Haley Eckerman hammered out 19 kills, and Bailey Webster added 11 as #9 Texas beat #14 K-State 25-17, 30-28, 25-15 on Saturday night at Ahearn Fieldhouse. The middle blocker combination of Kaitlynn Pelger with 15 kills, and Alex Muff with 10 kills, paced the Wildcats.
Both teams were competitive in the first set, but a Texas run of 7-0 allowed them to pull away from an 18-17 lead over K-State to draw first blood. The Cats sprinted out to a 13-7 lead in set #2, and led 24-21, but couldn’t finish five set points thanks in part to a pair of service errors. The Longhorns had the momentum in the final stanza as they led 13-5 early, and cruised to the victory. Texas (13-3, 6-0 Big 12) hit .339 as a team, while K-State (16-2, 3-2 Big 12) managed just a .123 hitting percentage. Caitlyn Donahue had 30 assists, Kuulei led the Cats with 15 digs, and Muff added four blocks.
K-State will have a bye on Wednesday, and will make the first of back-to-back road trips on Saturday to TCU. The first ever meeting between the Cats and Horned Frogs in volleyball will have a 1:00pm first serve in Fort Worth, and the pregame will begin at 12:30 on 1350KMAN.com. K-State will venture down I-70 to Kansas next Wednesday, October 17th.
