Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, September 25
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
2-8,0-1Big 12
0
vs
3
Houston
6-5,1-0Big 12
1
2
3
F
Houston
27
25
25
3
Kansas St.
25
20
23
0
Wildcats Fall Wednesday in Big 12 Opener
Sep 25, 2024 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – In its first Big 12 test of the season, K-State suffered a straight-set defeat Wednesday night at the hands of Houston at Morgan Family Arena, 25-27, 20-25, 23-25.
Houston (6-5, 1-0 Big 12) hit at a .288 offensive efficiency and Angela Greive recorded 15 kills while hitting .227, while Katie Corelli produced 12 kills. Houston held a 50-48 edge in kill production and out-blocked the Cats, 7.0-6.0.
Three Wildcats (2-8, 0-1 Big 12) reached double figure kills, as K-State suffered its fourth straight loss. Senior Meg Brown led the match with 16 kills with an impressive .433 hitting percentage. In addition to Brown, Aliyah Carter (12) and Liz Gregorski (10) reached double-figure kills for the Wildcats.
Setters Izzi Szulczewski paced the Cats' offense that hit .216 with 27 assists followed by Ava LeGrand with 15. Wednesday marked the third time this season K-State hit above .200 and first since September 1 against UMBC.
In her first collegiate start as a libero, Symone Sims matched a career-best 16 digs, her seventh match with 10 or more digs this season. Liz Gregorski and Jordyn Williams each totaled three block assists on the night.
Houston's Ella Wendel posted a match-high five blocks while Kate Georgiades, the reigning Big 12 Libero of the Year, had 12 digs.
K-State rounds out its six-match homestand Friday, as the Wildcats host UCF (7-3, 0-1 Big 12) at Morgan Family Arena. Friday's match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Tickets 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.
FROM THE CATS
Jason Mansfield, K-State Head Coach
Opening Statement…
"I thought Houston played really well. We saw in the film that they're a good ball control team with a pretty diverse offense, and I thought they did a good job of spreading it around. They passed really well the whole night. We couldn't get to them on serve receive, and so their offense really flowed at times. But I'm proud of our fight. I've been proud of our fight pretty much the whole season, and the narrative is the same. We're close, and we have to find a way to finish sets when we're up, and we have to find a way to fight, to get back and win some close sets. So again, we're close."
On the good performance from the attackers…
"We had a good practice yesterday where we worked on trying to make a set where our attackers can hit hard, and we told the attackers to be mindful of our timing and our shot selection. But moving Meg [Brown] back to the right certainly helps our offense. She's been playing middle the last couple matches, so for her to have 16 kills at .433, shows what she's capable of doing. I thought that was obviously a good move, and she did a good job, but we got to get some more offense from our other pins. Liz [Gregorski] had a good statistical match, but we've got to get two more attackers to be able to score for us."
On Symone Sims' performance at libero…
"It was the first time in her career playing libero, so I'm just proud of her, and she did a good job. She's such a great athlete. She's so quick, so what you guys saw today in the libero jersey, is stuff that we see every day in the gym. She's a special player, and I thought she did a really good job tonight, playing libero for the first time."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – Houston 27, K-State 25
K-State overcame a four-point deficit to bring the first within one, 5-4, before tying the set at 12-all with a kill from Schmidt. The Cats took the lead with a service ace by Sims.
After back-and-forth action, K-State grabbed 20-17 lead with the help of block assist by Schmidt and Gregorski, who also hammered her fourth kill for the 20th point. Houston responded with an 8-3 closing run to take the set.
In total, the first set had four lead changes and 10 tie scores. Both squads turned in 17 kills, as K-State hit .244 (six errors) against UH's .302 (four errors). Gregorski produced five kills and hit at a .500 clip (one error, 8 attempts).
Set Two – Houston 25, K-State 20
With a 4-0 scoring run, the Wildcats captured a three-point lead until the Cougars rallied and tied the score at 9-all. Houston added seven straight points to the board to take a 18-13 lead.
The Cougars hit .400 (17 kills, 3 errors, 35 swings) as a team led by six from Corelli, who didn't commit an error in the set.
Set Three – Houston 25, K-State 23
Tied 12-12, an attack error and kill from Brown helped the Cats to a two-point lead, 14-12.
Houston managed to come from to take a 19-17, forcing K-State to call their first timeout of the set. A call was overturned in favor of the Wildcats to bridge the gap to one and was responded with a 4-1 run to stretch the Cougars' lead to four, 23-19.
Brown totaled eight of the Wildcats 15 kills in the final set with one error (.500).
INSIDE THE BOX
– 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.
Houston (6-5, 1-0 Big 12) hit at a .288 offensive efficiency and Angela Greive recorded 15 kills while hitting .227, while Katie Corelli produced 12 kills. Houston held a 50-48 edge in kill production and out-blocked the Cats, 7.0-6.0.
Three Wildcats (2-8, 0-1 Big 12) reached double figure kills, as K-State suffered its fourth straight loss. Senior Meg Brown led the match with 16 kills with an impressive .433 hitting percentage. In addition to Brown, Aliyah Carter (12) and Liz Gregorski (10) reached double-figure kills for the Wildcats.
Setters Izzi Szulczewski paced the Cats' offense that hit .216 with 27 assists followed by Ava LeGrand with 15. Wednesday marked the third time this season K-State hit above .200 and first since September 1 against UMBC.
In her first collegiate start as a libero, Symone Sims matched a career-best 16 digs, her seventh match with 10 or more digs this season. Liz Gregorski and Jordyn Williams each totaled three block assists on the night.
Houston's Ella Wendel posted a match-high five blocks while Kate Georgiades, the reigning Big 12 Libero of the Year, had 12 digs.
K-State rounds out its six-match homestand Friday, as the Wildcats host UCF (7-3, 0-1 Big 12) at Morgan Family Arena. Friday's match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Tickets 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.
FROM THE CATS
Jason Mansfield, K-State Head Coach
Opening Statement…
"I thought Houston played really well. We saw in the film that they're a good ball control team with a pretty diverse offense, and I thought they did a good job of spreading it around. They passed really well the whole night. We couldn't get to them on serve receive, and so their offense really flowed at times. But I'm proud of our fight. I've been proud of our fight pretty much the whole season, and the narrative is the same. We're close, and we have to find a way to finish sets when we're up, and we have to find a way to fight, to get back and win some close sets. So again, we're close."
On the good performance from the attackers…
"We had a good practice yesterday where we worked on trying to make a set where our attackers can hit hard, and we told the attackers to be mindful of our timing and our shot selection. But moving Meg [Brown] back to the right certainly helps our offense. She's been playing middle the last couple matches, so for her to have 16 kills at .433, shows what she's capable of doing. I thought that was obviously a good move, and she did a good job, but we got to get some more offense from our other pins. Liz [Gregorski] had a good statistical match, but we've got to get two more attackers to be able to score for us."
On Symone Sims' performance at libero…
"It was the first time in her career playing libero, so I'm just proud of her, and she did a good job. She's such a great athlete. She's so quick, so what you guys saw today in the libero jersey, is stuff that we see every day in the gym. She's a special player, and I thought she did a really good job tonight, playing libero for the first time."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – Houston 27, K-State 25
K-State overcame a four-point deficit to bring the first within one, 5-4, before tying the set at 12-all with a kill from Schmidt. The Cats took the lead with a service ace by Sims.
After back-and-forth action, K-State grabbed 20-17 lead with the help of block assist by Schmidt and Gregorski, who also hammered her fourth kill for the 20th point. Houston responded with an 8-3 closing run to take the set.
In total, the first set had four lead changes and 10 tie scores. Both squads turned in 17 kills, as K-State hit .244 (six errors) against UH's .302 (four errors). Gregorski produced five kills and hit at a .500 clip (one error, 8 attempts).
Set Two – Houston 25, K-State 20
With a 4-0 scoring run, the Wildcats captured a three-point lead until the Cougars rallied and tied the score at 9-all. Houston added seven straight points to the board to take a 18-13 lead.
The Cougars hit .400 (17 kills, 3 errors, 35 swings) as a team led by six from Corelli, who didn't commit an error in the set.
Set Three – Houston 25, K-State 23
Tied 12-12, an attack error and kill from Brown helped the Cats to a two-point lead, 14-12.
Houston managed to come from to take a 19-17, forcing K-State to call their first timeout of the set. A call was overturned in favor of the Wildcats to bridge the gap to one and was responded with a 4-1 run to stretch the Cougars' lead to four, 23-19.
Brown totaled eight of the Wildcats 15 kills in the final set with one error (.500).
INSIDE THE BOX
- Houston won in straight sets Wednesday – 25-27, 20-25, 23-25.
- UH hit .288 (50 kills, 12 errors, 132 swings) led by Greive with 15 kills and Corelli 12.
- K-State hit .216 (48 kills, 19 errors, 134 attempts).
- UH held a 50-48 edge in kill production and out-blocked the Cats, 7.0-6.0.
- Three players reached double figure kills – Brown (16), Carter (12), Gregorski (10).
- Brown hit at a team-best .433 (3 errors, 30 swings).
- Szulczewski paced the offense with 27 assists followed by LeGrand with 15.
- Sims made her first collegiate start as a libero and matched a career-best 16 digs – her seventh match with 10 or more digs this season.
- Gregorski and Williams each totaled three block assists.
- Cougars' Wendel posted a match-high five blocks while Georgiades led with 12 digs.
- Wednesday's win hands UH a 5-4 lead in the all-time series, with K-State leading 3-1 at home. UH is 2-0 against K-State in Big 12 play.
- K-State hit over .200 for the first time since September 1 against UMBC (.459), and just the third time overall this season.
- Carter turned in her 92nd match with 10+ kills.
– 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.
Team Stats
UH
KState
Kills
50
48
Errors
12
19
Attempts
132
134
Hitting %
.288
.216
Points
61.0
56.0
Assists
48
47
Aces
4
2
Blocks
7
6
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
OH
/ VolleyballOH/L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
MB
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