| 25 | 26 | 21 | 18 | 13 | (2) | |
| 20 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 15 | (3) |
HOUSTON (Kansas State Athletics) – Three different players finished with a double-double for K-State, but the Wildcats dropped a five-set decision at Rice to open the Rice Adidas Invitational Friday night at Tudor Fieldhouse, 25-20, 26-24, 21-25, 18-25, 13-15.
Elena Baka (14 kills, 12 digs), Loren Hinkle (41 assists, 11 digs) and Shaylee Myers (17 kills, 10 digs) helped K-State (9-3) open a two-set lead. The Owls (9-1), who are receiving votes in the latest AVCA top-25 poll, rallied to win the next three sets to push their winning streak to five matches.
The Wildcat defense totaled 14 blocks, with nine coming over the night’s first two frames. Kadye Fernholz and Haley Warner led the way with seven blocks apiece while Sydney Bolding added six.
Bolding produced 11 kills while hitting a team-best .588.
Mackenzie Morris recorded a match-high 23 digs for her second 20-dig outing of the season and 14th of her career.
Rice saw four players reach double-figure kills, including 15 at a .522 clip from Anota Adekunle. Sahara Maruska finished with 13, Ellie Bichelmeyer had 12 and Danyle Courtley turned in 11.
Setter Carly Graham dished out 51 assists and libero Nia McCardell racked up 20 digs and four aces.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head coach Suzie Fritz
On what changed after the second set …
“I thought we were playing extremely well after the first few points in game one. Game two was about as good as we’ve been, a lot of defensive pressure and not giving up lots of points. I thought, frankly, they upgraded. I thought maybe we got a little bit conservative from the service line and a little bit conservative from an attacking perspective, as well. They started managing the match, there was a pretty significant upgrade for them in game three. Ultimately, we’ve got to be able to not allow runs of points and be able to side out at a higher clip.”
On Rice’s Anota Adekunle…
“(Adekunle) is special for sure. We felt like we were going to have to serve with a lot of purpose and a lot of velocity to be able to contain some of the things that she can do. Their setter, Graham, is a pretty special player as well, and can find her in a lot of different situations. She was pretty unstoppable.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set One – K-State 25, Rice 20
K-State’s used five blocks and 19 digs in allowing Rice to just 11 kills at a .103 pace. Bolding teamed up for three blocks while Hinkle, Fernholz and Warner each contributed a pair. Eight digs from Morris and four from both Baka and Myers spearheaded the Cats’ back row.
Myers hit .333 while picking up a team-leading five kills in the set. Bolding added two kills on just four swings.
Rice tallied the first four points of the match, including two aces from Adekunle to force an early Wildcat timeout. K-State then began to gain traction and chipped away at the Owls’ lead, tying the score at 10 after a three-point run behind Hinkle’s serve.
A 6-1 run of their own handed the Cats their first lead, as an ace from Molly Ramsey put the score at 16-15, with the scoring stretch later resulting in an 18-15 edge.
With the score even at 19, K-State went on another 6-1 burst to finish the opening set. The spurt featured two blocks to go with kills by Baka and Bolding before Hinkle’s service ace completed the set win.
Set Two – K-State 26, Rice 24
K-State withstood 16 tie scores and four lead changes for a deuce-set victory. With the Wildcats leading 18-17, the sides then alternated 12 consecutive points before back-to-back kills from Warner gave K-State its first set-point try at 24-23.
Fernholz and Warner later closed the set with a tandem block, upping the Cats’ total to nine team blocks through two sets.
It was the Wildcats that jumped out to the early lead in the second set, scoring seven of the first 10 points before the Owls took a timeout. Rice then ate away at the lead and scored six of seven points to go in front 12-11.
Six kills from Baka on 10 attempts increased her total to eight after two frames while Myers added two more kills. On five attacks, Bolding put down four kills.
K-State’s offense turned in a match-high 17 kills while hitting .308 – its highest total in any set.
Adekunle led Rice by hitting .833 in registering five kills.
Set Three – Rice 25, K-State 21
A four-point run midway through set three gave the Owls their first lead at 12-10. From there, Rice used a 4-1 burst to open a three-point advantage at 16-13. Three unanswered points tied the score at 16, but the Owls closed on a 9-5 run to earn their first set victory.
Rice hit .333 in racking up 15 kills, five coming from Maruska while Courtley added three.
K-State hit .159 due to 22 digs by the Owls’ defense. The Cats got four kills from Myers and three from Baka and Bolding.
Set Four – Rice 25, K-State 18
The Wildcats were suppressed to a .094 team efficiency in the fourth set – their lowest number in any set. Warner led the way with four kills but was forced into four errors on nine attempts.
Each side produced 11 kills, but Rice hit at a .233 pace and got three kills from Adekunle and Graham.
A 9-2 run midway through the set turned a one-point Rice lead (10-9) into an eight-point lead at 19-11.
Set Five – Rice 15, K-State 13
For the second time, the Owls hit above .300 as a team, as they logged 11 kills and hit .318. K-State tallied eight kills at a .250 pace, with Myers picking up four kills on eight swings without an error.
K-State took its first timeout after falling into a 6-3 hole. The Cats clawed back and evened the score at 10 after a Myers kill and later were within a point at 14-13 before Maruska’s 13th kills sealed the comeback victory.
All four of Adekunle’s swings resulted in a kill, as she hit a perfect 1.000. Graham handed out 10 assists in helping her team win the race to 15.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State hit .187 as a team (59 kills, 27 errors, 171 attacks).
- Rice finished with a .235 hitting percentage (62 kills, 23 errors, 166 swings).
- K-State had three players register double-doubles: Baka, Hinkle and Myers.
- Baka turned in her team-high fourth double-double.
- Hinkle produced her second double-double while it was the first of Myers’ career.
- Myers led all players with 17 kills while adding 10 digs.
- Baka added 14 kills and a dozen digs and Hinkle handed out 41 assists with 11 digs.
- Bolding hit .588 to pace the Cats in picking up 11 kills.
- Fernholz and Warner led the defense with seven blocks apiece.
- K-State tallied 14 total team blocks, its fifth double-digit block performance over the last six matches.
- Morris produced a match-high 23 digs for her second 20-dig outing of the season.
- K-State served up seven aces, as Baka, Bolding and Molly Ramey each tallied a pair.
- Rice was led by 15 kills at a .522 clip from Adekunle.
- Maruska added 13 kills, Bichelmeyer had 12 and Courtley finished with 11 to round out four in double figures.
- Libero Nia McCardell recorded 20 digs to lead the Owls.
- Rice ended with eight aces, four coming from McCardell.
NOTES
- K-State leads the all-time series with Rice 5-1, with this being the first meeting since 1996.
- The Wildcats are 1-1 against the Owls on the road.
- K-State is 0-2 this season against teams receiving votes in the AVCA poll.
- Fritz is 9-1 in her career against teams from Conference USA.
- Morris collected her 14th career match with 20 or more dig (fourth in program history during the rally-scoring era)
- The Cats are 1-2 in five-set matches this season.
UP NEXT
K-State concludes the Rice Adidas Invitational and the non-conference portion of its schedule Saturday against No. 17 Creighton. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. and Rob Voelker will be on the call online at K-StateSports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.
