Wildcats beat Texas A&M for third Big 12 win

The volleyball team has had matches of steady gains and steady losses in performance and matches fluctuating between the two. But last Saturday, the Wildcats returned to their original form: a match with a seemingly unstoppable performance throughout.

Returning to conference play after a brief rest, K-State (9-7, 3-2 Big 12 Conference) beat Texas A&M (9-6, 3-2) in three power-filled games and quickly ended the away match.

The first two games were lopsided in favor of K-State. In the first game, the Wildcats — sporting their throwback black uniforms — kept a consistent pressure on Texas A&M to drive forward to a 25-19 win. They maintained a lead or tie throughout the game and stuffed the highly touted Aggies with dominance in all positions on the court.

The second game was even more productive for K-State. The visiting team started the game giving up a couple points, but quickly got them back and then some with a six-point run. The Aggies weakly put up a few points in an attempt to come back, but K-State held its lead, which increased steadily as time went on. At game point for K-State, Texas A&M mustered one last effort with four points, but the Wildcats would have none of it, winning the second game 25-19.

The teams were evenly matched in the back row in terms of numbers, and the service errors were mostly parallel. For the front-row effort, though, K-State had a significantly better night than Texas A&M. The visiting team hit more than .200 in hitting percentage after the first two games, while its opponent was barely recording a positive number. Part of the discrepancy was due to K-State's use of its depth; the Wildcats spread out the attack duty over five players, while the Aggies relied on three to get the job done.

The front-row defense was better on K-State's side than that of Texas A&M. The former already had eight blocks by this point — mostly divided between sophomore opposite hitter Kathleen Ludwig and sophomore middle blocker Alex Muff — but the latter had recorded only two. One area of concern for the Wildcats before this match was stopping Texas A&M's star hitter, junior outside hitter Kelsey Black. The Wildcats seemed to be successful in their efforts, as Black hit as many attack errors as kills.

By the third game, K-State had lost some of its steam, but still out-shined Texas A&M. The Aggies took the lead for an early portion of the game, but freshman outside hitter Dakota Kaufman made big plays to take the advantage back over to her team. Texas A&M reclaimed dominance, starting a back-and-forth battle which pushed the game into extra points. K-State won the match 29-27.

This game involved longer rallies and K-State was successful to score on most. The Aggies set up a strong defense to K-State's multiple attacks, but they hurt themselves with a bad set or shanked hit to hand away the point. Up front, four K-State players hit at or above a .300 hitting percentage, including player of match Ludwig with .421 and 10 kills, alongside her four block assists and 10 digs for a double-double. Muff, Kaufman, and freshman middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger rounded out the night.

K-State returns for action Wednesday to begin a week of home matches, facing Oklahoma in a televised match. First serve is set for 7 p.m.