Friday, November 15
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
10-13,8-6Big 12
3
vs
0
TCU
17-7,9-5Big 12
1
2
3
F
TCU
23
25
23
0
Kansas St.
25
27
25
3
Wildcats Upset #18 Horned Frogs in Sweep Fashion Friday
Nov 15, 2024 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Graduate Aliyah Carter knocked down 22 kills, including 11 in the second set, to power K-State to a straight-set victory over 18th-ranked TCU Friday night at Morgan Family Arena – 25-23, 27-25, 25-23.
In front of a sold-out crowd, Carter's 22 kills helped the Wildcats (10-13, 8-6 Big 12) put away their first victory over a ranked opponent this season and sixth under second-year head coach Jason Mansfield. The Dubuque, Iowa product has now produced 25 matches with 20 kills or more, which is one shy of tying second all-time alongside K-State Hall of Fame Dawn Cady.
K-State came out on top in each of the seven major statistical categories – hitting percentage (.200), points (60.0), kills (47), aces (3), blocks (10.0), digs (66) and assists (46) – on its way to collecting the upset.
The Cats defense forced 22 errors from the Horned Frogs (17-7, 9-5 Big 12), while limiting TCU to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season (.149). K-State out-blocked TCU 10.0-6.0 led by big stops from Brenna Schmidt (5) and Shaylee Myers (3).
Redshirt sophomore Aniya Clinton finished the night with 12 kills while hitting .258.
Senior setter Izzi Szulczewski dished out 33 assists alongside a match-high 14 digs to pick up her 12 double-double of the season. Carter chipped in 10 digs for her 32nd career double-double, while Ella Larkin (12) and Ava LeGrand (11) also reached the 10-dig mark.
Two players ended with double-digit kills for TCU with Melanie Parra, the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, and Evan Hendrix each totaling 14 while Sarah Sylvester had a match-high six blocks.
The Wildcats travel to Florida for the final match of the home-and-home series with UCF (8-14, 1-12 Big 12) on November 20 at The Venue at UCF. Wednesday's match will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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 thought the crowd was absolutely electric. And I thought we played really inspired, passionate volleyball, much different than two nights ago. So, I'm really proud of the girls for regrouping and finding ways to compete. And a really good job on the scouting report tonight. [TCU] is a very good offensive team. We did a good job slowing them down, and played unbelievable defense behind the block. Aliyah [Carter] was special, with 22 kills, and Aniya [Clinton] took some big swings. Shay [Myers] took some big swings. I thought Izzi [Szulczewski] set really well. So good team effort. It's really nice to win in three, but it's also really nice to win three-two games, which is something that we struggled with a lot this season. So proud of the girls for that."
On building momentum from this win…
"I hope so. I think that when we have a win like this, you hope that it gives them a lot of confidence and they realize how great we can be if we're really focused, and I thought we were really focused tonight, pretty much the whole match. That's what it's going to take, especially against good teams. But we go on the road to play a tough UCF team, so we've got to refocus and try to figure out a way to win that one."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, #18 TCU 23
With a kill from Carter, K-State grabbed a 15-14 at the media timeout until TCU put together a 5-2 scoring run to take the two-point lead.
A block assist from Williams and Myers spearheaded a three-point run to even the score at 21-all. K-State utilized a 4-1 closing run to capture the first set, highlighted by a service ace from Williams.
There was a total of 16 tie scores and 11 lead changes in the first, with Carter leading all players with four kills (.214).
Set Two – K-State 27, #18 TCU 25
Trailing 9-5, K-State took advantage of a successful 13-2 run to grab hold of a substantial lead. TCU managed to bring the set within two, 22-20, led by four kills from Hendrix before tying the set at 23-all.
Tied at 25-25, back-to-back kills from Carter powered the Cats to the second set win.
Carter hit at a .500 clip, compiling a set-high 11 kills with only two errors. The Wildcats produced a .306 hitting efficiency, with five blocks led by three from Schmidt.
Set Three – K-State 25, #18 TCU 23
The Wildcats picked up where they left off in the third, taking hold of a 15-12, until the Horned Frogs scored three straight points to tie the set.
With the score tied at 19-19, the two squads went back-and-forth until an attack error and Carter's 22nd kill secured the sweep.
INSIDE THE BOX
In front of a sold-out crowd, Carter's 22 kills helped the Wildcats (10-13, 8-6 Big 12) put away their first victory over a ranked opponent this season and sixth under second-year head coach Jason Mansfield. The Dubuque, Iowa product has now produced 25 matches with 20 kills or more, which is one shy of tying second all-time alongside K-State Hall of Fame Dawn Cady.
K-State came out on top in each of the seven major statistical categories – hitting percentage (.200), points (60.0), kills (47), aces (3), blocks (10.0), digs (66) and assists (46) – on its way to collecting the upset.
The Cats defense forced 22 errors from the Horned Frogs (17-7, 9-5 Big 12), while limiting TCU to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season (.149). K-State out-blocked TCU 10.0-6.0 led by big stops from Brenna Schmidt (5) and Shaylee Myers (3).
Redshirt sophomore Aniya Clinton finished the night with 12 kills while hitting .258.
Senior setter Izzi Szulczewski dished out 33 assists alongside a match-high 14 digs to pick up her 12 double-double of the season. Carter chipped in 10 digs for her 32nd career double-double, while Ella Larkin (12) and Ava LeGrand (11) also reached the 10-dig mark.
Two players ended with double-digit kills for TCU with Melanie Parra, the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, and Evan Hendrix each totaling 14 while Sarah Sylvester had a match-high six blocks.
The Wildcats travel to Florida for the final match of the home-and-home series with UCF (8-14, 1-12 Big 12) on November 20 at The Venue at UCF. Wednesday's match will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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 thought the crowd was absolutely electric. And I thought we played really inspired, passionate volleyball, much different than two nights ago. So, I'm really proud of the girls for regrouping and finding ways to compete. And a really good job on the scouting report tonight. [TCU] is a very good offensive team. We did a good job slowing them down, and played unbelievable defense behind the block. Aliyah [Carter] was special, with 22 kills, and Aniya [Clinton] took some big swings. Shay [Myers] took some big swings. I thought Izzi [Szulczewski] set really well. So good team effort. It's really nice to win in three, but it's also really nice to win three-two games, which is something that we struggled with a lot this season. So proud of the girls for that."
On building momentum from this win…
"I hope so. I think that when we have a win like this, you hope that it gives them a lot of confidence and they realize how great we can be if we're really focused, and I thought we were really focused tonight, pretty much the whole match. That's what it's going to take, especially against good teams. But we go on the road to play a tough UCF team, so we've got to refocus and try to figure out a way to win that one."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, #18 TCU 23
With a kill from Carter, K-State grabbed a 15-14 at the media timeout until TCU put together a 5-2 scoring run to take the two-point lead.
A block assist from Williams and Myers spearheaded a three-point run to even the score at 21-all. K-State utilized a 4-1 closing run to capture the first set, highlighted by a service ace from Williams.
There was a total of 16 tie scores and 11 lead changes in the first, with Carter leading all players with four kills (.214).
Set Two – K-State 27, #18 TCU 25
Trailing 9-5, K-State took advantage of a successful 13-2 run to grab hold of a substantial lead. TCU managed to bring the set within two, 22-20, led by four kills from Hendrix before tying the set at 23-all.
Tied at 25-25, back-to-back kills from Carter powered the Cats to the second set win.
Carter hit at a .500 clip, compiling a set-high 11 kills with only two errors. The Wildcats produced a .306 hitting efficiency, with five blocks led by three from Schmidt.
Set Three – K-State 25, #18 TCU 23
The Wildcats picked up where they left off in the third, taking hold of a 15-12, until the Horned Frogs scored three straight points to tie the set.
With the score tied at 19-19, the two squads went back-and-forth until an attack error and Carter's 22nd kill secured the sweep.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State picked up its first Top 25 win of the season – 25-23, 27-25, 25-23.
- The Cats hit .200 (47 kills, 19 errors, 140 swings).
- K-State led in each of the seven major statistical categories – hitting percentage, points (60.0), kills, aces (3), blocks (10.0), digs (66) and assists (46).
- Carter led both squads with 22 kills while Clinton added 12.
- Two players turned in double-doubles: Carter (22 kills, 10 digs) and Szulczewski (33 assists, 14 digs).
- TCU was held to a .149 hitting efficiency (42 kills, 22 errors, 134 attempts).
- K-State out-blocked TCU 10.0-6.0 led by Schmidt (5) and Myers (3).
- Four Wildcats reached double-digit digs: Szulczewski (14), Larkin (12), LeGrand (11), and Carter (10).
- Two players eclipsed the 10-plus kill mark: Parra (14) and Hendrix (14). Sylvester produced a match-high six blocks.
- Carter totaled 11 kills in Set 2 (.500).
- K-State leads the all-time series 15-10, while moving to 10-4 when playing the Horned Frogs at home.
- The Cats are 2-1 against the Frogs in the Mansfield era.
- With the victory, K-State is 1-7 against nationally ranked opponents this season and 6-12 all-time under Mansfield.
- K-State is seventh in the Big 12 standings, while the win jumped the Cats to No. 75 in RPI – 16 points ahead from when they entered the match.
- This season, the Wildcats are 4-5 in three-set matches.
- Carter produced her 25th career 20-kill match and is just one from tying second all-time.
– 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
TCU
KState
Kills
42
47
Errors
22
19
Attempts
134
140
Hitting %
.149
.200
Points
49.0
60.0
Assists
41
46
Aces
1
3
Blocks
6
10
Game Leaders
Kills
22
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
OH
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
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