The Kansas State volleyball team will wrap up the first half of Big 12 conference play on Saturday when they travel east to West Virginia University for a match at 12 p.m.
These two teams have had very similar seasons, with both sitting at 2-5 records in Big 12 play. K-State is 9-11 overall, while West Virginia is 13-7 for the overall season.
K-State is coming off a four set loss to the Baylor Bears on Saturday night inside Ahearn Field House. Junior outside hitter Kylee Zumach led the way for K-State with 13 kills while freshman middle blocker Peyton Williams followed behind her with 11. Senior opposite Bryna Vogel had a team high of 22 digs, which leaves her with over 800 digs in her career as a Wildcat.
The Wildcats have lost their last six matches against nationally ranked opponents, but West Virginia also lost to Iowa State on Wednesday night in four sets.
West Virginia has been very good at serving this year. They are first in the Big 12 conference with 125 service aces and 1.43 aces per set. Looking at just Big 12 matches, Mia Swanegan is 10th in the conference in hitting percentage at .310 and sophomore Peyton Caffrey is 10th in kills per set at 3.32 and leads the team in service aces with 29 for the season.
Defensively, Swanegan and teammate Katie DeMeo rank in the conference’s top 10 in blocks. Swanegan is fifth at 1.14 per set, and DeMeo is eighth at 1.03.
The Wildcats will lean heavily on Zumach, who has double-digit kills in 18 of the 20 matches this year and is leading the team in kills in 11 matches so far this season. Her service game has also improved as she has 18 service aces this season. She only had 20 in her entire career coming into the year.
The Wildcat volleyball team has had an 8-2 winning record against West Virginia since 2012. The Wildcats will hope to continue their success against the Mountaineers from last season.
Volleyball fans can watch the game live at WVUSports.com or listen to the action at KStateSports.com.
