NORMAN, Okla. (K-State Athletics) – Aliyah Carter and Aniya Clinton combined for 27 kills to help K-State bounce back with a straight-set victory over Oklahoma Friday at McCasland Field House, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15.
Carter, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, turned in 15 kills at a .250 efficiency, as she committed just five errors on 40 swings and added seven digs. Clinton added 12 kills to the board, her seventh match with 10 or more kills, aiding K-State to earn the series split.
Offensively, the Wildcats owned a 44-39 advantage in total kills while hitting .312, marking just the fifth match hitting over .300 this season.
Sydney Bolding chipped in seven kills at a .667 clip to go along with a match-high four service aces.
Junior Izzi Szulczewski dished out 37 assists to pace the 5-1 offense with five digs while Mackenzie Morris turned in a match-high 11 digs.
The Cats totaled six total team blocks and 37 digs, holding OU (7-11, 1-8 Big 12) to a .255 team hitting percentage. Brenna Schmidt and Kadye Fernholz each tallied three blocks and combined for nine kills. Fernholz now ranks 10th overall in the rally-scoring era with 323.0 total blocks.
Alexis Shelton was the lone Sooner to reach double-digit kills with 14 as the sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., hit .462. Taylor Preston added nine kills followed by Lydia Burts with seven.
FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Jason Mansfield
Overall Statement…
“The theme of the day was to be resilient, and I’m really proud of them for executing that. It’s the first time that we’ve lost the first match of a weekend and had to compete the next day, and I just loved the resilience they showed throughout the day in preparing for this team. OU does a lot of things that are a little unorthodox, that they are good at, and so I think playing them last night prepared us for today. We opted to a 5-1 offense tonight with Izzi and moved Aniya to the left, and I thought our team played well together. I’m really proud of what they did here.”
Moving to a 5-1 offense…
“We needed just a little bit more passing. With [Symone Sims] being in the back, I thought she did a great job with that. That was really the main idea behind it. While it’s little easier to be in rhythm with one setter, we’ve had so many great wins in the 6-2. It was a tough decision to make the change, but I think it worked out well and the offense looked solid tonight.”
Heading into another Top 25 weekend…
“BYU is a consistently strong program, and Heather Olmstead has done an exceptional job with them. They’re a team you have to beat because they’re not going to beat themselves. Facing them twice in a tough matchup will be a challenge, but with a couple of days off, we’ll put in the work this week to prepare. I’m really excited. Besides Nebraska, they’re the best team we’ve faced so far, making it an exciting week ahead.”
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 25, Oklahoma 23
The Cats took advantage of four straight attack errors to jumped out to a quick 5-1 run. With the set tied at eight, OU put together a 5-2 scoring run to take the lead but the Cats rallied behind a kills from Bolding and Clinton to trim the Sooners lead to one.
Back-to-back blocks by Schmidt and Fernholz handed K-State a one-point lead, 22-21, forcing a Sooners timeout.
K-State tallied 13 kills (.233) in the opening set led by four from Carter and Clinton, while the 5-1 offense was paced by Szulczewski with 12 assists.
The Wildcats out-blocked the Sooners, 3.0-2.5 with Fernholz and Schmidt each chipping in a pair of block assists.
Set Two – K-State 25, Oklahoma 18
After 11 tie scores, K-State took advantage of an OU attack error to grab hold of 14-13 lead.
Back-to-back kills by Clinton handed the Cats a three-point advantage, 17-14, helping K-State to its 5-1 closing run to take the set win.
Clinton and Carter each added six kills in the second with Szulczewski tallying all 15 assists to lead the offense to a .270 hitting percentage.
Set Three – K-State 25, Oklahoma 15
The Cats put together a dominant 9-1 opening run to take control of the final set.
OU added three straight points to the board with kills by Preston and Shelton to bring the score within five, 14-9, but back-to-back kills by Carter and Clinton snapped the run to quickly flip momentum back to the Wildcats bench.
K-State turned hit a match-best .448 as the Cats totaled 15 kills with just two errors on 29 swings led by five from Carter.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State picked up its fifth conference victory Friday, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15
- The Cats served up eight service errors led by Bolding (4) and Gregorski (3)
- Two players reached double-digit kills
- Carter led K-State with 15 kills hitting .250
- Clinton finished with 12 kills at .214 a clip
- Bolding contributed seven kills with a .667 efficiency
- Friday’s match had 16 tie scores and just eight lead changes
- K-State turned in a .312 hitting percentage (44 kills, 14 errors)
- Szulczewski dished out 37 assists to lead the 5-1 offense
- K-State finished with six blocks
- Fernholz and Schmidt added three blocks
- Morris paced the back row with 11 digs
- OU finished with a .255 efficiency (39 kills, 15 errors)
- Shelton was the lone Sooner to produce double-digit kills with 14
BEYOND THE BOX
- Fernholz moved into the Cats Top 10 career blocks records in the rally-scoring era
- On the road, the Cats are 7-4 overall and 3-3 in conference
- K-State is 10-3 in three-set matches this season.
- OU leads the series 60-39-1 and 29-17 at home
- K-State is 3-2 in the last five meetings in the series, including 3-1 in Norman.
- The Cats 9-3 against unranked teams who are not receiving votes.
WHAT’S NEXT
K-State returns to the Little Apple October 26-27 to take on No. 9 BYU (17-3, 6-2 Big 12) at Morgan Family Arena. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with both matches available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
