 kills (.079), including a team-best .178 hitting efficiency in the second set, while the Owls hit .231 (47 kills, 16 errors).
The Owls were led by Courtley with 23 kills (.404) and Sahara Maruska at a .235 pace (11 kills). Maruska added a match-high two service aces while Darby Harris dished out 23 assists and 15 digs for her fourth double-double this year.
K-STATE INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT
Danyle Courtley – Rice – OH
Nia McCardell – Rice – L/DS
Satasha Kostelecky – Rice – MB
Aniya Clinton – K-State – OH
Mackenzie Morris – K-State – DS/L
Alasha Colon – LIU – L
FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Jason Mansfield
On the fight he saw from the team…
"I think today showed our character and how competitive we are, that we will continuously fight. I was proud of how we battled against a really good team. They didn't play their best against LIU, but I knew they were a very talented team and had the opportunity to come out and play really well today. They stepped up and made a lot of plays today, but we kept the battle going. We fought for every point and at this level competing is a core value of ours. We have to find a way to compete and make more plays."
On heading into Big 12 play…
"We have the people in this program and on the court that can be successful. We have players with good experience, playing college volleyball or certainly in the Big 12. So I think that's a good place to be. Just have to make plays. We have to make more plays more often in order to give us ourselves the best chance to win."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – Rice 25, K-State 15
After back-and-forth action, Rice leveled the set at 8-8 before taking hold of a 11-0 scoring run behind nine straight serves from senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska. A service error snapped the streak before Aliyah Carter and Sydney Bolding teamed up for the block to keep the score within seven.
The Owls had 14 kills on 39 swings with just three errors to hit a match-high .282 including five kills from Danyle Courtley.
Set Two – Rice 25, K-State 23
The Wildcats fought their way back from a six-point deficit to tie the second at 10-all until back-to-back kills and solo stop from Carter put K-State ahead, 18-16. With the set tied 23-23, Rice collected to punched in a kill from Danyle Courtley and block by Kaitlyn Knobbe to take the set.
K-State hit .178 led by five kills from Carter with two blocks alongside Bolding as the Wildcats out blocked the Owls 5-2.
Set Three – Rice 25, K-State 23
Rice continued its pace as the Owls led off with a 8-0 run to take the lead before a kill from Bolding led off the Cats own 7-1 run to bring the score within two, 10-8. Kills from Kadye Fernholz and Carter trimmed Rice's lead to one, 14-13, but the Owls quickly responded with 5-0 run to extend score out to six.
INSIDE THE BOX
K-State continues its home slate on Sept. 21-22 when the Wildcats host TCU in the Big 12 opener at Morgan Family Arena. Each match is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first serve and will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Rice earned the tournament title after going undefeated against LIU and K-State. Two Wildcats received all-tournament recognition with outside hitter Aniya Clinton and libero Mackenzie Morris. Clinton was second on the team with 17 kills with a .157 attack percentage while Morris averaged 4.67 digs per set.
K-State (6-3) was paced by senior outside hitter Aliyah Carter on the offensive side, tallying 11 kills, six digs and four blocks followed by Sydney Bolding with a team-best five blocks.
Sophomore Shaylee Myers chipped in seven kills and a team-high .261 hitting percentage.
Izzi Szulczewski notched her third double-double of the season with 23 assists and 12 digs.
Rice held K-State to 35 kills (.079), including a team-best .178 hitting efficiency in the second set, while the Owls hit .231 (47 kills, 16 errors).
The Owls were led by Courtley with 23 kills (.404) and Sahara Maruska at a .235 pace (11 kills). Maruska added a match-high two service aces while Darby Harris dished out 23 assists and 15 digs for her fourth double-double this year.
K-STATE INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT
Danyle Courtley – Rice – OH
Nia McCardell – Rice – L/DS
Satasha Kostelecky – Rice – MB
Aniya Clinton – K-State – OH
Mackenzie Morris – K-State – DS/L
Alasha Colon – LIU – L
FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Jason Mansfield
On the fight he saw from the team…
"I think today showed our character and how competitive we are, that we will continuously fight. I was proud of how we battled against a really good team. They didn't play their best against LIU, but I knew they were a very talented team and had the opportunity to come out and play really well today. They stepped up and made a lot of plays today, but we kept the battle going. We fought for every point and at this level competing is a core value of ours. We have to find a way to compete and make more plays."
On heading into Big 12 play…
"We have the people in this program and on the court that can be successful. We have players with good experience, playing college volleyball or certainly in the Big 12. So I think that's a good place to be. Just have to make plays. We have to make more plays more often in order to give us ourselves the best chance to win."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – Rice 25, K-State 15
After back-and-forth action, Rice leveled the set at 8-8 before taking hold of a 11-0 scoring run behind nine straight serves from senior outside hitter Sahara Maruska. A service error snapped the streak before Aliyah Carter and Sydney Bolding teamed up for the block to keep the score within seven.
The Owls had 14 kills on 39 swings with just three errors to hit a match-high .282 including five kills from Danyle Courtley.
Set Two – Rice 25, K-State 23
The Wildcats fought their way back from a six-point deficit to tie the second at 10-all until back-to-back kills and solo stop from Carter put K-State ahead, 18-16. With the set tied 23-23, Rice collected to punched in a kill from Danyle Courtley and block by Kaitlyn Knobbe to take the set.
K-State hit .178 led by five kills from Carter with two blocks alongside Bolding as the Wildcats out blocked the Owls 5-2.
Set Three – Rice 25, K-State 23
Rice continued its pace as the Owls led off with a 8-0 run to take the lead before a kill from Bolding led off the Cats own 7-1 run to bring the score within two, 10-8. Kills from Kadye Fernholz and Carter trimmed Rice's lead to one, 14-13, but the Owls quickly responded with 5-0 run to extend score out to six.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Rice defeated the Cats in straight sets, 25-15, 25-23, 25-21
- The loss moves K-State to 2-2 at home
- Wildcats hit .079 (35 kills, 24 errors)
- Rice improved to 6-4 on the year while K-State moved to 6-3
- Aliyah Carter paced the offense with 11 kills (.042)
- Izzi Szulcewski generated her third double-double (23 assists, 12 digs)
- Three Wildcats had double figure digs led by Mackenzie Morris with 16
- Sydney Bolding led with a team-high five blocks
- The Wildcats move to 2-2 to start the home schedule
- In the Big 12 standings, K-State is tied seventh at 7-3 alongside Oklahoma
- Wildcats lead the all-time series 5-2 against the Owls
- The Cats are 5-2 in three-set matches this season
- K-State is 74-24-1 against teams from the American Athletic Conference
K-State continues its home slate on Sept. 21-22 when the Wildcats host TCU in the Big 12 opener at Morgan Family Arena. Each match is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first serve and will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Rice
KState
Kills
47
35
Errors
16
24
Attempts
134
140
Hitting %
.231
.079
Points
63.0
47.0
Assists
45
35
Aces
2
2
Blocks
14
10
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ Volleyball
MB/OPP
/ Volleyball
L
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballK-State VB | Recap vs Nevada
Sunday, September 07
K-State VB | Match Highlights vs Nevada
Friday, September 05
MATCH REPLAY | VB vs Nevada
Friday, September 05
K-State VB | Recap vs NC State
Thursday, September 04