The Wildcats got their first win of the season last night in their home opener against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos in Ahearn Field House. Even though a win was the goal, head coach Susie Fritz talked of inexperienced and inconsistent play causing errors.
“It’s pretty easy to start getting comfortable and we got entirely too comfortable,” Fritz said.
Young players were the theme of the night as the Wildcats had three freshmen in the starting lineup. Freshman outside hitter Caitlyn Donahue talked of her first experience as a Wildcat in Ahearn.
“It’s an amazing experience being out there,” said Donahue, a native of Overland Park, Kan. “I found myself chanting along, singing ‘Go ‘Cats,’ and then I had to stop and remember that I was actually out there on the court.”
The Wildcats stopped the Kangaroos in four sets winning by scores of 25-13, 16-25, 25-14, 25-16. The win marked the 26th straight for the Wildcats over the Kangaroos, a winning streak that began on November 3, 1977.
Redshirt-freshman Kathleen Ludwig continued her strong play racking up her first double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs to lead the team in it’s first win of the season.
The first set was the best overall set for the Wildcats as they tallied 16 kills to only four errors in 40 attempts for a hitting percent of .300. Defensively, the Wildcats forced seven errors while holding the Kangaroos to a -.061 hitting percentage.
Errors proved to be a problem for the wildcats in the second set: they only had a hitting percent of .108. UMKC took advantage of K-State’s mistakes by recording 17 kills and committing only four errors.
K-State bounced back on both offense and defense in the third set, allowing only six kills and forcing six errors by the Kangaroos. The Wildcat offense made up for its lackluster play in the previous set, posting 11 kills with only three errors, its fewest of any set in the match.
The Wildcats carried their momentum over to the fourth set winning handily. While they only maintained a .220 hitting percentage, their defense aided them by forcing six Kangaroo errors and holding UMKC to a .073 hitting percentage to cap off the victory.
The Wildcats return to action at 6 p.m. Friday when they take on Weber State in the BYU Nike Classic. Their next home action will be Sept. 8 against South Dakota.