K-State volleyball beats Texas Tech for fourth conference win

K-State volleyball finished a two game home stand with its ninth straight win against Texas Tech on Sunday night. The Wildcats (10-14, 4-10 Big 12 Conference) won the match 3-1 to to pick up their fourth conference victory this year. The Red Raiders (2-21, 0-14) remain winless in Big 12 play.

"We felt like we did a pretty good job of controlling the net, held [Amanda] Dowdy, held all their primary attackers all under 10 percent, so, defensively, that's a really good night for us," said head coach Suzie Fritz.

The tone of the first set was determined very early when the Wildcats took an early 3-0 lead behind two kills from junior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm. Texas Tech responded with two points of their own, but the 2-3 deficit would be as close as they would get the rest of the set. K-State used runs of three, four, and three to take an 18-7 lead. The Red Raiders responded with a five-point run, but a kill by senior middle blocker Kelsey Chipman stopped Texas Tech from doing more damage. K-State went on to win the set convincingly, 25-17

The second set was slightly different with the Red Raiders having a slim advantage at 13-11. But K-State rallied with a four-point run to take the lead and later used a five-point run highlighted by two kills and a block from Chipman. The Wildcats hit .312 as a team in the second set and held Texas Tech to a .000 hitting percentage as they won 25-17.

Texas Tech came out of intermission with a bang, using a 5-point run to jump out to a 7-2 lead early in the third set. K-State fought back to pull within two at 11-9, but never got any closer as the Red Raiders used runs of four and three points to take a commanding lead, eventually winning 25-18 behind the solid hitting of senior outside hitter Hayley Ball and Dowdy, a sophomore middle blocker.

Freshman middle blocker Alex Muff lead off the fourth set with two blocks helping the Wildcats jump out to 3-0 lead. A four point run and two more three point runs helped K-State jump to a 15-7 lead. Behind a .625 hitting percentage, the Wildcats won the final set 25-13.

Texas Tech was led by Dowdy, who had 11 kills and 9 digs. The only other player to reach double digit kills was freshman outside hitter Miara Cave, who had 10.

K-State was led by redshirt freshman outside hitter Kathleen Ludwig who had 17 kills, 7 digs, and 3.5 blocks. Chipman added 13 kills of her own, hitting .522 on the night. Muff chipped in 8 kills and 3.5 blocks as well, as the Wildcats hit .301 as a team and held the Red Raiders to a .093 hitting percentage.

The Wildcats will hit the road again and look to redeem themselves against in-state rivals Kansas on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.