That's what I want to see: a quick libero... like Angie Lastra, Big 12 Libero of the Year in 2004 and 2007!

The Wildcats and Shockers will hold a joint training session beginning at 4:30 p.m. before a team scrimmage starting at 6:30 p.m. Each segment is scheduled to last approximately an hour and a half and is free and open to all fans. (link)

Here are the announcements from the K-State Volleyball and the Big 12 Conference.

The good news came on the same day the Big 12 named Gloria the Rookie of the Week for the second time this season.

Here are the announcements from the K-State Volleyball and the Big 12 Conference.

In 2016, Elle was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team.

This follows her first Rookie recognition on Sept. 17. For the 2018 season, she totaled 271 kills and .263 hitting. Here are the announcements from K-State and the Big 12 Conference. (Stay tuned for more good news!)

In any discussion of NCAA tournament odds, it should be remembered that the Cats had their match at Minnesota canceled, because it was "too hot." They couldn't find another court to play on in Minneapolis? I still think Minnesota chickened out, because the Cats' record at that point was 10-1. Five days after that match was to be played, the Cats took #5 Texas to five sets.

Back to Nov. 21 now: The Cats didn't exactly hit the ground running, hitting only .148 in set one, but still came in two points behind TCU (and that was after being down by nine points). As mentioned, the match was close, and in set two, neither team led by more than three points. On the bright side, the Cats' hitting popped up to .306.

Confidence was gained by the third set, after being competitive with TCU, who had won the match in Fort Worth the past four years. Hitting in set three was an outstanding .517 (which came from 16 kills and only one error). It was still close, with an outcome in favor of the Cats, 25-21.

K-State closed the festivities by recording 20 kills in set four, hitting .410, and Kylee Zumach's total of 21 kills for the match was her season high.

Kylee Zumach led in offense, with 22.5 points, from 21 kills and .409 hitting. Gloria Mutiri had a fine match, with 18 points, 15 kills and .419 hitting! Brooke Heyne added 11.5 points and 11 kills. Macy Flowers had 10 points and 8 kills, with very good .294 hitting. Elle Sandbothe had 9 points and 7 kills, and she hit .235. Sarah Dixon had 56 assists and 2 aces!

Devan Fairfield had 16 digs, Reilly Killeen had 13 and Gloria Mutiri had 11.

It would be awesome to see the Cats back in the NCAA tournament.

The usual box score wasn't produced, so comments here will be limited. On offense, Brooke Heyne led with 11 kills, Kylee Zumach had 8 and Peyton Williams had 8. Zsofia Gyimes had 2 aces. Sarah Dixon had 37 assists.

K-State led in blocks, 9 to 7. Peyton Williams had 4 of them. Brooke Heyne led with 13 digs, Reilly Killeen had 11 and Devan Fairfield had 10.

Coach Fritz was concerned about the Cats' consistency, and ability to string points together.

If a proper box score is posted, I'll add to this write-up! K-State will finish the season at TCU on Sept. 21.

Looking first at offense, four players were double-digit contributors in points and kills. Brooke Heyne led the team with 18 points and 17 kills, hitting .311. Elle Sandbothe had a number of excellent plays, ending with 16.5 points, 13 kills and .308 hitting. Kylee Zumach, who played in four of the five sets, was great, adding 16 points, from 15 kills and .394 hitting. Gloria Mutiri had 14.5 points and 11 kills, hitting a solid .267. Peyton Williams was efficient, adding 7.5 points from 6 kills, and she hit .333. Sarah Dixon recorded 59 assists, a new career high, toward the Cats' victory.

Defense numbers were almost equal between the teams, with blocks at 11, and a modest 76 to 71 advantage in digs for the Bluebirds. Devan Fairfield led with 22 digs, Sarah Dixon had 10 and Reilly Killeen had 9.

Our Cats played KU close in sets one and two, losing by only 2 or 3 points, which made it clear they had what was needed to win. They outhit KU .324 to .000 in set three, .333 to .220 in set four, and finished strong, hitting .417 to the home team's .100. The big difference in the match was efficiency. The Cats hit .298 to KU's .191.

Coach Fritz gave shoutouts to Kylee Zumach for coming out of a slump, and had high praise for Brooke Heyne. "Heyne is such a creative attacker. She does some things sometimes that blow my mind, how she can create something out of nothing."

A fun fact in the official recap is that our victorious Wildcats never trailed in the final three sets!

L to R: Téana Adams-Kaonohi, Anna Dixon, Faith Hammontree, Loren Hinkle

We've been seeing Faith at matches, now and then, for about three years, I think. She committed to Kansas State in 2016! Here's a tweet from her, two years ago.

How about a look at Alyssa's newcomer video? Alyssa and Kylee Show, Part 1 | Alyssa and Kylee Show, Part 2 | Interview with Brian Smoller

Baylor beat the Cats in every statistical category except hitting attempts. Suzie Fritz said, "I thought we played as poor as we have all year." Set scores were (BU/KSU): 25-18, 25-17, 25-11.

Kylee Zumach led in offense, with 8 points and 7 kills. Brooke Heyne added 5.5 points and 5 kills, hitting .000. Gloria Mutiri had 5 points and 5 kills, hitting .053. Elle Sandbothe had 5 points and 4 kills. Peyton Williams had 4.5 points and 4 kills, and hit .222, so good for her. Sarah Dixon had 22 assists, and a service ace... our only ace of the evening. The Cats' efficiency was exceptionally low: .118 in set one, .135 in set two, and a shockingly low .038 in set three... a set in which Baylor hit .407.

Baylor was excellent on defense. They led in blocks with 10.5, to the Cats' 4.0, and had 45 digs, to the Cats' 30.

In conclusion, it's noteworthy that the Cats swept Baylor three weeks ago tonight. Hey... let's go over to KU on Wednesday, and take it out on them, thereby beating them twice this season!

Looking at two of the three set scores of 25-19, one might call it a fairly close match, but some of the statistics show the difference. Texas prevailed in set two hitting, .419 to .188, and hit .464 to .114 in set three, so their efficiency was considerable. Each team had four blocks, but Texas prevailed in digs, 46 to 34.

The Cats' scoring was more balanced than usual. Gloria Mutiri led with 8.5 points and 7 kills. Kylee Zumach had 8 points and 6 kills, but was held to .091 hitting. Peyton Williams added 6.5 points from 5 kills, and she hit .444! Elle Sandbothe had 5.5 points and 5 kills. Brooke Heyne, Big 12 Rookie of the Week, had 5 points and 5 kills. Sarah Dixon had 26 assists. Five players had an ace. K-State had a total of 10 service errors.

Again, the teams ended equal on blocks, at 4 each. Devan Fairfield had 13 digs, Gloria Mutiri had 6, Brooke Heyne had 6 and Kylee Zumach had 4.

Up next for our Cats is Baylor, at home in Ahearn after Football on Saturday, Nov. 10, with an early first serve at 6:00 p.m. Baylor currently stands in 3rd place in the Big 12, having beaten Iowa State 3-1 tonight, improving to 16-7, 8-4 Big 12. Baylor has won 6 of their last 7 matches, with their single loss in that stretch coming at home to K-State.

Brooke led the Cats in kills (11), hitting (.450) and digs (10). This was a fine encore to her performance vs. Baylor, with 15 kills, 15.5 points and .467 hitting, which led to her first Rookie of the Week honor on Oct. 22.

Here's the announcement from K-State Volleyball.

Sitting there witnessing the win, I knew we opened strong in set one... more than doubling WVU's score. I didn't realize how much the Cats dominated in statistics. The Cats hit .520 to WVU's .172, and the Cats more than doubled WVU in sideouts, 76% to 37%. Have a look at the box score.

Offensive efficiency was extremely high... second-best of the season. Brooke Heyne had 12.5 points, with awesome .450 hitting and 11 kills. Alyssa Schultejans also had 12.5 points, with .308 hitting and 11 kills. Kylie Zumach was not able to play tonight. Gloria Mutiri had 9 points and 7 kills, hitting .333. Elle Sandbothe had 6 points, with .364 hitting. Sarah Dixon had 33 assists.

Look at these hitting numbers. Set 1: KSU .520 / WVU .172, Set 2: KSU .333 / WVU .000, Set 3: KSU .343 / WVU .244. Again, hitting for the match was KSU .393 / WVU .154.

Defense was more equal. The Cats had 5 blocks, and the Mountaineers had 4. The Cats had the edge in digs, with 41, and WVU had 35. Brooke Heyne led with 10 digs, and Dixon, Mutiri and Devan Fairfield each had 8.

After the match, Suzie Fritz was especially pleased with the Cats' consistency, which has been a goal. She also liked our shot selection, and she called our serving "tremendous" and "extremely disruptive." The Cats had 9 aces. Schultejans, Dixon and Gyimes each had 2 aces. Here's a short clip of Alyssa Schultejans' postmatch comments.

Next up for the Cats: the pesky Big 12 leaders, Texas, in Austin on Wednesday.

Elle Sandbothe was amazing on offense. Although she didn't lead in points or kills, she was extremely efficient, with .647 hitting, 11 kills and 0 errors! Kylee Zumach led with 15.5 points and 14 kills, Alyssa Schultejans had 13 points and 11 kills (from .270 hitting), and Gloria Mutiri added 10 points and 8 kills. Sarah Dixon had 43 assists.

On defense, Devan Fairfield led with 19 digs. Kylee Zumach had 17 digs, and Sarah Dixon and Gloria Mutiri each had 10 digs. The team combined for 6 blocks... pretty much evenly distributed... to ISU's 11. Elle Sandbothe had a spectacular one-handed block.

The Cats had a poor start. They hit .077 in set one, while Iowa State hit .333. I don't know what changed in set two, but the Cats won it, hitting .324. Then they gave ISU a good scare in set three, ultimately losing it, 24-26, after reaching set point. K-State couldn't get anything going in set four, hitting only .089, while Iowa State hit a spectacular .378.

This marked 11 straight visits to Ames without a victory. Hilton Magic is real. Cat fans should take notice of tonight's attendance of 2,882. Iowa State is currently #16 in Division I in attendance, with K-State averaging about 1,000 fewer per match. A great crowd can sometimes make the difference.

Next up for the Cats is West Virginia, after Football on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 7:00 P in Mike Ahearn Field House.

Brooke Heyne, this week's Big 12 Rookie of the Week, led with 15 points and 14 kills. Elle Sandbothe had a solid match, with 13.5 points and 10 kills from .250 hitting. Gloria Mutiri had 13 points, with 9 kills. That was pretty much it offensively for the Cats, but it should be mentioned that Sarah Dixon, this week's Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, had 39 assists. We should give a shoutout to Reilly Killeen, for her three aces.

Elle Sandbothe had some impressive blocks, leading with 7 block assists. Gloria Mutiri had 6 block assists. Sarah Dixon and Gloria Mutiri each had 14 digs, and Devan Fairfield had 11. Reilly Killeen and Kylee Zumach had 9 digs.

Certainly a big story of the match was OU's .256 hitting, to the Cats' .120. One wonders how KSU played OU to a 25-23 loss in set 1, when OU hit .316 to KSU's .116. It got worse in set 2, as OU hit .294 to KSU's .069. The Cats managed a two-point set 3 victory, but OU hit slightly better. There were stretches of hope in set 4, but OU prevailed. I'm stunned just now to see that OU outhit the Cats .238 to .075 in set 4.

To conclude, I expected a fairly close match, and in two of four sets, it was... at least by the scores. Oklahoma is good this season, and seem greatly improved. (They finished 2017 at 7-22, and 4-12 in the Big 12.) This was the first OU win in Ahearn Field House since 2012. To me, the two biggest factors in OU's win was their margin in blocking (OU 38 to KSU 20) and hitting (OU .256 to KSU .120). Of course, those two categories tend to be related, don't they? ESPNU will carry the match at 7 p.m.

Next up for the Cats is a Friday night meeting at ISU, currently 4-5 in Big 12 competition, to KSU's 2-7.

An exceptional vertical jump, along with excellent vision, has opened the door for the 5' 11" Brooke to some great success. As they say, the game has noticeably slowed down for her.

Last week, she had the last swing in the match against KU. In the Baylor match, she had 15 kills, hitting .467. I wasn't aware that Brooke was the 2016-17 Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year. That's a major accomplishment, as volleyball is a very big deal in Nebraska. She was a high school All-American!

This YouTube video ends with Brooke's big play to win the KU match.

Let's start with some odds and ends of great news: This match was the second this week over ranked teams: #22 KU and #24 Baylor (a sweep). In set one, K-State recovered from Baylor's early lead of 10-4. Brooke Heyne is doing GREAT! She hit .467 this afternoon, and led with 15.5 points. Peyton Williams had 13 points, from .550 hitting! Kylee Zumach now has 1,301 career kills, adding 11 today. Sarah Dixon recorded 47 assists in three sets! Gloria Mutiri added 11 points. Elle Sandbothe led in blocks, and led in digs, with 15, and she brought set two to a close with a stuff block! The official recap has more good news. Finally, this was the first sweep of a ranked opponent by a K-State team since 2002!!

Let's pack 5,000 in Ahearn Field House on Oct. 24. The Sooners are coming to see us, and they've recently beaten WVU, TTU, ISU and us. No more!

You might like having a look at my chart of Big 12 standings. There's a page for each team, with their full schedule and results, all in one PDF file. It's updated every time a Big 12 team plays.

There's so much good stuff with this win, I don't know where to start. How about set scores? KSU/KU: 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 27-25 / Yes, that's correct. The Cats were 3 points short of a sweep over the #22 KU Bluebirds.

Let's set up the story. K-State now leads the series 63-52-1, but hadn't beaten KU at home in seven seasons, with the last win in Ahearn on Nov. 23, 2011. Speaking of seven... KU had won the last seven encounters. In terms of this season, KU came in 13-4, and KSU was 10-7; however, KU was 6-0 in Big 12 matches, and KSU was 0-6.

A partisan crowd of 2,000+ gathered, and the fun began. By some measures, set one would be K-State's best of four, with the Cats hittting .278 to KU's .156, and the final score of 25-19 that would be the largest margin of the evening. I actually found myself concerned that the Cats might begin with too big a set one victory, because in volleyball, that tends to give a false sense of security. Yes... KU won set two 25-23, although KSU had the edge in hitting and kills. K-State dominated offensively in set three, hitting .265 to .116, but ending with a margin of only 25-21. There was both anticipation and tension in set four, as clearly the chance for victory was at hand. Both coaches had been challenging calls, hoping for every possible point. I personally didn't want to get into a set five vs. the conference leaders, and KU was on the upswing a bit, and would end set four hitting .250 to .212. On the other hand, KSU ended with 19 kills to KU's 12, and Brooke Heyne sealed the victory with a powerful hit through two KU blockers. Set four had a final score of 27-25, and a dogpile of Cats quickly formed at center court.

I believe balanced scoring was a considerable factor in the Cats' win, as five Cats had double-digit kills, ranging from 10 to 13, and double-digit points, from 12 to 16. Kylee Zumach led with 16 points and 13 kills. Peyton Williams had 13.5 points and 10 kills. Elle Sandbothe had 13 points and 12 kills, with spectacular .500 hitting! Gloria Mutiri also had 13 points. Brooke Heyne had 12 points from 12 kills, with impressive .257 hitting, and won match point with a powerhouse hit! Sarah Dixon had 53 assists! Service aces were a factor in the victory, with three from Zsofia Gyimes and Peyton Williams, and two each from Sarah Dixon and Kylee Zumach.

We can't fail to mention defensive contributions. Devan Fairfield led with an awesome 21 digs, Kylee had 16, and Sarah Dixon and Gloria Mutiri added 9 each. It should be mentioned that setter Sarah Dixon was the evening's blocks leader, with 3 block assists.

Here are your official recap, highlights video and box score.

An emotional and delighted Kylee Zumach's postgame comments of "everyone had our backs," referring to Athletics staff, fans in the house and the band, explains how significant this evening was to her and the team. Kylee, already #2 in career kills, notched up to 1,290 tonight.

This was clearly a team victory, and one that will be remembered for a long time.

Freshman Gloria Mutiri was excellent tonight, leading with 16 points, 16 kills and .429 hitting! The Cats' awesome middle blocker, Elle Sandbothe, had 12.5 points, 10 kills and .273 hitting. It was great to see Brooke Heyne in all four sets. She was third in points with 9, from 8 kills. This was Brooke's most significant playing time as a Cat. Macy Flowers had 8 points, and Kylee Zumach had 6 points. Sarah Dixon had 47 assists!

Devan Fairfield led with 13 digs, Gloria Mutiri had 9 and Sarah Dixon had 7. Elle Sandbothe, rounding out a very fine evening, led with 5 block assists, and Sarah Dixon had 3. Iowa State prevailed in blocks, 12 to 6, and in digs, 56 to 42.

Iowa State took set one, largely by hitting .484 to the Cats' .226. The Cats gave them a scare in set two, losing 25-23, as they hit only .174 to ISU's .297. The Cats turned up the burners in set three, hitting .500 to ISU's .250, winning 25-21. The fun would soon be over, as in set four, it was Iowa State who hit .500, to K-State's modest .081.

The next action is vs. the ever-annoying KU Bluebirds, next Wednesday, Oct. 17. Now 5-0, KU unfortunately leads the Big 12, after beating Texas tonight. ESPNU is carrying the match, with first serve at 8 p.m. in Ahearn.

K-State certainly tested Texas Tech, the Big 12 leader (15-3, 4-0), tonight. Set scores were KSU/TTU: 27-25, 20-25, 25-19, 21-25, 11-15. While Tech had 17 more kills, KSU had 9 more blocks, the teams each had 5 aces, and Tech ended with 8 more points.

Kylee Zumach, now 2nd in career kills, had 16 tonight, hitting a solid .262, and leading with 18.5 points. Gloria Mutiri had 12 kills and 16 points, Peyton Williams had 11 kills and 13.5 points, and Alyssa Schultejans had 10 kills and 11 points. Zsofia Gyimes had 4 service aces. Sarah Dixon had most of the team's assists, with 46.

K-State, with some recent troubles with blocking, has been focusing on it of late, and led Tech, 15 to 6. Macy Flowers had a big night, with 10 block assists. Devan Fairfield had an impressive 26 digs, and Kylee had 19 digs, her best ever! K-State managed a set 1 win, while only hitting .178. The downfall may have been set 2, with the Cats hitting .088 to Tech's .323.

K-State, currently at the bottom of the Big 12 standings, has a week off to prepare for Iowa State, also struggling at 8-9, 1-3 on October 10 in Ahearn. The Cats were in a position to win through the entire match, and the outcome with the Big 12 leaders was very close, by several measures. Keep after it, Cats!

TCU has a solid team, and was able to prevail tonight over K-State, who had an inconsistent evening. Set scores were KSU/TCU: 22-25, 25-18, 12-25, 22-25. Suzie Fritz summarized the match with,

"I thought our middles played extremely well. I was pleased with their effort. I felt Gloria has proven to be a consistent presence for us, as well. In the end, I think we've got to stabilize our serve receive. We've got to be a better point-scoring team, and we've got to figure out how to get opponents down. There were times I thought we played exceptionally well. It's just the lack of consistency. We are still searching for it against good teams."

K-State outhit TCU .375 to .310 in set one; however, sideouts ended in favor of TCU, 65% to 58%. Set two was puzzling. In real time, K-State seemed to be playing extremely well, with excellent teamwork in terms of moving the ball, and ultimately winning, 25-18, but the box score shows the Cats hitting only .114. TCU was held to .044 hitting in set two, which made the difference, but then came back with excellent .464 hitting in set three, to the Cats' .241. Neither team hit very well in set four. TCU had a slight edge, .171 to .167, and K-State wasn't able to advance to a fifth set.

Gloria Mutiri led in offense with 13 points and 12 kills, Macy Flowers had 12.5 points (5.5 from blocks), and strong .385 hitting. Peyton Williams was next with 11 points and 11 kills, hitting an outstanding .429! Sarah Dixon had 42 assists.

K-State led in defense, with 63 digs to TCU's 57, and 8 blocks to 7, yet TCU's sideout percentages were better. Devan Fairfield had 17 digs, Sarah Dixon had 13 and Kylee Zumach, who is doing some solid work on defense, had 12.

There was impressive team play in this match, but somehow K-State needs to work on getting more kills. Up next is Texas Tech, who are leading the Big 12 at 3-0 and 14-3. It's a early start on Oct. 3, with first serve at 6:00 CT. It can be watched on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.

This is the second straight loss in a sweep for the Cats, and the second in which K-State came in second in every major statistical category. Set scores were (KSU/WVU: 21-25, 15-25, 17-25).

Kylee Zumach led with 8.5 points and 7 kills. Peyton Williams had 7.5 points and 6 kills, with excellent .364 hitting. Gloria Mutiri had 7.5 points and 6 kills.

Kylee also led the team in digs. I always feel good when she's in the back row! Devan Fairfield had 8 digs. Blocking was virtually nonexistent.

I don't know what's going on with the team at this point.

While the set scores look respectable, it should be noted that K-State came in second to OU in every statistical category.

Kylee Zumach, reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, had 20 kills. She moved into 2nd place in total kills on K-State's career list... now with 1,230 kills. Kylee led both teams with 22 points. Alyssa Schultejans had 17 kills and 19 points, and Gloria Mutiri added had 14 kills, with 16.5 points. She hit .323. Sarah Dixon had... yes, this is correct: 54 assists. She came into the match leading the Big 12 with 11.86 assists per set.

There are some mysteries in tonight's match. Again, K-State lost by only two points in set five, but Texas outhit the Cats, .346 to .244, led in blocks 12 to 6, led in digs 70 to 61, and led in points, 92 to 80. Another "fun" fact is that Texas outhit the Cats .581 to .429 in set one, but lost it!

On defense, Devan Fairfield led with 20 digs. Kylee Zumach had 14 digs, so she got a double-double. Reilly Killeen had 8 digs. Elle Sandbothe led with 3 block assists, while Kylee, Peyton Williams and Alyssa Schultejans each had 2.

K-State fans left Ahearn feeling good about the season, I believe, with a record of 10-2, and knowing that their favorite team never showed any sign of being intimidated by the #5 team in the country.

On offense, besides Kylee, Gloria Mutiri has 12 points and 9 kills, from .269 hitting. Macy Flowers had 11.5 points and 7 kills. Alyssa Schultejans had 7.5 points, and Elle Sandbothe had 6 points, hitting .333!

Kylee complimented Sarah Dixon (42 assists) on her setting. "Sarah was giving me the set I needed every single ball. She was very consistent, and I was able to go up against a really good defense and block and see it really well."

Devan Fairfield led with 16 digs, and OH Gloria Mutiri was next, with 14 digs! Other offensive players with nice dig numbers included Sarah Dixon with 12, and the aforementioned Kylee Zumach with 10. The Cats outblocked Green Bay, 13 to 5.

The Cats had dramatic leads in hitting percentage in the match, which wasn't reflected in the set scores... even in set three, which the Cats lost by two points. Overall, K-State hit .263, to Green Bay's .047. The Cats opened very strong, hitting .325 to Green Bay's .061 in set one.

It was quite a night for offense, with scoring fairly balanced. The Cats hit .588 in set one, .382 in set two and .286 in set three, with their match hitting of .417 more than doubling UMKC's .202. Kylee Zumach had 14.5 points, 14 kills and .393 hitting! Gloria Mutiri, already a household name in Manhattan, had 12.5 points and 12 kills, hitting an excellent .391! Again, Elle Sandbothe's 11 points and 10 kills resulted from .444 hitting! Alyssa Schultejans added 9.5 points and 7 kills, and she hit .389. Peyton Williams was extremely efficient, hitting .556! Sarah Dixon had a whopping 46 assists in just three sets (that's 15.33 per set). Sarah leads the Big 12, with 12.03 assists per set. While we're talking about offense, Alyssa Schultejans is #2 in the Big 12, with 0.47 service aces per set.

On defense, Kylee had 10 digs, and Gloria had 7 (as did Devan Fairfield). Blocks were evenly distributed, with the Cats leading UMKC, 6 to 2.

The Cats, 9-1, are still at the top of the Big 12 standings. Next up is a weekend in Minnesota, playing UW Green Bay (5-5) and #7 Minnesota (5-2). It should be noted that Minnesota's two losses were to #12 Oregon and #2 Stanford.

Sarah Dixon and Peyton Williams made the all-tournament team as K-State swept Omaha, 25-11, 26-24, 25-22. The box score shows a K-State advantage in blocking and digging. Also, the Cats' hitting (.219 to .133), while not spectacular, helped make the difference. That was especially true in set one, with the Cats hitting .387 to –.033 for Omaha, resulting in that impressive set score of 25-11.

Alyssa Schultejans led with 14 points and 10 kills. Kylee Zumach and Peyton Williams each had 9 kills, and Peyton hit .350. Macy Flowers had 8 kills, and .500 hitting!

Devan Fairfield led with 13 digs. I really like Kylee's height in the back row. She had 11 digs. Macy Flowers led with 8 block assists... roughly half of the team's blocks.

K-State ends another weekend at the top of the Big 12 standings. It's off to KCMO on Sept. 11, for a visit with UMKC... currently 7-2, and 6-1 at home. By the way, the Kangaroos lost 1-3 to Omaha on August 31.

How about points? Each team had 73 points. Blocks? 15 each. Sideouts? 60% to 58%. What about assists? 53 to 52. Kills? 55 to 54. Here's your box score.

Kylee Zumach led with 19 points and 16 kills, hitting an excellent .364. Gloria Mutiri had 18.5 points and 16 kills, hitting .235. Alyssa Schultejans had 13 points, and Elle Sandbothe has 11 points, hitting .278. K-State had a slight lead in hitting: .186 to .150.

Elle Sandbothe had 10 block assists... a career high! Devan Fairfield led with 14 digs, and Kylee Zumach was close behind, with 13. Gloria Mutiri added 11, and Sarah Dixon had 9.

This match had 25 tie scores and 13 lead changes. Set two was a turning point, as Oregon State led 21 to 15, but K-State then had a 10-1 run, and 5 straight points from the excellent serves of Zsofia Gyimes! Then in set 3, Oregon State had 7 straight points, but the Cats came back with a 7-1 run, resulting in .343 hitting for the set.

Sarah Dixon had 48 assists in this match. The latest stats posted by the Big 12 have Tori Dilfer leading with 12.00 assists per set, followed by Sarah Dixon, with 11.93.

This was an exciting match. You should go to them!

Both teams were low on team blocks. KSU had 4, and North Texas had only 2.

The set one score of 25-18 doesn't show domination by the Cats to the degree that the hitting percentage of .237 KSU to .093 MSU does, but Missouri State was hardly intimidated.

Set two was close, and it came down to traded set points. The Cats prevailed, but Missouri State outhit them .333 to .286; however, Kansas State took it, 26-24, after four lead changes.

Set three was a different story, as late in the set, K-State led 21-3. Ultimately, the Cats outhit the Bears .364 to –.138, with sideouts at 88% to 29%!

On offense, Kylee Zumach led with 14 points and 10 kills, hitting .318. Elle Sandbothe had a fine night, with 9.5 points, 8 kills and .333 hitting. (This was Elle's fourth straight match hitting over .300!) Alyssa Schultejans had 8.5 points, Gloria Mutiri had 7.5, Peyton Williams had 7 points and hit .500, and Zsofia Gyimes had 6 points, 4 service aces (a career high) and .500 hitting. Sarah Dixon, reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, had 32 assists and 8 digs.

K-State led in defense, with 10 blocks and 47 digs, to Missouri State's 3 blocks and 36 digs, although it seemed like they were digging a lot of balls. Devan Fairfield, who had a great run on serving in set three, led with 13 digs. Sarah Dixon and Kylee Zumach had 8 digs, and Jacque Smith added 6. Blocking was fairly well distributed among the team.

With this victory, Kansas State remains at the top of the Big 12 standings in this non-conference portion of the season, at 5 - 1. (box score) (highlights video)

A first glance at the box score shows a K-State advantage of .275 to .192 in hitting, 13 to 8 in blocking and 65% to 54% in sideouts.

Alyssa Schultejans had a match-high 18 points, from 12 kills and .290 hitting. Gloria Mutiri, who has started strong in her first season as a Cat, was next with 14.5 points, from 12 kills and .281 hitting. Elle Sandbothe hit .375 or better in all three matches. She had 13.5 points, from .375 hitting and 11 kills. Kylee Zumach added 12 points. The team had 9 service aces!

Macy Flowers, who hit a solid .294, led with 7 block assists, Alyssa Schultejans had 6 and Elle Sandbothe added 5.

The most impressive stat of the match was K-State's .615 hitting in set four!

The Cats return to Ahearn Field House to tangle with Missouri State on Tuesday, Sept. 4, with an early 6 p.m. start.

Alyssa Schultejans led with 14 kills, 17.5 points and excellent .346 hitting. Kylee Zumach followed with 12 kills and 12 points, from .370 hitting. Elle Sandbothe added 11 points from 9 kills, and she hit .381! Peyton Williams also had 9 kills, and contributed 10.5 points, hitting an awesome .500! Gloria Mutiri also had 9 kills, with 10 points. Sarah Dixon had 46 assists!

On defense, Kylee Zumach's match-leading, 14-dig performance was valuable. Devan Fairfield followed with 11 digs. K-State had a slight advantage in team blocks, 5 to 4.

On offense, K-State had 53 points to Marquette's 55. The Cats had more points from a solid 9.0 blocks, while Marquette had more from efficient hitting (.303 to .255). A noticeable advantage for Marquette was 76% on sideouts, vs. 63% for the Cats. An advantage for the Cats was 9 blocks to Marquette's 4. Marquette started strong, hitting .382 in set one, but KSU hit a respectable .281. The Cats hit well in set two at .316, but Marquette hit an impressive .360.

Kylee Zumach led with 14 kills / 15.5 points, and Gloria Mutiri had 13 (hitting .400), and 14.5 points. Ellie Sandbothe came in next, with 7 kills / 9.5 points, and hit an awesome .600! Macy Flowers had 5 kills, and excellent .333 hitting. Sarah Dixon had 40 assists!

On defense, the Cats shared the load. Ellie Sanbothe had 3 block assists, Sarah Dixon had 2, and Gloria Mutiri and Macy Flowers had 3 each. Devan Fairfield and Sarah Dixon had 9 digs, and Reilly Killeen and Gloria Mutiri had 8.

The first thing I noticed in the box score was the Cats' improvement from 2 blocks to 12. With that, Hawaii's hitting % dropped from .240 last night to .174 tonight. Combining that good news with very strong offense was enough to seal the deal.

Kylee Zumach led in offense, adding 20 points once again, with excellent .295 hitting. Middle blocker Macy Flowers had a solid night, with 12 points and awesome .312 hitting. Gloria Mutiri showed great promise, with 11.5 points, 10 kills and .417 hitting!!! Alyssa Schultejans was extremely efficient. Her 9 points came from .375 hitting. Sarah Dixon had an impressive 38 assists.

On defense, the 12 team blocks were a major factor in the win (accounting for Hawaii's .174 hitting). Macy Flowers led with 6 blocks, and Peyton Williams added 5. Kylee Zumach logged a triple-double, with 12 digs, 20 points and 18 kills.

Rob Voelker frequently mentioned Zsofia Gyimes's excellent serving during the Hawaii trip.

I can't wait to see the Cats in regular season action in Ahearn, on Sept. 4!!

Here's the thing: This match was close, but the Cats, as Jack Hartman liked to say, "found a way to win." Here are some numbers:
Set Scores: 25-21, 29-27, 25-20
Hitting, Match: KSU .274, Hawaii .240
Hitting, Set 2: KSU .233, Hawaii .224
Hitting, Set 3: KSU .353, Hawaii .343
Points: KSU 58, Hawaii 55
Digs: KSU and Hawaii 56

Tonight the Cats came with determination and confidence, and clearly were prepared, mentally and physically. Kylee Zumach is reportedly in her best physical condition in a long time, obviously well-recovered from her knee injury, and ready to live up to her Preseason All-Big 12 honor!

On offense, Kylee led with 20 points, Alyssa Schultejans had 11, Peyton Williams had 9.5 and Gloria Mutiri, in her debut, had 6 points. Zumach hit a blistering .364 as points leader, but Peyton surpassed Kylie, hitting .444! Sarah Dixon recorded an awesome 37 assists!

Devan Fairfield led the way on defense, with an impressive 16 digs, while teammates Zumach, Jacque Smith, Sarah Dixon, Reilly Killeen and Zsofia Gyimes added 8, 7, 7, 6 and 5 digs, respectively. Yes, defense was a team effort. The only negative of this match was an exceptionally low 2 team blocks.

This Volleyball fan is very excited about the Cats' possibilities for 2018, and the confidence shown by both veterans and new players! How about some highlights!

Dawn has been coaching at Iowa State since 2005, and leaves there as associate head coach. (UNLV release)