Sims Records 500th Career Dig, Wildcats Fall in Five

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State's Symone Sims recorded her 500^th career dig in the Wildcats five-set loss, 25-16, 22-25, 27-25, 19-25, 11-15, to Iowa State at Morgan Family Arena Wednesday night.

Sims, a junior from Frisco, Texas, entered the night needing 16 digs to reach the milestone and tallied her 500^th in the fourth set. She finished the night with a career-high 25 digs, as she helped lead a defense that limited the Cyclones to a .195 hitting percentage – its third lowest efficiency of the season.

With the win, Iowa State (14-2, 4-1 Big 12) snapped its six-match losing streak to K-State, as the Cyclones defense held K-State (9-4, 2-3 Big 12). to a .168 hitting percentage with 11.0 blocks. Four players eclipsed the 10-kill mark for ISU, while three players reached double figure kills for K-State – Shaylee Myers (20), Aniya Clinton (16) and Jordyn Williams (12).

Myers, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, turned in her fifth match of the season with 20 or more kills. The senior outside hitter/opposite has reached the 20-kill mark in five of the last seven matches.

FROM THE CATS
JASON MANSFIELD, K-STATE HEAD COACH
Overall comments…
"I thought we started really well, and the second set was back and forth for a while. I felt like they played really hard in that set. I think they had around 20 digs alone, so they really put a lot of pressure on our attackers to score and take a lot of swings. I felt like we had our chances. I loved our response in the third set, especially being down as much as we were, and to come back and win that set was special. Then in the fourth, it was similar. We just struggled to get kills. We only had seven in that set, and their defense was really good tonight. They did an exceptional job, especially keeping an eye on Shaylee [Myers].

On connecting the offense during the first match…
"I thought we were passing well, serving aggressively, flying around on defense, and connecting offensively. The things that are going to help us win matches. I love the way that we started. I think that was one of the best first sets we played of the season."

On initial thoughts making it to the fifth set…
"We feel confident when we get in the fifth set. We've won a lot of five set matches before this one. We're confident that when it's 0-0, in the fifth [set] that we know we know we can win. We know what it takes to win in the fifth."

SET-BY-SET
Set 1 – K-State 25, Iowa State 16

The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-2 lead to force a timeout from Iowa State. K-State continued to command the set, as the Cats extended their lead to as much as 12 before taking the set.
The Cats hit .242 in Set 1 with 14 kills (6 errors, 33 errors), while the defense held the Cyclones to a .028 hitting percentage with 15 digs and a pair of team blocks.
Myers tallied eight kills in the set and hit .500 (2 errors, 12 attempts) followed by Clinton with four, while Williams tallied two blocks.

Set 2 – Iowa State 25, K-State 22

After back-and-forth action, the Wildcats utilized a 5-1 scoring run to grab a 15-12 lead – their largest of the set. ISU answered and scored six consecutive points to take back the lead and hold on to level the set.
ISU produced a .300 team efficiency (17 kills, 5 errors) against the Wildcats .175 hitting percentage with 12 kills on 40 swings with five errors.

Set 3 – K-State 27, Iowa State 25

Led by a kill from Clinton, K-State overcame a 20-17 deficit and tied the set at 21-all, forcing a timeout from the Cyclones.
The Cats fended off set-point with Myers' 15^th kill and took the lead with the held of an attack error before Lundgren and Fox teamed up for the block to secure the set victory.
K-State out-blocked the Cyclones 3.0-2.0 and held a 16-14 edge in digs. Offensively, Clinton put down seven kills on 10 swings with two errors (.500 hitting percentage).

Set 4 – Iowa State 25, K-State 19

Momentum shifted in Set 4, as ISU pieced together a 8-2 scoring run to force a fifth set.
Six different players registered a kill for the Cyclones in the set, led by five from Faith DeRonde.

Set 5 – Iowa State 15, K-State 11

Iowa State was handed a 5-1 lead, after successfully winning four consecutive challenges.
Down 10-4, K-State rallied to bridge the gap to three with kills from three different Wildcats, including three from Williams. However, ISU held off the rally with a 3-2 closing run.

INSIDE THE BOX

Iowa State overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Wildcats in five – 16-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-19, 15-11.
ISU hit at a .195 clip (69 kills, 32 errors, 190 swings), while K-State was held to a .168 hitting percentage (59 kills, 28 errors, 184 attempts).
Three Wildcats reached double-digit kills – Myers (20), Clinton (16), Williams (12).
LeGrand dished out 46 assists and added 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.
Sims turned in a career-high 25 digs, while Clinton matched a career-best with 15 for her fourth double-double.
Defensively, ISU out-blocked K-State 11.0-8.0, and had a 80-78 edge in dig production.
Lundgren led the Cats with four blocks followed by Williams with three, while Clinton recorded the only solo block of the match.
The Cyclones' Reagan Hanfelt led all players with eight blocks while libero Rachel Van Gorp recorded 30 digs.
Four players reached double-digit kills for ISU, led by Hanfelt (14).

BEYOND THE BOX

Iowa State leads the all-time series 58-48, that includes a 23-25 record in matches played in Manhattan.
With the win, ISU snaps a six-match losing streak against the Wildcats dating back to 2021.
Sims recorded her 500^th career dig, while Myers turned in her fifth 20-kill match of the season.
K-State suffered its first five-set loss of the year, moving to 4-1.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will host Texas Tech (8-9, 0-5 Big 12) Friday at Morgan Family Arena. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 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 –

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Players Mentioned

Aniya Clinton

Shaylee Myers

Symone Sims

Jordyn Williams

Players Mentioned

Aniya Clinton

Shaylee Myers

Symone Sims

Jordyn Williams

Kansas State University Athletics