Kansas State volleyball once again suffered a five-set defeat, this time at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners.
The Wildcats exuded their skills early, kicking the first set off with a 5-1 lead. Eventually, Oklahoma would tie the set at 12 apiece. After that K-State took full advantage by going on a 13-3 scoring run fueled by three kills from outside hitter Aliyah Carter. Errors caused by the Sooners added fuel to the fire, totaling eight errors to help the Wildcats win Set 1 25-15.
The Sooners looked to bounce back immediately by starting off Set 2 with a 6-2 lead. The second set saw more errors on Oklahoma’s part, as they ended the set with seven whereas K-State totaled four. The Wildcats made Oklahoma count for their errors and improved their hitting percentage immensely. K-State finished with a .269 hit percentage this set, as the last set only saw a .087 from the Wildcats. With this, the Wildcats won Set 2 25-19.
Now down 2-0, Oklahoma started to rally by starting off Set 3 with a 9-3 lead over the Wildcats. K-State could not continue the success of hitting the ball from the last set, finishing this set with a dismal .03 hit percentage. Set 3 only saw one tie as Oklahoma held the lead all game and won 25-15.
Set 4 was as competitive as it could get as the game tied nine times. The Wildcat’s biggest tie was at 19 apiece, the Wildcats coming back from a three-point deficit. Two kills from Carter and a single kill from middle blocker Brenna Schmidt helped make it a game. K-State would only see one point after this as the Sooners went on a 6-1 scoring run. Oklahoma would win 25-19 in Set 4, tying the series at two.
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Set 5 saw the Wildcats with a hitting percentage under .100 once again as they finished with a .043 percentage. At one point K-State had a 13-9 lead, partly due to the Sooners’ errors. Oklahoma fixed this problem, going on a 7-1 scoring run. Two service aces and four kills alone for outside hitter Taylor Preston allowed the Sooners to come back down 2-0 and win the set 16-14.
It was a brotherly battle as K-State head coach Jason Mansfield faced off against an Oklahoma team led by his brother, Aaron Mansfield.
Carter led the way with 15 total kills followed by outside hitter Aniya Clinton with nine of her own. Outside hitter Shaylee Meyers and middle blocker Sydney Bolding had seven kills apiece to finish the night as well.
K-State will have another chance to win against Oklahoma as both teams will meet again at 6 p.m. Friday in Norman, Oklahoma.
