Volleyball team loses to top-ranked teams at tourney

K-State had to take a "moral victory" last weekend after nearly knocking off two top-ranked teams. At the Kentucky Invitational, K-State dropped its first match to No. 17 Florida State in five games after a see-saw match. Later that day, the Wildcats swept Virginia Commonwealth. On Saturday, K-State faced No. 16 University of Kentucky in another oscillating match marked by top performances, but eventually lost by four points in the fifth game.

K-State took the first game 25-19 by a good margin, but Florida State did the same in the second. Returning from intermission, the Seminoles secured the third game 25-15, but the Wildcats forced a fifth game 25-20. However, K-State dropped its chance for a win 11-15.

Lauren Mathewson had a great morning in the back row with 26 digs. Up front, Kathleen Ludwig had a solid match with a .207 hitting percentage after 10 successful attacks, and Caitlyn Donahue grabbed a double-double with 40 assists and 14 digs.

The Wildcats started the tournament with a nice lead that they kept after an evenly fought battle to the end, which K-State took 25-19. The second game went over more roughly. Down 6-9, K-State already had seven attack errors and only one successful attack, but a timeout set off a comeback to 13-all. From there, the Seminoles battled back with a second effort to 25-19.

K-State took an early timeout in the third game after falling behind, which it used to turn the momentum back around to jump up to 11-all. Florida State pushed back with a huge run and K-State could not take the heat, falling 15-25. Needing a win to avoid losing the match, K-State took a seven-point lead early. Another critical run gave K-State the momentum to drive forward and win the fourth game 25-20.

The Seminoles edged out a small lead of 6-3 in the final game. Nearly losing 7-13, K-State came back with four more points, but Florida State finished the game 15-11 to end the back-and-forth match.

The Wildcats put up a heavy front to crush the Rams in the first game 25-18, but the loser returned in the second with a bit more fight, going down in extra points 28-30. Looking for its fourth sweep in one week, K-State took the last game 26-24 after another comeback.

JuliAnne Chisholm dominated the K-State front with 16 kills — the only double digits in this category — and a .297 attack percentage. Mathewson also led both teams in digs with 14.

K-State leapt out with early points and maintained a strong hold for the rest of the game. A block gave K-State a 10-4 advantage, and another run later put the Wildcats in good position for an easy win. The Rams, however, mustered an effort of six points to not fall short, but K-State continued its drive and won the first game 25-18.

The Rams came out in the second game with ferocity. Jumping ahead 6-1 after two runs, Virginia Commonwealth began a lead that seemed to be enough for a win. Down seven points for much of the game, K-State looked to be out of it, with the Rams approaching game point. At 17-23, K-State clicked and put up point after point to stop Virginia Commonwealth. The Wildcats continued to fan the newfound fire for an oscillating finale eventually falling in favor of the purple team 30-28.

Game three proceeded much like the previous one, but with a greater midway margin. The Wildcats grabbed a few points, but Virginia Commonwealth again took a lead, 15-6. Trailing by nine points, K-State began to chip away at the Rams, but it still could not convincingly slow down its opponent. About 10 minutes later, the Wildcats finally found their stride and jumped up from 18-13 to reclaim the lead 22-20 after a six-point run. The Rams tried to stop the oncoming slaughter, but K-State held it together to win 26-24.

The Wildcats held a small lead throughout the first game, which was enough to beat those in blue 25-20. In the second game, Kentucky balanced the act more to provide closer competition, eventually taking the game 25-23 after a very narrow finish. The third game jumped around more, swinging to Kentucky 25-16 in the end, but K-State forced a fifth game 25-20 after a smooth comeback. The fifth game seemed to be in favor of K-State for a while, but Kentucky returned the effort and won 15-8.

To start the final match of the tournament, K-State quickly claimed a lead of a few points and Kentucky managed to pull even at 10-all. A contested kill from Donahue opened up a seven-point run to 17-12, moving the game back over to K-State's side while breezing through two Kentucky timeouts. The Wildcats had some trouble putting together their offense, hitting just over zero percent of the total attacks, put that did not seem to make a difference, as the visitors took the first game 25-20 following the team's third ace of the match and a kill from Chisholm.

A see-saw trade-off started the second game, but Kentucky eventually gained its first major lead of the match, 9-6. From there, K-State put four in a row to take control of the game with a 13-12 lead behind two kills from Alex Muff, but Kentucky nabbed its own run to reclaim dominance 17-13, a lead which K-State quickly closed at 18-all following Kaitlynn Pelger's seventh kill. The Wildcats in purple nosed ahead by one with some big hits, the blue team tied it and then slipped to one-up. K-State evened the game, but Kentucky finally handled two points to win 25-23.

Each team took hold of some minuscule leads in game-three action, but Kentucky held more, as the blue Wildcats marched on to trample K-State 25-16, edging ahead 2-1 in the match. The situation looked hopeless for K-State for most of the fourth game. Kentucky took a lead early and held a very slight advantage up to 19-18, when K-State switched the game's momentum. Down by a couple points for a long time, the purple Wildcats found their wind just in the nick of time. Bad plays from Kentucky gave K-State a nice comeback, and a service ace from Ludwig put K-State at game point 24-19. Kentucky managed to grab one more point, but the visiting team held on to win game four 25-20, forcing a fifth game.