After losing six of their last seven matches, the K-State volleyball team will look to get back on track as they host West Virginia at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats have won only one match since Sept. 26 after a victory against Baylor at home.
“It is really nice to be playing at home again,” head coach Suzie Fritz said. “We are excited to play in front of our fans and at Bramlage. We need some comfort and to get some momentum back on our side.”
K-State lost to Iowa State on Wednesday night in Ames, Iowa in straight sets as their struggle continued.
“When we were good, we were quite good,” Fritz said. “I thought we dug a lot of balls, but we had a tough time turning those digs into transition points.”
The Cyclones had 77 digs, which thwarted the Wildcats hitters.
“What it came down to was they were better at turning those digs into points,” Fritz said. “It’s one thing to dig them and another to capitalize on them. The difference between the balls we dug and the balls they dug was not that significant, but they converted many of those into points.”
Fritz said it gets tough to keep her players focused on the next game when the team is going through a tough stretch.
“I think staying in the mindset of growth is very important,” Fritz said. “As long as we continue to improve, good things are going to happen. Losing is wearing and it certainly isn’t our intention, but we have been playing very good teams.”
The Wildcats have played three teams in their last seven games that are in the national top 25 rankings.
“We aren’t losing to bad teams, because everyone we have played is really good,” Fritz said. “Most of the games have been on the road, which makes it that much harder.”
The Mountaineers are coming into the contest at 5-11 and are winless in three tries in Big 12 play.
“They had a coaching change at the end of last season and had some players leave the program,” Fritz said. “We need to do what we can to get a win.”
Kansas State is 9-7 overall and 1-3 in Big 12 play, but they are undefeated at 10-0 in program history when playing at Bramlage Coliseum.
