(Photo Courtesy Kansas State Athletics)
By Chris Kutz, K-State Athletics Communications
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The K-State volleyball team picked up its seventh straight win as well as first place in the Saluki Invitational after beating IPFW 3-1 (25-20, 28-26, 19-25, 25-20) on Saturday at SIU Arena.
Freshman Kylee Zumach and sophomore Brooke Sassin powered the Wildcats (9-1) with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Sassin earned her second all-tournament honor of the season after she had 49 kills over the tournament’s three matches.
Sassin was joined on the all-tournament team by sophomore Kersten Kober, who paced K-State with 17 digs against IPFW (5-5). Kober had double-digit digs in each match of the tournament.
Redshirt sophomore Katie Brand earned tournament MVP honors after tallying 50 assists, 14 digs and three blocks against the Mastodons. The double-double was Brand’s sixth of the season.
While Sassin had half of her 14 kills in the first set, K-State’s defense came through at important moments to keep the Wildcats in a set that saw 15 ties and seven lead changes. Natali Jones assisted on four blocks, including three early in the set, helping her match her career-high with eight blocks. The fourth by Jones, though, followed up Sassin’s seventh kill and allowed K-State to take its biggest lead at the time, 21-18. Taylor Johnson and Chelsea Keating later sealed the set with a combo block on an attack up the middle.
The Wildcats had to rally on two occasions in the second set, with the first being from a five-point deficit at 17-12. K-State tallied six straight points, including a pair of kills by Zumach, to take its first lead in the second since the early going.
IPFW crawled back, however, building a 23-21 lead after a block and kill by the Mastodons, but the Wildcats failed to give up. They scored three consecutive points, a run capped by Jones’ eighth block of the match. K-State went on to face set point three times, but one of IPFW’s 10 attack errors in the second gave the Wildcats the set, 28-26.
K-State could not solve the IPFW defense in set three as the Mastodons had 6.0 team blocks and held the Wildcats to a .049 hitting percentage. One of the six blocks by the Mastodons gave IPFW set point as K-State had eight attack errors in the third after having 10 errors in the second.
K-State was true on seven of its first nine attempts to open the fourth set, taking a 10-6 lead after Keating hammered in one of her three kills in the set. IPFW overcame the early deficit, though, tying the match at 12-all following one of IPFW’s 19.0 blocks in the match.
A kill by Reininger out of the K-State timeout following the IPFW block ignited a brief 4-1 run that allowed the Wildcats to pull away from the Mastodons. During the spurt, Sassin had an ace, and Zumach piled in a kill. Later, a kill from Zumach brought K-State within match point before an IPFW attack error gave the Wildcats the match.
Following the 3-0 weekend, the Wildcats will now return home for a match in Ahearn Field House on Tuesday, September 16 at 6 pm against South Dakota State.
