Kansas State volleyball fell behind two sets on Saturday, but with backs against the wall, the Wildcats dug their heels in and came back to complete a reverse sweep against Iowa State.
With the victory, K-State moves to 2-2 in conference play and 4-9 overall. This looks to give the Wildcats momentum to start a winning streak down the stretch.
The ‘Cats dropped the first two sets against Iowa State, 30-28 and 25-23, coming back late in both sets but falling just short in both.
“Obviously, I’m really happy that we found a way to come back after dropping the first two sets,” head coach Jason Mansfield said to K-State Athletics. “We had opportunities to win those sets, and we were close.”
In Set 3, the Wildcats jumped out to a big lead before a late push from Iowa State made it close. A 4-2 run by K-State to end the set helped it win 28-26.
The momentum from winning the hard-fought set carried over to the fourth and fifth sets where K-State held Iowa State to a .000 hitting efficiency.
“Getting 93 digs as a team is huge and holding them to hitting zero in both the fourth and fifth sets — that’s what we can do to teams,” Mansfield said. “I think the defense really carried us in this match tonight.”
With all the digs, K-State dominated the fourth and fifth sets winning 25-17 and 15-10 to cap off the comeback victory.
As a team, K-State totaled 21 blocks — its highest total in a match since 2014. Middle blocker Brenna Schmidt led the way with 11 blocks, trailed by fellow junior middle blocker Jordyn Williams with nine blocks.
“Schmidt and Williams are both more than capable of dominating matches like that,” Mansfield said. “It was really special to see that from both of them tonight. I’m really happy for Brenna and Jordyn. They’ve been putting in a lot of hard work.”
While K-State used its defense to get the victory, its stars on offense put pressure on Iowa State. Three players reached double-digit kills with outside hitter Aliyah Carter reaching 19 kills, middle blocker Meg Brown with 14 kills and setter Liz Gregrowski just behind with 13.
Iowa State totaled 16 service errors as well, helping give K-State the points it needed in the win.
K-State hits the road for three road matches in a pivotal stretch to gain standing in the conference. The Wildcats are in action again Thursday, Oct. 10 as they take on Cincinnati at 5 p.m.
