Kansas State University Athletics
Thursday, October 31
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
8-11,6-4Big 12
3
vs
2
West Virginia
8-13,2-8Big 12
1
2
3
4
5
F
West Virginia
18
25
20
25
10
2
Kansas St.
25
22
25
14
15
3
Cats Top Mountaineers in Five Thursday
Oct 31, 2024 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State got double-doubles from outside hitter Aliyah Carter and setter Izzi Szulczewski to help the Wildcats to a five-set win over West Virginia Thursday night at Morgan Family Arena – 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 14-25, 15-10.
A crucial call was overturned in favor of K-State (8-11, 6-4 Big 12) in the final set to push ahead 9-7, before the Wildcats used a 4-0 scoring run to put the match away.
In the seventh five-set match of the season and sixth in the month of October, K-State produced a higher hitting efficiency in three of the five sets, including a match-high .353 in the fifth.
K-State has now won five straight in the all-time series after completing the season series sweep over WVU.
Carter, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, led the Wildcats offense with 20 kills followed by Meg Brown (11) and Shaylee Myers (10). Carter added 11 digs to tally her 29th career double-double.
Utilizing a 5-1 lineup, Izzi Szulczewski punched in her 11th match with 40 or more assists, tallying 41 on the night with 11 digs to complete her team-best 10th double-double of the year.
Senior libero Ella Larkin guided the backrow with her seventh 20-dig match, finishing with a match-leading 23. Symone Sims followed Larkin with 13 digs while Molly Ramsey added a season-high nine.
WVU (8-13, 2-8 Big 12) was led offensively by Hailey Green, who led all players with 23 kills. Cassidy Tanton and Laila Ibrahim both reach double-digit kills with 10 each, while Ibrahim produced a 10-block match. Lauren DeLo recorded a double-double, finishing with 44 assists and 10 digs.
The Wildcats will venture out to west for the first Big 12 matchups against Arizona (13-6, 2-6 Big 12) and 13th-ranked Arizona State (20-2, 8-1 Big 12) on November 6 and 8.
Tickets are available for all K-State home matches 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.
FROM THE CATS
Jason Mansfield, K-State Head Coach
Overall thoughts on the victory…
"I'm proud of our fight. I think we've shown that we don't need to play perfect volleyball to win matches against strong teams. We're doing a great job of resetting after losses. The goal is to keep resetting, to know we can improve, and to plan how we'll get better. They're doing a phenomenal job of that – not just in the fifth set but after each setback, like in the second and fourth sets."
On motivating his team for the fifth set…
"Tonight, we saw big-time performances from a lot of players at key moments against a solid West Virginia team. They're a good serving team, very aggressive offensively, and they play strong defense. You have to go out and beat them. That's what I told the team at the start of the fifth set: they're not going to hand it to us, we have to earn it. And I'm proud of them for doing just that."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, WVU 18
The two squads went back-and-forth until the Wildcats jumped out to a four-point lead, 12-8, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Sims. K-State stretched its lead out to 18-12, behind kills from Carter and Brown.
K-State produced a .205 efficiency (16 kills, 8 errors) in the first set, led by five kills from Brown and Carter. Brown hit at a .667 clip with one error. The Mountaineers out-blocked the Cats, 5.0-1.0.
Set Two – WVU 25, K-State 22
Down 16-14, Szulczewski tallied a pair of kills to tie the set before an attack error pushed the Cats ahead. K-State led 19-17 before WVU answered with a 8-3 closing run to level the match.
The Wildcats were limited to a .108 hitting percentage, as the Mountaineers defense forced ?? errors.
Set Three – K-State 25, WVU 20
The Wildcats started out with a 9-3 after opening the third with four consecutive points that included back-to-back aces from Larkin.
Behind three consecutive kills, K-State expanded its lead out to 18-8 until WVU managed to bring the set within five with a 7-2 run and force a timeout from the Cats. With the help of a overturned call, WVU turned it into a 21-18 set but was held off with three straight kills from Brown, Myers, Schmidt and Carter.
K-State tallied 17 kills with five errors for a .279 hitting efficiency, led by six from Carter.
Set Four – WVU 25, K-State 14
WVU built momentum behind a t 12-3 lead to put the set away and force the fifth and final set, as the Mountaineers held K-State to a -.071 with the help of four blocks from Ibrahim.
Set Five – WVU 25, K-State 14
K-State used a 4-0 scoring rally to take an 8-6 edge. A crucial call was overturned in favor of the Wildcats that led to a kill from Myers and block assist by Szulczewski and Schmidt to push K-State to 10-7 lead. The Cats put the match away with Szulczewski's fifth kill of the night.
INSIDE THE BOX
A crucial call was overturned in favor of K-State (8-11, 6-4 Big 12) in the final set to push ahead 9-7, before the Wildcats used a 4-0 scoring run to put the match away.
In the seventh five-set match of the season and sixth in the month of October, K-State produced a higher hitting efficiency in three of the five sets, including a match-high .353 in the fifth.
K-State has now won five straight in the all-time series after completing the season series sweep over WVU.
Carter, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, led the Wildcats offense with 20 kills followed by Meg Brown (11) and Shaylee Myers (10). Carter added 11 digs to tally her 29th career double-double.
Utilizing a 5-1 lineup, Izzi Szulczewski punched in her 11th match with 40 or more assists, tallying 41 on the night with 11 digs to complete her team-best 10th double-double of the year.
Senior libero Ella Larkin guided the backrow with her seventh 20-dig match, finishing with a match-leading 23. Symone Sims followed Larkin with 13 digs while Molly Ramsey added a season-high nine.
WVU (8-13, 2-8 Big 12) was led offensively by Hailey Green, who led all players with 23 kills. Cassidy Tanton and Laila Ibrahim both reach double-digit kills with 10 each, while Ibrahim produced a 10-block match. Lauren DeLo recorded a double-double, finishing with 44 assists and 10 digs.
The Wildcats will venture out to west for the first Big 12 matchups against Arizona (13-6, 2-6 Big 12) and 13th-ranked Arizona State (20-2, 8-1 Big 12) on November 6 and 8.
Tickets are available for all K-State home matches 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.
FROM THE CATS
Jason Mansfield, K-State Head Coach
Overall thoughts on the victory…
"I'm proud of our fight. I think we've shown that we don't need to play perfect volleyball to win matches against strong teams. We're doing a great job of resetting after losses. The goal is to keep resetting, to know we can improve, and to plan how we'll get better. They're doing a phenomenal job of that – not just in the fifth set but after each setback, like in the second and fourth sets."
On motivating his team for the fifth set…
"Tonight, we saw big-time performances from a lot of players at key moments against a solid West Virginia team. They're a good serving team, very aggressive offensively, and they play strong defense. You have to go out and beat them. That's what I told the team at the start of the fifth set: they're not going to hand it to us, we have to earn it. And I'm proud of them for doing just that."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, WVU 18
The two squads went back-and-forth until the Wildcats jumped out to a four-point lead, 12-8, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Sims. K-State stretched its lead out to 18-12, behind kills from Carter and Brown.
K-State produced a .205 efficiency (16 kills, 8 errors) in the first set, led by five kills from Brown and Carter. Brown hit at a .667 clip with one error. The Mountaineers out-blocked the Cats, 5.0-1.0.
Set Two – WVU 25, K-State 22
Down 16-14, Szulczewski tallied a pair of kills to tie the set before an attack error pushed the Cats ahead. K-State led 19-17 before WVU answered with a 8-3 closing run to level the match.
The Wildcats were limited to a .108 hitting percentage, as the Mountaineers defense forced ?? errors.
Set Three – K-State 25, WVU 20
The Wildcats started out with a 9-3 after opening the third with four consecutive points that included back-to-back aces from Larkin.
Behind three consecutive kills, K-State expanded its lead out to 18-8 until WVU managed to bring the set within five with a 7-2 run and force a timeout from the Cats. With the help of a overturned call, WVU turned it into a 21-18 set but was held off with three straight kills from Brown, Myers, Schmidt and Carter.
K-State tallied 17 kills with five errors for a .279 hitting efficiency, led by six from Carter.
Set Four – WVU 25, K-State 14
WVU built momentum behind a t 12-3 lead to put the set away and force the fifth and final set, as the Mountaineers held K-State to a -.071 with the help of four blocks from Ibrahim.
Set Five – WVU 25, K-State 14
K-State used a 4-0 scoring rally to take an 8-6 edge. A crucial call was overturned in favor of the Wildcats that led to a kill from Myers and block assist by Szulczewski and Schmidt to push K-State to 10-7 lead. The Cats put the match away with Szulczewski's fifth kill of the night.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State won in five sets – 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 14-25, 15-10.
- The Cats hit .171 (60 kills, 32 errors, 164 swings).
- K-State produced a higher hitting efficiency in three of the five sets, including a match-high .353 in the fifth.
- Two Wildcats turned in double-doubles: Carter (20 kills, 11 digs) and Szulczewski (41 assists, 11 digs).
- Brown and Myers each totaled 10 kills on the night.
- Larkin produced her seventh 20-dig match (23) followed by Sims (13) while Ramsey added nine.
- Three players reached double-digit kills for WVU: Green (23), Tanton (10), Ibrahim (10)
- Ibrahim produced a 10-block match.
- K-State leads the all-time series 17-8, including an 8-4 edge in Manhattan.
- The Wildcats extended their winning streak to five over the Mountaineers.
- Mansfield is 3-0 against WVU.
- K-State is 5-2 in five-set matches this season, 7-6 overall under Mansfield.
– k-statesports.com –
How to follow the Cats: For complete information on the K-State Volleyball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
How to follow the Cats: For complete information on the K-State Volleyball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
Team Stats
WVU
KState
Kills
54
60
Errors
24
32
Attempts
163
164
Hitting %
.184
.171
Points
73.0
75.0
Assists
50
57
Aces
6
6
Blocks
13
9
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
20
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
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