The K-State volleyball team has recorded at least one service ace for 282 straight matches.
It's the longest active streak in the nation, and the Wildcats lead the Big 12 Conference with 192 aces this season.
While coach Suzie Fritz said she doesn't think much about the streak, she thinks it's a good indicator of the Wildcats' strong service game.
"I think it means we are a good service team, an aggressive serving team," Fritz said. "I think that tells you the strength of your serving over the past years."
K-State's service game, led by 36 aces from Stacey Spiegelberg and 34 from Natalya Korobkova, has helped K-State to the league-leading number and led opponents to expect excellent service numbers from the Wildcats.
"I'm sure that they look at more than that (streak)," Fritz said. "They look at our number of aces. We lead the league in that category so I'm certain that when they come in, they are expecting tough serving."
K-State will get a shot to extend the service aces streak to 283 matches when they welcome KU to Ahearn Field House, where they are 24-12 against the Jayhawks.
The Wildcats faced the Jayhawks earlier this season in Lawrence and came away with a 3-0 sweep. KU has suffered injuries since then, and Fritz said the Jayhawks have been unable to get their whole lineup healthy at the same time.
"They played pretty well the first time we played them up at their place, and it's always a good match, because it's the in-state rivalry and it's always important to us to try to be the best team in the state of Kansas," Fritz said.
The Wildcats have found themselves in some close matches lately, winning their last two matches in five games after losing to Nebraska in five games.
"I felt like different things were the cause of that at the Texas A&M match than they were at the Baylor match," Fritz said. "In the end, we are playing well enough at the end to win matches."
Fritz said the closeness of those matches shows the need for improvement heading into the end of the season. The Wildcats have two weeks of play remaining and three weeks until the postseason starts.
"We certainly every week or every two weeks re-evaluate where our team is at specifically, where we're good, where we're not good," Fritz said. "I definitely think there is still room to improve. We still havetwo weeks of regular season left and you can do a lot of things in that time."
The match with the Jayhawks starts at 7 p.m. and is the second to last home game of the regular season.
