Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, September 27
Manhattan, Kan.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
3-8,1-1Big 12
3
vs
0
UCF
7-4,0-2Big 12
1
2
3
F
UCF
23
28
13
0
Kansas St.
25
30
25
3
Complete Team Effort Surges Wildcats to Victory
Sep 27, 2024 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Seniors Liz Gregorski and Meg Brown combined for 26 kills and double-doubles by Izzi Szulczewski and Ava LeGrand highlighted the Wildcats victory Friday night, as K-State swept past UCF at Morgan Family Arena – 25-23, 30-28, 25-13.
K-State (3-8, 1-1 Big 12) snapped its four-match losing streak against UCF (7-4, 0-2 Big 12), as the Wildcats produced a 47-39 advantage in kill production and out-blocked the Knights 7.0-5.0 with a 56-49 edge in digs.
Gregorski turned in her third match of the season with 10 or more kills, as the Appleton, Wisconsin product totaled a match-high 14 kills with three aces for a career-best 18.0 points. Brown added 12 kills and hit at an impressive .417 clip with two errors on 24 swings.
Szulczewski and LeGrand both notched double-doubles, as the setters piloted Wildcats 6-2 offense to a .263 clip. Szulczewski had a match-high 20 assists to go with her 10 digs to tally her 15th career double-double at K-State. LeGrand registered 13 assists and 10 digs for the first of her career.
Defensively, K-State held UCF to a .198 hitting percentage led by a match-high 17 digs from Ella Larkin. The libero's 17 digs marked her sixth match with 15 or more digs this season. Jordyn Williams (one solo, two assists) and Brenna Schmidt (three assists) each totaled three blocks, while Williams served up a pair of ace s with five kills.
UCF was led by Emily Wilson, who registered 11 kills and hit at a .243 clip, while the offense was paced by 28 assists from Abby Schomers. Sophie Kotsovolos and Avah Amour both had 11 digs, and Sasha Cohen had three block assists.
K-State will head to Lubbock, Texas for their first Big 12 road test October 3, as the Wildcats face Texas Tech (8-5, 0-1) at United Supermarket Arena. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPN+.
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 win…
"Yeah, we've been close for a while, right? So it just feels good to finally win a couple close sets in the first two, and get over the hump. Then we kind of settled in the third set and just continued to make plays. But we've been working so hard in practice and obviously in matches, and I'm just proud of the girls for getting the win."
On the performance from the seniors…
"They've been working really hard, and they're trying to problem solve and figure out ways for us to be successful. They're leading us on the court and off the court, and in our training and keeping us motivated."
On the setters' performance…
"They did a great job of sticking to the game plan and made really good choices tonight and put our hitters in good situations to succeed and that's all we can ask them to do. They did a great job making choices and also locating who we wanted them to."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, UCF 23
Behind four consecutive serves from Williams and pair of kills by Gregorski, K-State started off with a 5-1 lead that started off with a kill from Gregorski.
K-State used a 5-0 scoring run to extend its lead out to eight,14-6, that included three kills by Brown. UCF managed to bring the set within four with a block assist by Cohen and Wilson for K-State to call its first timeout of the match, leading 22-18.
The Cats held off the Knights 5-2 closing run to take the first and snap a 12-set losing streak – marking the first set win since September 15.
Gregorski totaled five kills with one error, hitting at a .235 efficiency while Clinton added four kills. UCF committed five service errors in the first set which proved to be the difference maker.
Set Two – K-State 30, UCF 28
K-State opened with a 5-2 scoring run led by four kills from Gregorski and Brown. Tied 7-7, Carter connected on a pass from LeGrand to take back the lead. A service ace from Williams and kill by Schmidt helped K-State to a two-point lead, 15-13, at the media timeout.
With the score at 29-all, a service ace by Gregorski and kill from Carter delivered the final blow and handed the Cats to two-set lead.
In total, the second set had eight lead changes and16 tie scores. Brown totaled six kills and committed no errors to hit .600, while Carter and Gregorski each added five at a .333 hitting efficiency.
Set Three – K-State 25, UCF 13
Highlighted by back-to-back aces from Gregorski and block assist by Williams and Carter, K-State produced a 13-5 lead to take control of the final set.
The Wildcats led 23-10 – the largest lead of the night – before putting the match away. The defense held UCF to a .000 hitting percentage in the third.
INSIDE THE BOX
K-State (3-8, 1-1 Big 12) snapped its four-match losing streak against UCF (7-4, 0-2 Big 12), as the Wildcats produced a 47-39 advantage in kill production and out-blocked the Knights 7.0-5.0 with a 56-49 edge in digs.
Gregorski turned in her third match of the season with 10 or more kills, as the Appleton, Wisconsin product totaled a match-high 14 kills with three aces for a career-best 18.0 points. Brown added 12 kills and hit at an impressive .417 clip with two errors on 24 swings.
Szulczewski and LeGrand both notched double-doubles, as the setters piloted Wildcats 6-2 offense to a .263 clip. Szulczewski had a match-high 20 assists to go with her 10 digs to tally her 15th career double-double at K-State. LeGrand registered 13 assists and 10 digs for the first of her career.
Defensively, K-State held UCF to a .198 hitting percentage led by a match-high 17 digs from Ella Larkin. The libero's 17 digs marked her sixth match with 15 or more digs this season. Jordyn Williams (one solo, two assists) and Brenna Schmidt (three assists) each totaled three blocks, while Williams served up a pair of ace s with five kills.
UCF was led by Emily Wilson, who registered 11 kills and hit at a .243 clip, while the offense was paced by 28 assists from Abby Schomers. Sophie Kotsovolos and Avah Amour both had 11 digs, and Sasha Cohen had three block assists.
K-State will head to Lubbock, Texas for their first Big 12 road test October 3, as the Wildcats face Texas Tech (8-5, 0-1) at United Supermarket Arena. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPN+.
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 win…
"Yeah, we've been close for a while, right? So it just feels good to finally win a couple close sets in the first two, and get over the hump. Then we kind of settled in the third set and just continued to make plays. But we've been working so hard in practice and obviously in matches, and I'm just proud of the girls for getting the win."
On the performance from the seniors…
"They've been working really hard, and they're trying to problem solve and figure out ways for us to be successful. They're leading us on the court and off the court, and in our training and keeping us motivated."
On the setters' performance…
"They did a great job of sticking to the game plan and made really good choices tonight and put our hitters in good situations to succeed and that's all we can ask them to do. They did a great job making choices and also locating who we wanted them to."
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, UCF 23
Behind four consecutive serves from Williams and pair of kills by Gregorski, K-State started off with a 5-1 lead that started off with a kill from Gregorski.
K-State used a 5-0 scoring run to extend its lead out to eight,14-6, that included three kills by Brown. UCF managed to bring the set within four with a block assist by Cohen and Wilson for K-State to call its first timeout of the match, leading 22-18.
The Cats held off the Knights 5-2 closing run to take the first and snap a 12-set losing streak – marking the first set win since September 15.
Gregorski totaled five kills with one error, hitting at a .235 efficiency while Clinton added four kills. UCF committed five service errors in the first set which proved to be the difference maker.
Set Two – K-State 30, UCF 28
K-State opened with a 5-2 scoring run led by four kills from Gregorski and Brown. Tied 7-7, Carter connected on a pass from LeGrand to take back the lead. A service ace from Williams and kill by Schmidt helped K-State to a two-point lead, 15-13, at the media timeout.
With the score at 29-all, a service ace by Gregorski and kill from Carter delivered the final blow and handed the Cats to two-set lead.
In total, the second set had eight lead changes and16 tie scores. Brown totaled six kills and committed no errors to hit .600, while Carter and Gregorski each added five at a .333 hitting efficiency.
Set Three – K-State 25, UCF 13
Highlighted by back-to-back aces from Gregorski and block assist by Williams and Carter, K-State produced a 13-5 lead to take control of the final set.
The Wildcats led 23-10 – the largest lead of the night – before putting the match away. The defense held UCF to a .000 hitting percentage in the third.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State picked up its third victory of the season in sweep fashion – 25-23, 30-28, 25-13 – snapping a four-match losing streak.
- K-State hit .263 (47 kills, 16 errors, 118 attempts), and held UCF to a .198 hitting percentage (39 kills, 16 errors, 116 swings).
- Wildcats produced a 47-39 advantage in kill production and out-blocked the Knights 7.0-5.0.
- Gregorski turned in her third match of the season with 10 or more kills (14).
- Brown added 12 kills and hit at an impressive .417 clip (two errors, 24 swings).
- Two players notched double-doubles: Szulczewski, LeGrand.
- . Szulczewski had a match-high 20 assists to go with her 10 digs to tally her 15th career double-double at K-State. LeGrand registered 13 assists and 10 digs for the first of her career.
- Larkin led with a match-high 17 digs – her sixth match with 15 or more digs.
- Two Wildcats totaled three blocks: Williams (one solo, two assists), Schmidt (three assists).
- Williams served up a pair of ace s with five kills.
- Wilson led UCF with 11 kills and hit at a .243 clip, while Schomers paced the Knights with 28 assists.
- Defensively, Kotsovolos and Amour both had 11 digs, and Cohen had three block assists.
- K-State now leads the all-time series 3-2, that includes a 2-0 record at home.
- The Wildcats improve to 2-4 at home this season, and 11-8 overall under Mansfield.
- Friday's sweep marked the 15th three-set victory under Mansfield.
- The second set marked the longest set of the season, and first 30-point set since Sept. 3, 2022 at UCF (L, 2-3).
– 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
UCF
KState
Kills
39
47
Errors
16
16
Attempts
116
118
Hitting %
.198
.263
Points
47.0
59.0
Assists
37
44
Aces
3
5
Blocks
5
7
Game Leaders
Kills
14
Aces
3
Blocks
2
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
OH/L/DS
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB
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