K-State volleyball trucks to Texas Tech on Saturday

Riding high on a momentous victory over Kansas on Wednesday, the K-State volleyball team plays tomorrow afternoon against Texas Tech in its second conference match.

The Red Raiders (2-8, 0-1 Big 12 Conference) have had a sloppy season so far. With only two wins — both against small schools — Texas Tech is not faring well. Last Wednesday, the school hosted its conference opener at home and was swept by Missouri by close margins. It will have home-court advantage again tomorrow night, but K-State head coach Suzie Fritz was not too worried about that.

"From a wins and loss perspective, we have not had an enormous amount of success on the road," Fritz said. "But I do think that we've also played a very, very aggressive schedule. If anything, they're well prepared for having to compete against good teams away from home."

The Wildcats are coming off a four-game win over Kansas, when they made a comeback from 10 points down late in the fourth game. The coaches and team praised some of the games as among their best ever. But the real testament of a team's ability, Fritz said, is in repeating the performance consistently no matter where the match is played.

"We have to be able to put together the same kind of effort and the same kind of execution on the road that we do at home," she said. "Really good teams are good on the road."

Texas Tech is not without talent on its side. Junior middle blocker Amanda Dowdy leads her team with 3.65 kills per game, far above any of her teammates. Her main issue is stability; she is converting only three opportunities into points for every 20 she receives, a very low number for someone in her position. Only senior middle blocker Barbara Conceicao has much of a hitting percentage, at .281, but she only has 1.68 kills per game. Her real talent lies in blocking, with 1.21 blocks per set, enough for a spot in the top 10 in the league.

But K-State can do a little better. Going into tomorrow's match, the Wildcats are in second place for average number of blocks per game in the Big 12. Nebraska is first, and Texas Tech is not far away in fourth. Two players contributed to the ranking, both middle blockers: freshman Kaitlynn Pelger and sophomore Alex Muff. Pelger is third in the conference with 1.33 blocks per game and one of only two freshmen in the top 10. Muff sits two down from her teammate in fifth with 1.29 blocks per game.

Fritz said the difficult schedule should help her team to play at a higher level.

"I feel like we're getting better with each opportunity to compete," she said. "I'm confident our team can continue to be successful if we focus on two things: if we focus on one match at a time, and if we focus on continuing to improve."

First serve is set for noon in United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, and the match will be broadcast on KMAN 1350.