Seniors Liz Gregorski and Meg Brown combined for 26 kills and double-doubles by Izzi Szulczewski and Ava LeGrand highlighted Kansas State volleyball's victory Friday night, as the Wildcats swept past UCF at Morgan Family Arena (25-23, 30-28, 25-13).
K-State (3-8, 1-1 Big 12) snapped its four-match losing streak against UCF (7-4, 0-2 Big 12), as the Wildcats produced a 47-39 advantage in kill production and out-blocked the Knights 7.0-5.0 with a 56-49 edge in digs.
69传媒淵eah, we've been close for a while, right?" head coach Jason Mansfield said in a written statement. "So it just feels good to finally win a couple close sets in the first two, and get over the hump. Then we kind of settled in the third set and just continued to make plays. But we69传媒檝e been working so hard in practice and obviously in matches, and I69传媒檓 just proud of the girls for getting the win.69传媒
Gregorski turned in her third match of the season with 10 or more kills, as the Appleton, Wisconsin product totaled a match-high 14 kills with three aces for a career-best 18.0 points. Brown added 12 kills and hit at an impressive .417 clip with two errors on 24 swings.
Szulczewski and LeGrand both notched double-doubles, as the setters piloted Wildcats 6-2 offense to a .263 clip. Szulczewski had a match-high 20 assists to go with her 10 digs to tally her 15th career double-double at K-State. LeGrand registered 13 assists and 10 digs for the first of her career.
69传媒淭hey did a great job of sticking to the game plan and made really good choices tonight and put our hitters in good situations to succeed and that's all we can ask them to do," Mansfield said. "They did a great job making choices and also locating who we wanted them to.69传媒
Defensively, K-State held UCF to a .198 hitting percentage led by a match-high 17 digs from Ella Larkin. The libero69传媒檚 17 digs marked her sixth match with 15 or more digs this season. Jordyn Williams (one solo, two assists) and Brenna Schmidt (three assists) each totaled three blocks, while Williams served up a pair of ace s with five kills.
UCF was led by Emily Wilson, who registered 11 kills and hit at a .243 clip, while the offense was paced by 28 assists from Abby Schomers. Sophie Kotsovolos and Avah Amour both had 11 digs, and Sasha Cohen had three block assists.
K-State opened the match with a two-point win in Set 1 behind four consecutive serves from Williams and pair of kills by Gregorski, K-State started off with a 5-1 lead that started off with a kill from Gregorski.
K-State used a 5-0 scoring run to extend its lead out to eight,14-6, that included three kills by Brown. UCF managed to bring the set within four with a block assist by Cohen and Wilson for K-State to call its first timeout of the match, leading 22-18.
The Cats held off the Knights 5-2 closing run to take the first and snap a 12-set losing streak 69传媒 marking the first set win since September 15.
Gregorski totaled five kills with one error, hitting at a .235 efficiency while Clinton added four kills. UCF committed five service errors in the first set which proved to be the difference maker.
Then, in the second set, K-State opened with a 5-2 scoring run led by four kills from Gregorski and Brown. Tied 7-7, Carter connected on a pass from LeGrand to take back the lead. A service ace from Williams and kill by Schmidt helped K-State to a two-point lead, 15-13, at the media timeout.
With the score at 29-all, a service ace by Gregorski and kill from Carter delivered the final blow and handed the Cats to two-set lead.
In total, the second set had eight lead changes and 16 tie scores. Brown totaled six kills and committed no errors to hit .600, while Carter and Gregorski each added five at a .333 hitting efficiency.
The Wildcats wrapped things up in Set 3 which was highlighted by back-to-back aces from Gregorski and block assist by Williams and Carter, K-State produced a 13-5 lead to take control of the final set.
The Wildcats led 23-10 69传媒 the largest lead of the night 69传媒 before putting the match away. The defense held UCF to a .000 hitting percentage in the third.
K-State will head to Lubbock, Texas for their first Big 12 road test Thursday, as the Wildcats face Texas Tech (8-5, 0-1) at United Supermarket Arena. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
