MANHATTAN, Kan. (Kansas State Athletics) – K-State served up 11 aces and got a match-high 17 kills from freshman Shaylee Myers en route to a straight-set victory over Iowa State Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum, 25-18, 26-24, 25-20.
Myers picked up nine kills in the third set alone and finished the match with a .311 hitting percentage. Senior Sydney Bolding hummed at a .500 pace in recording 10 kills. Bolding also pitched in four aces to equal her career high in helping the Wildcats (10-6, 1-2 Big 12) to their first Big 12 win of the season.
The Cats’ 11 aces marked the sixth time this season in which they have produced double-digit aces, one shy of the program’s rally-scoring record of seven such matches set in 2007.
Iowa State (9-7, 1-2 Big 12) finished with just two aces while committing eight service errors.
Libero Mackenzie Morris led all players with 22 digs. Morris, who joined the 1,000-dig club a week ago, has produced four 20-dig outings over her last five matches. Sophomore Molly Ramsey added 10 digs from the back row.
Elena Baka and Kadye Fernholz both ended the day with six kills, as Fernholz hit .286 and also led the front line with five total blocks (two solo, three assists). Myers added three block assists to help K-State to seven total team blocks.
Setter Loren Hinkle handed out 37 assists to go with seven digs and three aces.
The Cyclones were led by 10 kills from Eleanor Holthaus, who finished with a double-double with 10 digs. Solei Thomas produced nine kills at a .316 clip.
Brooke Stonestreet picked up 18 digs to lead ISU’s back row while Abby Greiman logged a team-best five blocks.
K-State finished with a 43-29 edge in total kills. Iowa State hit .248 to the Wildcats’ .243.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head coach Suzie Fritz
On the match overall …
“It feels great, I am really proud of them. We had a little gauntlet of top-25 teams that we had to roll through a little bit, by design. We felt like we wanted to test ourselves and get ourselves prepared for Big 12-level competition and then we hit Tech at Tech, who I think is going to have a very good year in the league, but a disappointing performance on our part Wednesday night. So to be able to show some resilience, bounce back and play well against a good Iowa State team that’s coming off a win over Baylor. This is what the Big 12 looks like, so you’ve got to be able to bring it every night. I’m pretty proud of them.”
On her team’s success from the service line …
“Early in the match, in particular, that was the difference, serve and pass. I thought we attacked them from the service line and it made a big difference.”
On what stood out in the match …
“Bolding just continues to do what Bolding does. She is really productive right now. I thought Elena Baka, Mack Morris, Molly Ramsey in the back row really stood out. You can’t kill balls in transition unless you can dig them. Being able to connect those touches, go from productive touch and then to convert those for points felt really good.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set One – K-State 25, Iowa State 18
Despite Iowa State producing 11 kills to K-State’s nine, the Wildcats racked up six service aces while taking advantage of six service errors by the Cyclones. Hinkle picked up three aces in the set, including two during a five-point run that gave the Wildcats a 23-16 lead.
Myers was responsible for four of the Cats’ nine kills while Bolding tallied three kills on four swings. K-State hit .139 as an offense to ISU’s .235.
K-State opened an early five-point lead at 11-6 before Iowa State began cutting the deficit, using a 5-1 spurt to even the score at 14. However, the Cyclones were never able to capture the lead as the Cats went on a 9-2 stretch after ISU evened the score.
Morris added a pair of aces and a team-leading seven digs in the frame.
Set Two – K-State 26, Iowa State 24
K-State offense clicked to the tune of 16 kills at a .257 pace, getting five kills on seven attacks from Bolding. Baka and Myers added four kills apiece, as the trio accounted for 13 of the 16 kills in the set.
Holding a 17-13 lead midway through set two, Iowa State went on a 7-0 spurt behind the serve of Morgan Brandt to take a 20-17 advantage.
Bolding responded by scoring the next three points on her own for the Cats with back-to-back kills followed by a stuff block to level the score at 20. A tandem block by Fernholz and Myers gave K-State two set-point tries at 24-22, which the Cyclones fought off to push the frame to extra points.
Fernholz ended the set with a kill and solo block to give the Cats a two-set lead.
Iowa State was led by Holthaus’ five kills on nine attempts while Thomas picked up four kills. ISU hit .222 and tallied six blocks in the frame.
The Wildcats picked up five blocks, with Fernholz accounting for four blocks (two solo, two assists). The set saw 13 tie scores and five lead changes.
Set Three – K-State 25, Iowa State 20
K-State hit a match-high .318 in closing out its second consecutive sweep of Iowa State. Myers was responsible for half of the Wildcats’ 18 kills in the third, hitting .529 in producing nine kills on 17 attempts without an error.
Fernholz collected three of her six kills in the third set while hitting at a .400 efficiency.
Each side traded six-point scoring runs, as the Cyclones broke an 8-8 tie to claim a 14-8 lead. Out of a Wildcat timeout, K-State put together an 11-2 stretch, including six unanswered points to take a 19-16 edge.
Bolding served up three of her team’s four aces in the third set, including two in the Cats’ six-point run, upping K-State’s total to 11 aces on the day.
K-State finished the match by scoring six of the final seven points, including a match-ending kill by Fernholz.
The Cats limited ISU to 13 kills at a .279 pace behind 26 digs in the set. Morris had 10 digs while Baka added five.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State hit .243 as a team (43 kills, 15 errors, 115 attacks).
- Iowa State finished with a .248 hitting percentage (39 kills, 11 errors, 113 swings).
- Myers led all players with 17 kills while hitting .311.
- Nine of Myers’ kills came in the third set.
- Bolding hit a team-best .500 in registering 10 kills.
- Baka and Fernholz each finished with six kills.
- Bolding matched her career high with four aces.
- Hinkle added a season-high three aces, increasing her career total to 96.
- K-State’s 11 aces were one shy of matching its season high.
- Fernholz paced the front line with five total blocks while Myers added three.
- Morris carded a match-high 22 digs and has registered 20 or more digs in four of her last five outings.
- Holthaus led Iowa State with 10 kills.
- Thomas added nine kills and Engelbrecht hit a team-best .429 with six kills.
- Stonestreet produced 18 digs to lead the Cyclones.
NOTES
- Iowa State leads the all-time series 57-44.
- The Wildcats are 23-23 at home against the Cyclones.
- Fritz is 20-23 in her career against ISU.
- K-State has won three of the last four in the series, including back-to-back sweeps.
- The Cats have swept Iowa State in consecutive matches for the first time since 2002.
- K-State ended its season-long four-match.
- The 11 aces mark the sixth time this season K-State has reached double-figure aces – one shy of the program’s rally-scoring record of seven such matches in 2007.
- The Wildcats are 7-1 in three-set matches this season, their most straight-set victories since eight in 2018.
UP NEXT
K-State travels to West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers Wednesday at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Rob Voelker will also have the call on News Radio KMAN with streaming audio available at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.
