By Chris Kutz, K-State Athletics Communications
NORMAN, Okla. – K-State snapped a six-match losing streak in Norman on Friday as the Wildcats hit .366 and limited Oklahoma to its lowest attack percentage this season in a sweep of the Sooners (25-16, 25-21, 25-19) in McCasland Field House.
The straight-set win for the Wildcats (11-7, 3-3 Big 12) was their first at Oklahoma (7-11, 1-5 Big 12) since 2005 and first victory of any kind since 2008.
While the offense hit .300 or higher in all three sets, the K-State defense stifled Oklahoma in each set as well. The Sooners were contained to a .139 efficiency or less in all three sets and a .135 clip for the entire match, hurt by 22 errors (nine unforced) against their 35 kills.
Helping stop the Oklahoma attack were K-State’s 13 blocks, matching its most in a contest this season (Last: September 20 at Creighton). At the back row, the Wildcats had 35 digs, including 30 in the first two sets. Vogel led the way with 12 digs while Katie Reininger had a team-best seven blocks.
Offensively, Vogel tied Brooke Sassin for the team lead with 11 kills as the two combined for 22 of K-State’s 43. Vogel used a career-high .625 hitting efficiency to reach double-digits in kills for the 10th time this season. The double-double for the sophomore was also her eighth of the year.
In addition to her team-high in blocks, Reininger slammed in nine kills on a .571 clip. Her 13.0 points were her most since K-State’s sweep of Baylor on September 26.
Katie Brand piloted the Wildcat offense with 35 assists while contributing a season-high six blocks, six digs, three kills and an ace. The half-dozen stuffs were Brand’s most since November 29, 2014 vs. West Virginia when she had seven.
Brand had 11 of her assists, as well as two of her kills, in the first set when K-State hit .452. The Wildcats featured six attackers with multiple kills, led by three apiece from Reininger, Sassin and Vogel. Reininger and Sassin were clean on their four and five swings, respectively.
Defensively, K-State had four blocks and 18 digs in the opener, restricting the Sooners to a .133 clip. Vogel turned in nine of her dozen digs in the set while Brand had three of her blocks.
Vogel had a team-leading five kills in the second as she was errorless on her six swings (.833%). The offense of Vogel was one of the contributing factors to K-State being able to hold off Oklahoma from closing the gap any closer than two points in the entire set.
The Sooners hit into nine attack errors in the second, including four on K-State blocks. One of the attack errors allowed the Wildcats to come out of their timeout at the 12-10 mark and go on to score seven of the next 12 points to take a 19-15 lead. Over the spurt, Vogel had three of K-State’s four kills while a combo block by Brand and Reininger capped it all and forced Oklahoma to call a timeout.
Oklahoma took its only lead of the match at the 6-5 mark in the third, but the Wildcats quickly sided out with a kill by Reininger. The Wildcats sided out at 80% in the entire set, halting any momentum looked to be gained by the Sooners.
With the score at 15-14 in the third, another kill by Reininger sparked a three-point burst for the Wildcats, a run that also included a kill by Brand and Alyssa Schultejans’ team-leading 17th ace of the season.
The ace by Schultejans was one of four by the Wildcats, with Sassin and Kersten Kober adding one each.
K-State returns to action on Wednesday, October 21 with a match against Texas inside Bramlage Coliseum at 6 p.m. The contest against the No. 2 Longhorns will air on ESPNU.
