No. 4 Texas Edges Out Kansas State in 5-Set Thriller

Match Stats

• Texas defeated Kansas State (25-22, 27-25, 25-17, 25-18, 15-12).
• Texas advances to 12-2, 4-0 Big 12. K-State is 12-4, 1-2 Big 12.
• Manhattan, Kansas

In a back-and-forth match that went to five sets, the No. 4 Texas Longhorns (12-2, 4-0 Big 12) beat the Kansas State Wildcats (12-4, 1-2 Big 12).

After Texas took the first and third sets, K-State won the fourth 25-18 to force a fifth. The last time K-State went to five with Texas was 2008.

On the night, Texas had 66 kills on 159 attempts for an average of .296. K-State had 69 kills on 176 attempts for a .250 average.

Paulina Prieto Cerame led Texas with 20 kills on 36 swings — a .500 hitting percentage on the night. Micaya White tied with 20 kills on 61 swings for a .213 average. Chloe Collins had 56 assists, and White added 16 digs.

Kylee Zumach led K-State with 18 kills. Katie Brand had 59 assists and Bryna Vogel notched 20 digs.

K-State jumped out with 4-2 lead in the fifth, then Texas went on a 6-1 run to lead 11-7. K-State battled back to narrow the lead to 14-12, but Texas cemented the match win on a Prieto Cerame kill.

Oklahoma defeated Texas in four sets on Wednesday. K-State fell to Baylor on Sunday after defeating Iowa State in the Big 12 opener on September 21.

Texas faces Iowa State at home next Saturday. K-State is at Texas Tech on Wednesday.

Press Release

Courtesy of Texas Athletics:

MANHATTAN, Kan. — No. 4 Texas Volleyball defeated Kansas State, 3-2 (25-22, 25-27, 25-17, 18-25, 15-12) on Saturday night to improve to 12-2 and 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference.

Senior Paulina Prieto Cerame and freshman Micaya White led the Longhorns with 20 kills each.

Prieto Cerame’s 20 kills came on 36 swings with only two errors for a .500 clip. She has posted double-digit kills in seven-straight matches for Texas, also adding six digs and two blocks.

White posted her second-straight double-double and third of the season, with a team-leading 16 digs to go along with her 20 kills, hitting .213.

She has finished with double-digit kills in 14 matches this season, including the last 12, also recording two service aces and five blocks in the match.

Junior Ebony Nwanebu had her eighth-straight match in double-digit kills with 17, hitting .273. She also finished with nine digs and three blocks.

Prieto Cerame, White and Nwanebu have all finished with double-digit kills hitting .200 or better in four-straight matches and 10 overall.

Senior Chloe Collins recorded her fourth-straight match with 50 or more assists with a season-high 56, also adding 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.

Sophomore Morgan Johnson finished with a team-high six blocks, while freshman Orie Agbaji added five, leading the charge for a 12.0 to 8.0 block advantage for the Longhorns.

The first set started off tight as neither team led by more than two until the Longhorns went on a 7-1 run behind serving from Prieto Cerame and kills from Nwanebu to take a 14-9 lead. The Wildcats responded with three-straight points, but Texas had an answer of its own with a 4-0 run for an 18-12 advantage. Kansas State went on to win five-straight points to pull within one, but Texas held strong and took set one, 25-22.

In the second set, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 8-4 lead, but they could not keep the momentum and Texas pulled to within one at 10-11. KSU kept the lead until the Longhorns tied the score at 18 and took their first lead of the match, 19-18. UT then extended its lead to 22-19, but the Wildcats won four-straight points to take a 23-22 lead. Both teams had at least one set point, but KSU sealed it on their second set point, 27-25 to even the match at 1-1.

Texas responded early in the third set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Longhorns kept a sizable lead throughout the set, not letting the Wildcats to within more than three and leading by as much as nine. Texas took a 2-1 advantage in the match after winning set three, 25-17.

Kansas State turned the tables in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and keeping it until the Longhorns evened the score at 13. The teams traded points until the Wildcats won three-straight points to take a 19-16 advantage and stretched their lead to 22-17. Texas could not recover and KSU evened the match to take the fourth set, 25-18.

The Wildcats took the first two points of the fifth set, but the Longhorns evened the score at 4-4. From there, neither team led by more than one until Texas went on a 4-0 run with Prieto Cerame behind the service line to lead, 11-7. The Longhorns did not look back and took the set, 15-12.

As a team, Texas hit .296 for its 13th match hitting .210 or better this season.

The Longhorns will return home to welcome Iowa State to Gregory Gym on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m., live on Longhorn Network.

Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics:

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Kansas State volleyball team took the No. 4 Texas Longhorns to a decisive fifth set were unable to hang on for the upset, falling 22-25, 27-25, 17-25, 25-18, 12-15. The loss snapped K-State’s seven-match home winning streak and extended Texas’ winning streak over K-State to 26 matches, dating back to 2003.

“We had opportunities to win that match,” said head coach Suzie Fritz after the match. “I thought we played relatively well. I thought they made some nice adjustments. They can do some things at the pins and that is the majority of what they do. You’ve got to be able to find ways to slow them down.”

In the fifth set and the match level at 7-7, Texas (12-2, 4-0 Big 12) rattled off four straight points, a pair coming off the hands of Micaya White, to open an 11-7 lead. From there, the Longhorns finished out the decisive game, 15-12. White, along with Paulina Prieto Cerame, each finished with a match-high 20 kills.

“Defensively, we made tremendous effort,” Fritz added. “We got ourselves in good position, we gave ourselves some opportunities. Unfortunately, it’s a match we feel we could’ve won. In the end, the difference was probably they got bigger, better transition swings than we did.”

The Wildcats (12-4, 1-2), already down a set, fought off set point in the second game and scored the final three points to tie the match at a set apiece with a 27-25 win. Redshirt sophomore Kylee Zumach picked up five of her team-high 18 kills in the frame.

K-State rebounded yet again in the fourth set after Texas took the third set, 25-17. The Cats hit .531 in the fourth, with 20 kills and just three attacking errors on 32 swings. Senior outside hitter Brooke Sassin tallied seven kills on 10 swings and one error (.600) and middle blocker Katie Reininger added six kills on six attacks (1.000) as K-State ended the set on a 10-2 run.

Zumach (18), Sassin (17) and Reininger (16) all finished in double-figure kills while a trio of Wildcats reached double-digit digs – Bryna Vogel (20), Katie Brand (14) and Devan Fairfield (11).

Brand, along with her 59 assists in the match, recorded her fifth consecutive double-double and sixth in seven matches.

Texas outhit K-State, .296-.250, and out-blocked the Cats, 12.0-8.0. Each side recorded four service aces.

K-State will travel to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech (10-8, 0-3) Wednesday night at 6 p.m. The match can be heard at 1350 KMAN and k-statesports.com.

NOTES
—Texas now leads the all-time series between the teams, 26-7, and has won the last 26 matches, dating back to 2003.

—This was the first time since 2008 that K-State and Texas has gone the full five sets.

—Katie Brand’s nine double-doubles this season lead the Big 12. She now has 60 in her career, placing her second on K-State’s all-time list.

—Reininger set a new season high with her 16 kills. She has reached double-figure kills in three of the last six matches.

—Vogel equaled her season-best output with 20 digs. Fairfield reached double-figure digs for the third time this year.

—K-State is 1-2 in the Big 12 for the third time in the last four seasons.