Cats Suffer Setback Wednesday Night

ORLANDO, Fla. – Three Wildcats recorded double-digit kills Wednesday night, highlighted by 25 from Aniya Clinton, but UCF overcame a 2-1 hole to hand K-State a five-set loss at The Venue at UCF – 10-25, 27-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-11.

In its second Big 12 victory of the season, UCF (9-15, 2-13 Big 12) hit .271 in racking up 63 kills. Despite the Wildcats (10-14, 8-7 Big 12) holding a 71-63 edge in kill production, the Knights defense forced 24 errors and out-blocked K-State 11.0-5.0.

Clinton led all players and notched a career-high 25 kills, her first career match with 20 or more kills, and hit at a .347 clip. Shaylee Myers added a season-high 18 kills followed by Aliyah Carter with 11.

Izzi Szulczewski dished out a career-high 59 assists, as the Beaverton, Ore., product paced a Wildcat offense that hit .297. Szulczewski finished with a season- and match-high three service aces with eight digs.

Defensively, Ella Larkin tallied 22 digs with a pair of aces while Brenna Schmidt totaled three block assists.

Emily Wilson compiled team-leading 23 kills for the Knights with a .233 hitting percentage. Avah Armour followed with 16 kills and Alexia Kuehl had 10 and led with five blocks. Wilson added 11 digs for the double-double, while Chloe Scheer finished with 22 digs.

Clinton is the third Wildcat this season to produce a 20-kill match, joining Carter and Meg Brown.

K-State will return to Morgan Family Arena to host the final Dillons Sunflower Showdown of 2024 against No. 11 Kansas (22-3, 13-2 Big 12) on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.

Advanced tickets for Sunday's Dillons Sunflower Showdown between the Wildcats and Jayhawks are sold out, while limited tickets are available for walk-up purchase. Tickets are available for the Wildcats' regular-season finale against No. 24 BYU and can be purchased at 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…
"Congrats to UCF on a hard-fought win. Before the match, I told the girls they were the best 1-13 team in the country, and they played like it — especially after the first set. I thought Aniya and Shaylee were outstanding offensively tonight; they took big swings for us in all five sets. We struggled to find a rhythm after the first set, and it was tough to string together points with how well UCF was playing defensively. Full credit to them — they earned that win; we didn't hand it to them.
This season has had its share of disappointing losses, and this is another one that will sting for a while. But we need to regroup for KU on Sunday and prepare to compete against one of the best teams in the country."

SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, UCF 10
K-State opened with a 7-1 run, led by four kills from Clinton and pair of aces from Larkin. The Wildcats stretched their lead out into double-digits, 15-5, with a block assist by Jones and Szulczewski. Leading 19-8, K-State pieced together a 5-2 closing run to run away with the set.

Clinton hit at a perfect 1.000 clip with nine kills on nine swings, leading a Wildcat offense that hit .478 (14 kills, 3 errors). The defense held UCF to a -.074 hitting percentage behind two blocks and 12 digs.

Set Two– UCF 27, K-State 25
Down 13-12, K-State utilized a 7-1 scoring run to take a five-point lead. UCF managed to bring the set within two, 21-19, with a pair of kills from Wilson and force a timeout from K-State.

The Knights utilized a 6-1 closing run to overcome a three-point deficit and even the match. UCF hit at a .227 clip and led with three blocks. In total, the second set featured six lead changes and 11 tie scores.

Set Three – K-State 27, UCF 25
The two squads went point-for-point until the Knights came out with a five-point lead, 15-10, at the media timeout. Trailing 21-13, K-State clawed its way to bring the score back within two before an ace by Szulczewski and kill from Myers evened the set.

The Cats took the lead with a block by Schmidt and Myers and outlasted the Knights with a 4-3 run. K-State held a 3.0-2.0 edge in block production in the third set.

Set Four – UCF 25, K-State 19
K-State trailed 15-9 before a service error snapped UCF's 4-0 run. Back-to-back kills from Myers trimmed the Knights' lead to two, 18-16, but UCF held on to force the fifth and final set. UCF hit .609 nine with 14 kills on 23 swings, while committing no errors in the fourth.

Set Five – UCF 15, K-State 11
UCF had a four-point advantage, 8-4, before a service error and Clinton's 25^th kill bridged the gap to two but the Knights held on led by six kills from Wilson.

INSIDE THE BOX

UCF won in five – 10-25, 27-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-11.
UCF hit .271 (63 kills, 21 errors, 155 swings).
K-State held a 71-63 edge in kill production, hitting .297 (24 errors, 158 attempts).
UCF out-blocked K-State 11.0-5.0.
Clinton led all players and notched a career-high 25 kills (.357). Myers added a season-high 18 kills and Carter had 11.
Szulczewski dished out a career-high 59 assists and finished with three service aces with eight digs.
Defensively, Larkin tallied 22 digs while Schmidt totaled three block assists.
Wilson led UCF with 23 kills followed by Armour (16) and Kuehl (10) with five blocks.
Wilson added 11 digs for the double-double, while Scheer finished with 22 digs.

BEYOND THE BOX

UCF tied the series 3-3 and owns a perfect 3-0 record at home.
Mansfield moves to 1-2 against the Knights.
The Wildcats move to 5-8 on the road, including 4-4 in Big 12 road matches.
This season, K-State is 5-3 in five-set matches. The school record for five-set matches in a single-season is 10.
Clinton becomes the third Wildcat this season to produce a 20-kill match, joining Carter and Meg Brown.
Reagan Fox made her first collegiate start Wednesday, finishing with seven kills.

– k-statesports.com –

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Team Stats

Aniya Clinton

Shaylee Myers

Aliyah Carter

Reagan Fox

Players Mentioned

Meg Brown

Aliyah Carter

Aniya Clinton

Reagan Fox

Ella Larkin

Shaylee Myers

Brenna Schmidt

Izzi Szulczewski

Players Mentioned

Meg Brown

Aliyah Carter

Aniya Clinton

Reagan Fox

Ella Larkin

Shaylee Myers

Brenna Schmidt

Izzi Szulczewski

Kansas State University Athletics