Volleyball looks to sweep third tourney

Early Wednesday morning, the K-State volleyball team loaded onto the bus headed for Kansas City, the first leg of their journey to the Kentucky Invitational.

This weekend, K-State (4-3) will end non-conference play with another three-match tournament. Playing first Friday morning at 10 is No. 17 Florida State University (5-1). After a few hours of resting time, the team will take on Virginia Commonwealth University (1-6) at 4 p.m. On Saturday at 4 p.m., K-State will close the tournament against the No. 16 team, University of Kentucky (4-3).

K-State ended its own invitational last weekend with three straight sweeps, which head coach Suzie Fritz said was crucial to take before conference play.

"We're moving in the right direction, and we're gaining momentum," Fritz said. "I think having the success we did hopefully gives us a little bit of confidence going into what I believe will be a more difficult weekend than this past weekend."

For the first match, K-State has history on its side. In the previous two matches between teams, the Wildcats swept the Seminoles, first in 2003, then in 2005. K-State has never competed against Virginia Commonwealth before, but the Rams' record so far does not say much for the team's chances in the second match. The last match will be a chance for K-State to get revenge. Last season, Kentucky took down K-State in four games at the Varney's Invitational, showing themselves as possibly the strongest team in that tournament. This time, K-State is the visitor and has a new opportunity to prove who is the better team.

For the Seminole offense, junior outside hitter Visnja Djurdjevic — one of eight international players on Florida State's roster — leads the books with 3.70 kills per game and six aces, both team highs. For the defense in the front row, however, Djurdjevic is not strong. That job is mostly accomplished by sophomore middle blocker Marija Milosavljevic, who, like Djurdjevic, is from Serbia and spent her freshman year at Tulane University. In the back row, senior libero Jenna Romanelli holds down the fort with 3.65 digs per game, nearing the mark for a top-10 Florida State record.

The Virginia Commonwealth Rams have had a challenging non-conference schedule this year, but their numbers are still going strong. Defensively, sophomore libero Mariso Low, still relatively new to her position, is recording a team-high 3.46 digs per game, putting her on par with the other teams. In the front row, middle blockers Courtney Hott and Kelsie Clegg have each garnered over 0.88 blocks per game, but the main attacking is handled by senior Mariel Frey — who can claim a home in both the middle blocker and outside hitter position — with 3.04 kills per game.

Kentucky has hit a sweet spot in its schedule recently, dropping four of the last five teams, including Ohio State. The blue-clad Wildcats will rely on a number of players to rack up the points, most notably redshirt freshman outside hitter Whitney Billings, who has already earned 3.11 kills per game. However, her .132 hitting percentage might give away more points than Kentucky would like. To back her up, another redshirt freshman, middle blocker Alexandra Morgan, will use her 1.24 blocks per game to stop the frontal assault across the net. In the back row, sophomore Stephanie Klefot, one of the best in the tournament, will be the defensive anchor.

Compare all these players to K-State's senior libero Lauren Mathewson with 4.57 digs per game, senior outside hitter Julianne Chisholm with 3.43 attacks per game, and sophomore middle blocker Alex Muff with 1.39 blocks per game, and the tournament seems pretty evenly matched.

Even though her opponents will be bringing strong competition, Fritz said the numbers do not sit in her mind.

"Maybe it should, but it doesn't. We're going to prepare to the very best of our ability, and we're going to try to put the very best effort forth," Fritz said. "And then we'll see what happens."