LeGrand, Clinton Notch Career Milestones in Five-Set Thriller

CINCINNATI, Ohio – K-State's Ava LeGrand notched her 700^th career assist, while Aniya Clinton recorded her 600^th career kill in the Wildcats five-set victory over Cincinnati, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 15-7, Friday night at Fifth Third Arena.

K-State (9-3, 2-2 Big 12) saw three players post double-doubles in its fourth consecutive five-set road match. The Wildcats tallied a season-high 79 kills with three players in double figures, while the defense held a 77-69 edge in digs with five players reaching double-digit totals.

Clinton, a redshirt junior from Midland, Texas, entered the match just 10 kills shy of the 600 milestone and ended the night matching a career-best 25 kills. She added 15 digs her for her third career double-double.

LeGrand, needing 23 assists to reach 700, turned in her fifth match of the season with 40 or more as she dished out 53 assists to go with 18 digs – her team-high fifth double-double of the year. The Papillion, Nebraska, native now sits at 730 career assists.

Additionally, Shaylee Myers registered her second career double-double and first since her freshman season, as the senior totaled 24 kills with 11 digs. True freshman Caleigh Ponn added a season-high 17 digs, while Symone Sims chipped in 12. Jordyn Williams was the third Wildcat to record double-digit kills with a career-high 12 and paced the team with four blocks.

FROM THE CATS
JASON MANSFIELD, K-STATE HEAD COACH
Overall comments…
"Such an incredible match for us, so proud of the girls and their fight. We continue to battle and move on from sets that we lose, the second and fifth set we have every reason to feel sorry for ourselves, but we just battled and played so tough. Our block and defense just got better and better as the match went on and I loved how Ava trusted Jordyn and Reagan [Fox] as the match went on as well. Aniya and Shaylee both took so many good swings for us, they continue to find different ways to score and take good swings against every team we play. We grew a lot this week as a team in these two road matches, I still feel like we continue to improve and that feels really good."

SET-BY-SET
Set 1 – Cincinnati 26, K-State 24

With a kill from Jordyn Williams, K-State knotted the score 9-9 before back-to-back kills from Myers handed the Cats their longest run of the set.
Cincinnati fended off set point and rallied behind a pair of blocks to put together a 3-0 closing run and take the set.
Myers notched 12 kills in Set 1, hitting at a .333 clip with four errors on 24 swings.
Cincinnati hit .433 as a team in the set, with 14 kills and just one error on 30 attempts, while K-State had 18 kills and hit .325 (5 errors, 40 attempts).

Set 2 – K-State 25, Cincinnati 21

Cincinnati utilized a 4-1 start to lead Set 2. K-State chipped at the lead, tying the set seven times before UC extended its lead out to four, 17-13, behind a 5-2 scoring run.
The Wildcats responded with a 4-1 run to close the gap to one, highlighted by a pair of kills from freshman Cadence Lundgren.
Down 21-20, the Wildcats scored five consecutive points to level the match, 1-1.
LeGrand reached her milestone in the second set, with her 23^rd assist of the match.

Set 3 – K-State 25, Cincinnati 21

K-State jumped out to a 6-1 lead – its largest of the night – and held on
Clinton reached her career milestone with her 10^th kill of the night in Set 3.

Set 4 – Cincinnati 25, K-State 23

After back-and-forth action, Cincinnati took advantage of a pair of attack errors to take a 24-23 lead before a kill from Sydney Nolan, who capped the night with 22 kills, forced the fifth set.
Clinton tallied nine kills of the Wildcats 17 kills, while the team was held to a .040 hitting percentage (15 errors, 50 attacks).

Set 5 – K-State 15, Cincinnati 7

K-State gained early control with an early 4-0 lead and held on to win their fourth consecutive five-set match.
As a team, the Wildcats hit .308 with 10 kills (2 errors, 26 attacks) with Clinton and Williams each tallying three kills.

INSIDE THE BOX

K-State defeated Cincinnati in five sets Friday night – 24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 15-7.
The Wildcats held a 79-55 advantage in kill production, hitting at a .255 team efficiency.
Defensively, the K-State held a 77-69 edge in total digs while UC out-blocked the Cats, 14.0-7.0.
Three players registered double-doubles: LeGrand (53 assists, 18 digs), Clinton (25 kills, 15 digs), Myers (24 kills, 11 digs).
Additionally, Ponn and Sims eclipsed the 10-dig mark as Ponn produced a season-high 17 digs while Sims added 12.
K-State had three players record double-digit kills led by Clinton (25), followed hy Myers (24) and Williams (12) – her third career match in double figures.

BEYOND THE BOX

With the win, K-State takes a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with both victories recorded in Cincinnati.
Clinton registered her 600^th career kill, while LeGrand tallied her 700^th career assist.
LeGrand leads the 2025 roster with five double-doubles on the year. She has registered a double-double in four of the last five matches.
K-State is 4-1 in matches that exceed three sets, including a perfect record in five-set matches.
Friday's match marked the Wildcats' fourth consecutive five-set match on the road. Five of the last six matches have gone to four or more sets.

UP NEXT
K-State returns to Morgan Family Arena for more Big 12 action, as the Wildcats host Iowa State (12-2, 2-1 Big 12) Wednesday before closing the week vs. Texas Tech (8-7, 0-3 Big 12) Friday. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. for both matches and can each be seen on ESPN+ and ESPN app.

Single-match 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.

– 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.

LeGrand, Clinton Notch Career Milestones in Five-Set Thriller

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Team Stats

Aniya Clinton

Shaylee Myers

Jordyn Williams

Ava LeGrand

Players Mentioned

Aniya Clinton

Ava LeGrand

Cadence Lundgren

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Symone Sims

Jordyn Williams

Players Mentioned

Aniya Clinton

Ava LeGrand

Cadence Lundgren

Shaylee Myers

Caleigh Ponn

Symone Sims

Jordyn Williams

Kansas State University Athletics

LeGrand, Clinton Notch Career Milestones in Five-Set Thriller

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