TUCSON, Ariz. (K-State Athletics) – K-State picked up its second road sweep of the season Wednesday night, as the Wildcats defeated Arizona in straight sets at McKale Center – 28-26, 25-17, 25-18.
Behind 40 assists from Izzi Szulczewski, the Wildcats (9-11, 7-4 Big 12) generated a .285 hitting percentage with 50 kills and 15 attack errors, including just two errors in the second.
The defense limited Arizona (13-9, 2-9 Big 12) to a .168 efficiency with 65 digs and four blocks, with three players reaching double-digit digs. Senior libero Ella Larkin guided the back row with 19 digs followed by Aliyah Carter (12) and Molly Ramsey (11), who served a pair of aces. Brenna Schmidt posted a match-high three blocks, that included one solo stop.
Six Wildcats registered kills in the victory with Carter leading all players with 16, as the graduate outside hitter hit at a .268 clip with three service aces. Shaylee Myers added 12 kills while Aniya Clinton had 11.
With her 12 digs, Carter tallied her 30th career double-double and is five away from cracking the program’s top 10 in the category.
UA totaled 38 kills with 17 errors on 125 attempts to go with 49 digs, two aces and match-high six blocks. The Wildcats were led by Jordan Wilson with 11 kills, followed by Jaelyn Hodge (9) and Carlie Cisneros (8).
Wednesday’s matchup marked the first three-set match since K-State’s sweep of UCF on September 27, and first road sweep since opening weekend.
With the win, K-State brings a three-match winning streak into Friday’s match against 11th-ranked Arizona State (22-2, 10-1 Big 12). Friday’s match is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT at Desert Financial Arena and can be seen on ESPN+
Tickets are available for all K-State home matches through the K-State Athletics ticket office at 1-800-221-CATS and www.kstatesports.com/tickets, starting at just $10 when purchased in advance.
FROM THE CATS
Jason Mansfield, K-State Head Coach
Overall thoughts on the victory…
“We’ve been working hard on controlling the ball better and connecting on offense, I thought we did both of those things well tonight. Arizona is an extremely athletic team that is tough to slow down offensively, but I thought we did a great job with the scouting report and staying on our assignments. We haven’t won back-to-back sets in a while, so it was nice to play clean enough to win in three, especially on the road. Every time we gave up a run of points we responded with a run of our own, that is big for us.”
SET-BY-SET
Set One – K-State 28, Arizona 26
A service ace from Ramsey knotted the score at 13-13 before back-to-back kills from Jaelyn Hodge and Jordan Wilson handed UA a two-point lead at the media timeout. Consecutive kills from Clinton evened the score at 20-all.
K-State fought off set-point twice with a pair of kills from Carter before taking the lead with help of a service error. A block assist from Schmidt and Myers delivered the final blow.
The Cats hit at a .316 clip (17 kills, 5 errors) led by eight from Carter, who turned in a .500 hitting percentage. K-State has won the first set in six straight matches.
Set Two – K-State 25, Arizona 17
The two squads went point-for-point until K-State took advantage of a 6-1 scoring run that included four straight kills from Myers, Clinton and Schmidt to grab a six-point lead, 13-7.
Following a timeout, UA managed to put five consecutive points on the board to bring the set within one. K-State snapped the run with back-to-back kills from Clinton to expand the Cats’ lead to 15-12. A kill and two straight aces from Carter led the Wildcats to a ?? closing run.
Set Three – K-State 25, Arizona 18
Trailing 8-5, K-State responded with a 7-0 run led by Myers seventh kill of the night. UA cut K-State’s lead to one before knotting the score at 13-13.
K-State jumped out to a two-point lead and held on before putting together a 6-1 closing run to capture the final set.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State won in straight sets – 28-26, 25-17, 25-18.
- Szulczewski produced 40 assists with eight digs
- The Wildcats hit .285 (50 kills, 15 errors, 123 swings).
- The defense limited Arizona to a .168 efficiency (38 kills, 17 errors, 125 swings) with 65 digs and four blocks.
- Three players reaching double-digit digs: Larkin (19), Carter (12), and Ramsey (11).
- Schmidt posted a match-high three blocks (one solo, two assists).
- Six Wildcats registered kills in the victory with three producing 10 or more: Carter (16), Myers (12) and Clinton (11).
- With her 12 digs, Carter tallied her 30th career double-double and is five away from cracking the program’s top 10 in the category.
- Wilson led UA with 11 kills, followed by Hodge (9) and Cisneros (8).
BEYOND THE BOX
- Arizona leads the all-time series 3-2, dating back to the first meeting in 1977.
- K-State has won the first set in six consecutive matches, going 4-2 in those.
- With her 10th kill, Carter produced her ninth consecutive match with double-digit kills.
- K-State picked up its first second-set victory since September 27 vs. UCF.
- Wednesday’s matchup marked the first three-set match since K-State’s sweep of UCF on September 27, and first road sweep since Sept. 1 v. UMBC.
- Carter tallied her 30th career double-double and is five away from cracking the program’s top 10 in the category.
- K-State is 3-4 overall in three-set matches this season, 2-1 in Big 12 matches.
