Cats Face Cyclones Sunday on ESPN2

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State begins the second half of its Big 12 schedule Sunday, as the Wildcats take on Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum at noon for a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN2 in Ames, Iowa.

K-State (6-11, 4-4) has dropped the last two matches, both to top-25 teams (No. 8 KU and No. 21 Utah). Aliyah Carter produced 27 kills against the Utes Thursday night to set a four-set program record and move to second all-time in career kills.

Iowa State (9-9, 3-4 Big 12) is coming off a four-set loss to nationally ranked Kansas. The Cyclones took the third set to avoid the sweep at KU.

The Wildcats trail the all-time series with ISU 60-44, going 16-29 in Ames. Under head coach Jason Mansfield, K-State is 2-0, including a five-set comeback victory earlier this month to stretch the Cats win streak to five over the Cyclones.

K-State will return to Morgan Family Arena to host West Virginia (8-11, 2-6 Big 12) Thursday at 6:30 p.m., which can be seen on ESPN+.

Single match tickets for all Wildcat home matches are available through the K-State Athletics ticket office at 1-800-221-CATS and www.kstatesports.com/tickets, starting at just $10 when purchased in advance.

MATCH #18
K-STATE (6-11, 4-4 BIG 12) at IOWA STATE (9-9, 3-4 BIG 12)
Sunday, October 27 // 12 PM CT // James H. Hilton Coliseum
Live Stats // ESPN2

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

K-State will close the season-series with Iowa State Sunday afternoon for a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN2.
In their last outing, two Wildcats achieved career milestones in K-State's four-set loss to No. 21 Utah -25-21, 22-25, 24-26, 19-25.
K-State (6-11, 4-4 Big 12) collected a season-best 68 kills (.289) against the Utes and held a 65-48 lead in dig production.
Aliyah Carter, who matched a career-high 27 kills (.362), led all players in the match.
Carter's 27 kills set the school record for kills in a four-set match during the rally-scoring era. The graduate outside hitter also produced her 28^th career double-double with 11 digs.
Izzi Szulczewski, who produced her fourth 50-assist match of the season, entered the night needing 51 to reach her 3,000^thcareer assist. Szulczewski finished the night with a match-leading 51 assists and seven digs.
The senior setter from Beaverton, Ore., achieved the milestone in the fourth and final set, becoming the 50^th active Division I player to record 3,000 assists in their collegiate career.
In addition to Carter, two Wildcats reached double-digit kills, as Shaylee Myers accounted for a season-high 17 kills and Aniya Clinton with 12.
Defensively, Ella Larkin produced a match-high 22 digs – her fifth match with 20 or more digs – while Symone Sims added 10.
The Cats and Utes were evenly matched with six blocks each. Meg Brown recorded four blocks (2 solo, 2 assists).

SCOUTING IOWA STATE

Iowa State (9-9, 3-4 Big 12) after suffering a four-set defeat against nationally ranked KU.
The Cyclones finished the match with a .164 team efficiency and held a 9.0-7.0 edge in total blocks.
Four players average over two kills a set, now led by Maya Duckworth after Nayeli Gonzalez announced a season-ending injury.
Duckworth leads the Cyclones with a 2.74 kills average and is hitting at a .217 efficiency, while Amiree Hendricks-Walker guides the offense that is hitting .377 along with 56 total blocks (0.79 per set).
Defensively, Pam McCune's 1.16 blocks per set is fourth in the Conference and Brooke Sonestreet's 3.64 digs per set is eighth.
ISU is 5-5 in its last 10 matches, hitting at a .227 clip in that time span. The Cyclones have produced nearly three kills better than opponents, with 14.12 kills per set against 11.57.
ISU has played in only two three-set matches in their last 10 outings, sweeping past Montana State and Texas Tech.
The Cyclones fell in four sets in the NCAA First Round in 2023 against Hawaii.

INSIDE THE SERIES

K-State trails the all-time series with Iowa State 60-44, going back to 1976.
The Cats are on a five-match winning streak, defeating the Cyclones in five-sets earlier this month.
The two squads are 6-4 in in the last 10 meetings overall.
The Wildcats are 16-29 on the road against ISU.
The teams last played in Ames during the 2022 season, picking up a top 25 sweep over the Cyclones.

KILLER CARTER

Carter's 27 kills against No. 21 Utah set the school record for kills in a four-set match during the rally-scoring era.
The graduate outside hitter also produced her 28^th career double-double with 11 digs vs. the Utes.
With her 22^nd kill of the night, Carter moved to second all-time in career kills (1,652). She is just second to K-State Hall of Fame and two-time All-American Liz Wegner-Busch (1,907).
The senior from Dubuque, Iowa, has turned in 98 matches with 10 or more kills, along with a team-leading 28 career double-doubles.
After picking up her third 21-kill match of the season at Cincinnati, Carter ties third all-time with 20 matches posting 20 or more kills, ranking first in the rally-scoring era.
She also stands alone as the rally-scoring era kills career average leader at 3.82.

LAST FIVE

With the help of a three-match winning streak, K-State is 3-2 in its last five outings.
K-State is averaging 13.25 kills per set during that time span, while hitting at a .216 clip.
Carter leads the Wildcats with 4.08 kills per set while Gregorski is second at 2.94 kills per set during the stretch.
Schmidt is hitting at a team-leading .387 over the last five matches, while totaling 32 blocks (1.33 per set) followed by Brown with 22 (0.92 per set).

CATS VS. THE BIG 12

K-State is 4-4 in Conference play, that includes a three-match win streak from Oct. 5-13.
Carter leads the offense with 3.94 kills per set at a .180 hitting efficiency with 16 blocks.
K-State is second in the league in digs per set (16.29) in Big 12 play led by 4.53 from Ella Larkin, who is fourth in the league.
During Conference play, the Cats have totaled 78 blocks this season (2.29), which is third in the league. Schmidt and Williams lead K-State at the net, both averaging over one per match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Wildcats are 6-1 when hitting a higher efficiency and 4-5 when producing more kills than their opponents.
Additionally, the Cats are 4-1 when they have limited their opponents to a hitting efficiency under .200.
K-State has out-blocked opponents in six matches going 5-1, while the win over Cincinnati marked the first victory when trailing in blocks (1-9).
The Cats are 5-7 overall when leading in digs.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

K-State 3-6 (2-2 Big 12) when playing on the road this season and 2-4 after dropping a five-setter at KU last week.
On the road, the Wildcats are hitting .200 with opponents hitting at a .214 efficiency.
Larkin guides the defense with 4.47 digs per set while Schmidt has totaled 49 blocks (1.11 per set) with a team-leading .379 hitting percentage.
Carter averages 4.00 kills per set (.180) to lead the offense.
The Cats have served up 41 aces with Gregorski and Sims both accounting for 11 of those.
Szulczewski averages 9.89 assists per set on the road with 24 total blocks and four service aces.
K-State is 457-437-2 all-time when playing on the road, and 236-296 in true road matches.

DEFENSIVE CATS

As a team, K-State is the Big 12 leader in digs per set (16.63) and has led in digs in 12 of 17 matches this season, dropping four matches when trailing in digs.

The Wildcats are fifth in the league with a rate of 2.25 blocks per set, totaling 151 overall, and are third in conference games alone (2.29).
K-State has held its opponents under a .200 hitting efficiency in five matches this season, going 4-1.
K-State accumulated 100 digs in a five-setter against UC Davis (Aug. 31), marking the first 100-dig match since 2019.
K-State generated season-high 21.0 blocks led by 11 from Schmidt, who is the first Cat to produce 11 since 2016 (Bryna Vogel v. Ohio State).
K-State's 21.0 total blocks is the highest block production since Sept. 19, 2014, against Michigan (23.5), while it marks the sixth time in school history K-State reached 21.0 blocks in a five-setter.

AROUND THE BIG 12

KU (17-1) remains the only undefeated team in Conference games with a perfect 8-0 league record.
Arizona State (20-2, 8-1 Big 12) ranks second in the league followed by Utah (16-3, 6-2 Big 12).
Six schools were ranked in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll following week one action – No. 9 KU, No. 13 Arizona State, No. 18 TCU, tied-No. 21 Utah, tied-No. 21 Baylor, and No. 23 BYU.
TCU's Melanie Parra (offensive), Houston's Kate Georgiades (defensive) and Arizona's Avery Scoggins (rookie) earned weekly league volleyball accolades for their play during week eight.

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Players Mentioned

Meg Brown

Aliyah Carter

Aniya Clinton

Ella Larkin

Shaylee Myers

Symone Sims

Izzi Szulczewski

Kansas State University Athletics