Despite Hurricane Lane disrupting what was supposed to be a four-team tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Kansas State volleyball team started its season with two games against the University of Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic was set to begin Friday night and run through Sunday with Gonzaga and UCLA also scheduled to play.
K-State overcame weather distractions and got its season off to a good start, sitting at 2-0 after its first regular season matches.
Going into the weekend, the Wildcats were 1-5 all-time against the Rainbow Wahine. In 2016, K-State upset Hawaii, who at the time was ranked No. 6, winning three sets to one.
K-State got off to an impressive start against Hawaii, winning three straight sets to sweep the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday. Set three had the highest scoring totals of the match for the Wildcats, where the team produced 21 kills, in 51 total attempts.
Redshirt senior outside hitter Kylee Zumach led the team with 19 kills during the last set in addition to her 20 points during the match. Redshirt junior Sarah Dixon totaled 37 assists, a match-high, to go along with seven digs. Redshirt freshman Jacque Smith recorded seven digs and a service ace in her first game action for K-State.
“It feels pretty good,” head coach Suzie Fritz said to K-State Sports after Saturday’s match. “I was pleasantly surprised with our effort and execution given that we have been off for a couple days. But sometimes rest is the best thing you can do in terms of having good energy and being hungry to play again.”
The Wildcats won the three sets on Saturday by scores of 25-21, 29-27 and 25-20.
Fans were unable to attend Saturday’s match due to weather conditions, but they could attend Sunday’s match, giving Hawaii more of an opportunity for home-court advantage. Even with fans being able to attend this matchup, K-State was able to again sweep Hawaii in three sets to start its season 2-0.
K-State and Hawaii kept the scoring even throughout the first set before K-State went on a 3-0 run to get ahead 19-16. The first set ended with a score of 25-21, in which Wildcats had 13 kills.
The second set was close throughout, but the Wildcats were able to secure the win, 27-25. Zumach led with 11 kills, followed by freshman Gloria Mutiri with eight.
The final score of the third set was 25-19. The final point came from a kill by senior middle blocker Macy Flowers, who had seven in the final set. The Wildcats totaled 15 kills to Hawaii’s 12 and had only four errors while the Rainbow Wahine had eight.
The Wildcats will next travel to St. Louis, Missouri to compete in the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic. In this tournament, the team is scheduled to face Marquette, Saint Louis, and Western Kentucky. The first match for K-State is set for 3:30 p.m. Friday night.
