Wildcats Escape Kangaroos in Five Sets

It seems for Kansas State head volleyball coach Suzie Fritz, there is one thing she knows for sure about her team — it knows how to fight.

The rest, meanwhile, could be a mystery.

So when the Wildcats found themselves facing a 2-1 deficit against UMKC on Tuesday night at Ahearn Field House, they did the one thing they have done all season — fight.

For yet another match, it worked, and the Wildcats escaped narrowly with a tense 3-2 comeback victory against UMKC.

The win came by scores of 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 25-11, 15-10.

While the win was a relief, it became apparent that this young Wildcat team might still be in search of its complete identity.

"We don't have the pulse of this team quite yet," Fritz said after the match. "There are times when they fight like crazy and we are proud of that. We think that is an important dynamic of this team, an important characteristic of this team — that they fight."

With the win, the Wildcats ended a two-match losing skid and improved their overall record to 7-7 heading into a three-day break before returning to Big 12 play this weekend with a trip to College Station to face Texas A&M.

When they needed it most, the Wildcats leaned heavily on their proven offensive leaders late in the match, as senior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm and freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Pelger combined for 29 kills on the night.

Pelger compiled five kills in the 15-point fifth set.

The two sparked a much-needed late comeback rally for the Wildcats during the fourth and fifth sets.

"(Chisholm) was significantly better late," Fritz said. "That's what seniors do. When it's go time, they say, 'Okay, I'm going to turn it up a bit, follow me.' She wants to win the match all by herself."

The Wildcats found themselves with their backs against the wall early in the match as sophomore setter Caitlyn Donahue suffered an ankle injury in the first set.

With Donahue out of the Wildcats' rotation, the Kangaroos mounted a quick 6-1 run, and led for the majority of the set.
But the Wildcats used a late 6-1 run of their own to steal the first-set win.

The Cats faced another uphill battle in the second set, and couldn't recover from a sluggish offensive attack in which they hit a dreadful -.071.

"That's not as good as we can play," Fritz said. "We are better than that."

With a loss in the third set, the Wildcats faced a 2-1 deficit. It took that deficit for the Wildcats to finally flip a switch, and afterward they hit .365 in the fourth set following two sets of hitting less than .100

"It started becoming fun again," Chisholm said.

For Fritz it was a sigh of relief, as K-State looked like a rejuvenated team, pounding out a 25-11 win in the fourth set, and putting the match away in the fifth, 15-10.

"We woke back up, but it took us a long time," Fritz said. "We showed a little bit of courage there late."

Meanwhile, Donahue is expected to practice this week, despite a mild ankle injury.

"To my knowledge, she is fine," Fritz said. "It's a slight ankle injury, but at this point, we anticipate having her back by Saturday."

The Wildcats return to action Saturday with a trip to College Station to face Texas A&M. First game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Cats Looking to Catch Themselves

After jumping out to an impressive 2-0 start to begin the Big 12 portion of their schedule, Suzie Fritz and her Wildcats hit a sudden bump in the road over the last seven days.

In the process, the squad dropped two matches in a row, first stumbling to a young Colorado team in Boulder, and then falling to Missouri in its first home loss of the season last Saturday.

Now, in what seems to be a perfect pause in the Big 12 scheduling, the Wildcats have a chance to catch themselves before continuing conference play resumes this weekend. That opportunity comes tonight with a nonconference matchup at Ahearn Field House with the UMKC Kangaroos at 7.

"We need to get our feet back under us," Fritz said after practice on Monday. "We need another opportunity to have success, and one presents us sooner rather than later."

The Wildcats (7-7, 2-2 Big 12) are coming off of an inconsistent and frustrating performance against the Tigers over the weekend. After splitting the first two sets with Mizzou, K-State hit a wall in the third set and never recovered.

Meanwhile Missouri hit an incredible .452 against the Wildcats in the third set, and stormed out of Ahearn with the match, leaving the Wildcats to wonder just what happened during the final two games.

"I think what has been a little bit frustrating is that we have felt with each and every match it has been something different that has kept us out of it," Fritz said. "We have just got to stay the course and keep working on the things that we know we have to improve on."

But they have little time — one day to be exact — to recover and prepare for the Kangaroos (5-10) who come into the match fresh off of a victory over Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne — their fifth win of the season. The Wildcats handled UMKC early last season with a four-set victory to open the 2009 campaign. UMKC is just 1-6 on the road this season.

For Fritz and the Wildcats, it will be a needed match in terms of gaining valuable in-game experience before traveling to College Station, Texas for yet another Big 12 road test this weekend.

"I think we need the confidence right now," Fritz said. "We need to play well, one, and we need to win, two."
In order to do so, the Wildcats will need to string together a consistent match, something this team has struggled with throughout the season.

"I think we are just worried about our side right now," senior libero Lauren Mathewson said. "We are still trying to figure things out on our side of the net."

As they have done all year, they will look to their consistent offensive performers in senior outside hither JuliAnne Chisholm, who leads the team with 3.62 kills per set, and freshman middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger, who is just behind Chisholm in the offensive production.

Defensively, Mathewson, who has posted five 20-dig matches this season, anchors the Wildcats.
Fritz said with the minimal preparation time, the Wildcats spent the bulk of practice Monday focusing on improving the team's consistency throughout an entire match.

"I think the key for us is to just have that kind of sustained effort," Fritz said.

Photo - Rob Mikinski The Manhattan Mercury

Tigers Drop K-State in Four Sets

The Kansas State volleyball team suffered its first home loss of the season on Saturday night.

The Wildcats lost to the Missouri Tigers 3-1 in front of a near-capacity crowd inside Ahearn Field House. The Tigers took the four-set match by scores of 25-11, 20-25, 25-14 and 25-16.



The home loss marks a two-match losing streak for the Wildcats after jumping out to a 2-0 start in the Big 12 for the first time since 1999.

But for the Wildcats, it was the way in which they let the Tigers slip away that is most concerning.

"I think there is an enormous amount of frustration in the locker room," KSU coach Suzie Fritz said. "We feel like we aren't controlling the things that we can control to a higher degree. We feel like there are a lot of things we can be doing more consistently."

The Wildcats (7-7, 2-2 Big 12) and Tigers (9-5, 2-2) traded opening sets in the match. In the second set, K-State strung together its best performance of the night, as the Wildcats recovered from watching the first set end on a 5-0 run.

During that second set, the Wildcats held the Tigers to their lowest hitting percentage of the night.

But after tying the match at intermission, K-State began to slip further and further away from that short-lived defensive performance.

"The second set was pretty good defensively," Fritz said. "I thought we got away from that," Fritz said.

Just as the Wildcats regained the momentum, the Tigers stole it right back. After tying the third game at nine, K-State suddenly let up, and struggled to control the ball on its side of the net from an aggressive serving Missouri squad.

The Tigers began pulling away quickly with the surge in momentum, taking advantage of the multitude of Wildcat miscues on the other side.

"When we started not passing well and we weren't in the offensive rhythm that we wanted to be in, there were a lot of other things that were going awry as well," Fritz said.

After gaining a four-point lead at 18-14, the Tigers never looked back, closing the set on a 7-0 run and taking a 2-1 lead in the match. Missouri hit a match-high .452 during the third set.

"They just kept playing better," senior libero Lauren Mathewson said. "They came out aggressive and came out a little bit more ready than us. I think they were ready to win and we were a little bit scared to win."

The Wildcats were never able to fully recover from the momentum lost during that deflating third set. Missouri cruised through the fourth set, never surrendering a lead to the Cats.

"We didn't recover as well, which we are going to try and work on," KSU freshman middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger said.

Following the loss to Missouri, the Wildcats have a short turnaround this week, as UMKC travels to Manhattan for a 7 p.m.
match on Tuesday.

-Photo K-State Sports Information

Wildcats Set to Host Missouri on Saturday

Wednesday night, the K-State volleyball team had quite an opportunity on its hands. With a trip to Colorado in what seemed to be a very winnable match, the Wildcats could have pushed their conference record to 3-0 for the first time in 11 years.

But that wasn't how the story unfolded in Boulder. The Wildcats dropped a seesaw battle with the Buffaloes in five sets, suffering their first lost in conference play in the 2010 season.

Now, back at home, the Wildcats (7-6 2-1 Big 12) have shifted their focus to a visit from the Missouri Tigers (9-4 1-2 Big 12) on Saturday evening. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Ahearn Field House.

After practice on Wednesday afternoon, head coach Suzie Fritz said she was pleased with the way her team handled the aftermath of the Colorado loss.

"The one thing about losing one you shouldn't is that it refocuses you a little bit," Fritz said. "(It) is not what we were going for, but I think we clearly felt like we had a missed opportunity, we let one get away from us a little bit and I thought today we were pretty focused."

The Wildcats will head into Wednesday's match with the Tigers looking to continue seeing a wealth of production from some of the younger leaders on the squad, including freshman middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger and sophomore middle blocker Alex Muff.

Pelger hit a team-leading .500 in Boulder on Wednesday evening, racking up 16 kills during the five-set match. Meanwhile, Muff pounded 10 kills and recorded six block assists against the Buffaloes.

Muff was also named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after her impressive performances against Kansas and Texas Tech.

"We were pretty good when we were in good situations," Fritz said. "When we were digging well, when we were passing well, we had it going. Where we struggled was when we were out of system...We were pretty good when it was good and pretty bad when it was bad."

Also anchoring the Wildcat offense during conference play has been senior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm. The product of Hillsboro recorded a team-leading 17 kills on Wednesday, and was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week after her performance during the first week of conference action.

Meanwhile, the Tigers enter the match receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches poll, and are looking to even their conference record after dropping two consecutive matches to No. 11 Iowa State and No. 12 Texas during a tough two-match homestand.

"Missouri will be a significant challenge," Fritz said. "They are very good, they play very fast, they are very veteran. I think we will have our hands full on Saturday."

Senior outside hitter Julianna Klein leads the Tigers offensive attack. The product of Keota, Iowa has been playing lights out through Missouri's first three conference matches, pounding out a total of 39 kills during the stretch.


Missouri's Freshman setter Molly Kreklow leads the Big 12 in assists per set, averaging 11.6.

However the Wildcats are focused again on their side of the net, and are ready to play within the confines of Ahearn Arena, where they are a perfect 4-0 in the 2010 campaign.

"It's good to be home again," Fritz said. "(We) are just trying to get our feet back underneath us."

Wildcats open Big 12 play with win over Hawks

Last night, the Kansas State volleyball team wasn't thinking about 2009.

The Wildcats don't seem to be the same team that lost six straight sets against the Jayhawks in two matches last season. This group, so far, is different.

K-State players say they've learned from last season. They grew together during a nonconference slate this season, preparing them both mentally and physically for the grind of the Big 12 schedule.

The Wildcats preached that mentality all week heading into Wednesday's tilt with the in-state rival Kansas Jayhawks.

"We are an entirely different team," KSU coach Suzie Fritz said after practice on Monday.

With the Jayhawks in town Wednesday, the Wildcats had the perfect opportunity to back up that claim. If there were any
doubters inside Ahearn Field House, they most likely left in silence.

The Wildcats (6-5, 1-0 Big 12) made their statement clear, opening Big 12 play with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Kansas (9-3, 0-1 Big 12) in front of a raucous home crowd of more than 3,100.

"It really shows we are growing as a team," KSU sophomore middle blocker Alex Muff said.

It wasn't easy, but the Wildcats made their voices heard.

"There is that feeling of, 'you don't want to go through that again,'" KSU sophomore Kathleen Ludwig said. "I think, more than anything, as a team, we want to go through a better experience."

K-State marched out to a quick start in the match, stealing the first two sets from the Jayhawks, 25-15 and 25-20.
It suddenly looked as if a sweep of the Jayhawks was going to come easy for K-State. The Wildcats couldn't do anything wrong, hitting accurately and holding the Jayhawks to under .100 on their attacks.

"I think we were dialed in," Fritz said. "I thought we were pretty focused, we were playing pretty disciplined early on.

"The combination of the first two games, in a lot of ways, was the best two-game set we have played together, which I'm excited about. Anybody can play for one game, one point, one something, it's a matter of being able to put it together over time."

But this is a rivalry, the Big 12, and KU showed that it wasn't going to go down without a fight.

And so, after the intermission the Jayhawks came out with new life.

Kansas mounted a quick 9-3 lead by way of a 6-0 run to open the third set, forcing the Wildcats to use two timeouts within three points.

"I felt like we came out in game three and got just a little bit tentative," Fritz said. "I felt like they upgraded, and so we were having a hard time getting back in a rhythm. They started getting things going a little bit, and when you get a little bit of momentum, it's hard to shut them back down again once you let them go."

The Wildcats did indeed let the Jayhawks slip by. They took the third set 25-23, along with a large chunk of the Kansas State momentum. K-State hit just .125 in the set with just 11 kills and six attack errors.

A once rowdy Ahearn crowd was suddenly silent.

The Wildcats' troubles however, didn't cease with the third set. They suddenly found themselves down 18-8 in the fourth and in immediate danger of the match going the full five sets.

Then, senior JuliAnne Chisholm stepped in.

The senior outside hitter and leader of the Wildcat offense, proved herself to be the anchor of the offense yet again. Chisholm willed the Wildcats back into the match after connecting on four consecutive kills.

The sudden momentum spark brought the Wildcats back to life, as sophomore Caitlynn Donahue and Alex Muff followed the run with two kills of their own bringing the Wildcats to within four points at 18-14.

"JuliAnne wants to win the match by herself," Fritz said. "That's how she is. When it comes down the stretch, we want to give her the ball, she wants the ball. That's just kind of where she is at in her career."

Chisholm's offensive spark was a pivotal swing of events as the Wildcats began their slow crawl back into the set and the match itself. There was no doubt that anybody on the Wildcat bench was fearful of a fifth set with a now resurgent Kansas team.

"If it went five I thought we were in trouble," Fritz said.

But this team didn't let that happen.

"We knew what we needed to do," sophomore Kathleen Ludwig said. "I don't think it was a situation where we were confused or lost, I think we just needed to come together and make some plays together."

It was Ludwig who sustained the late run in the fourth and final set. She had three kills during the Wildcats' comeback surge, and hit a team leading .438 on the night.

The Wildcats were able to hold off Kansas late in the fourth set, despite facing a match point at 24-22.

"We just kind of had it in our minds," Muff said. "It was one of those things that, 'we don't want to do this, we don't want to go into the fifth set and we want to beat them now.'"

K-State pushed the match back and forth from match point to match point, and eventually overtook the Jayhawks, winning the match with a 30-29 victory in the fourth set.

The Wildcats continue Big 12 play when they travel to Lubbock, Texas to face Texas Tech on Saturday. First serve is set for noon.

Wildcats Open Big 12 Play Against Kansas

Each year, Kansas State volleyball coach Suzie Fritz sits down and breaks her volleyball season into four separate parts.

Chapter one consists of the preseason, and this year, it was tough. The preseason came packed with two long road trips against a myriad of good teams. The Wildcats opened the season with a journey to Hawaii where the Wildcats faced two top-20 programs, including No. 5 Hawaii.

This weekend, part one of the season ended when the Cats returned home from a trip to Kentucky, which wasn't any easier. K-State again faced a pair of nationally-ranked teams, falling to both No. 17 Florida State and No. 16 Kentucky in five sets.
Now, the Wildcats (5-5) are home, finished with part one of the season, and ready to turn the page.

Chapter two of the season begins on Wednesday when K-State opens Big 12 play with a visit from in-state rival Kansas. First serve is set for 7 pm.

"You get done with the grind of the preseason and there is certainly a sense of relief," Fritz said. "Everybody is still relatively healthy, we made an enormous amount of improvement, and now we just get to play two matches a week instead of two matches in a day. It's tough. The preseason is really, really hard."

Indeed it was a grind, but it was journey that helped this volleyball team to grow.

The Wildcats dropped five matches in the process, but as they returned from Kentucky this weekend, the Wildcats felt ready to turn the page after a 10-match preparation period.

"I think we are eager to get better," senior libero Lauren Mathewson said. "I think every weekend we kind of improved and we have also found other stuff that we can work on and get better on. We are kind of taking it step by step. In the Big 12 you can't really make that improvement in a short amount of time. We are trying to do the best that we can in a short amount of time."

On Wednesday, the opportunity to continue and "get better over time," an adage that Fritz frequently preaches to her team, will come in the form the rival Jayhawks — a team that handled KSU easily in both meetings last year.
"I feel like last we got so geeked up, because we wanted that one," Fritz said of their meeting in Ahearn last season. "It was actually detrimental to us. We were so jacked up when the match started, that it actually worked against us."

The 2010 version of the Jayhawks (9-2) are lead offensively by Karina Garlington. The senior outside hitter averages at team-high 3.49 kills per set, and accounted for 13 kills during their last meeting in Lawrence.
She and the Jayhawks have not lost a match away from Lawrence yet this season.

The Wildcats however are not solely focused on avenging their two losses to the Jayhawks in 2009. No, their focus is simply improving upon what they were successful with throughout nonconference play.

"That was last year," Mathewson said. "We don't think about that. This year we have a different team. We are taking it step by step. Every team we have played against has been a great team. We have kind of pushed ourselves to come together as a team and figure out what works for us, so I think we are still kind of making sure everything on our side of the net is good and read to go.

"We haven't really worried about them yet, we are still trying to make sure we are set at our end of the net."

Fritz agrees. Last year was last year, and now they are focused on 2010, and the lessons they have learned so far.

"We have identified maybe three or four key areas where we feel like we can really upgrade quickly and have spent a lot of time since those matches kind of evaluating those things and where we are at." Fritz said.

So, as the Wildcats turn the page to chapter two of their 2010 season, there lies little doubt that Fritz and her team will look to continue their consistent and steady growth — beginning Wednesday.

However a win to compliment the growth is always nice, especially against an in-state rival.

"It's important." Fritz said. "Is it anymore or less important than any of the rest of them? Probably not. It would certainly be a
positive thing to get off on right foot.

"I'm more interested right now in improving and fixing the things that are keeping us from winning volleyball matches. I think if we can fix those things, I think we can play with a lot of people-including Kansas."


Photo - Manhattan Mercury File

Wildcats Cruise Through Varney's Invitational

Four matches in four days can pose quite a challenge to many teams.

For the young Wildcat volleyball team, it could have easily been looked at as a brutal stretch looming early in the season, especially after a long trip to Hawaii just one week ago.

But it can also be looked at as an opportunity, a time for growth, and of course a chance to pick up some early wins. Well, for this Wildcat team, they took the optimistic approach.

It paid off. This weekend the Wildcats cruised through the Varney's Kansas State Invitational tournament, picking up three consecutive sweeps, and moving to 4-3 on the season. The tournament sweep came after picking up a mid-week victory over South Dakota on Wednesday.

The four-day grind ended yesterday with a 3-0 sweep of Georgia Tech by scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-23.

"I thought we got better and better through that [four match] stretch," head coach Suzie Fritz said after yesterday's win over Georgia Tech. "We are still seeing in one match maybe one area being good, and the next match we are maybe seeing another area be good, and the key is for us to put those things together."

With the sweep over Georgia Tech, the Wildcats completed an impressive feat, sweeping all three opponents during the weekend tournament.

"We're feeling really good about it," sophomore Kathleen Ludwig said. "We just wanted to come out and play well and put some stuff together and it turned into some success for us."

Now that the stretch is over, the Wildcats completed what they set out to accomplish earlier in the week after returning from a tough trip to Hawaii in which they dropped three consecutive matches.

It took just four days, but it seems this young volleyball team is slowly growing into a solidified, mature group.

"We were trying to recover a little bit from getting back from Hawaii," Ludwig said. "We were just really focused on doing what we needed to do and working on the things that we learned from Hawaii."

It showed. The Wildcats offense came alive over the previous four days, highlighted by senior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm. Chisholm averaged an impressive 4.22 kills per set during the three-match tournament. The showing earned her the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

Meanwhile the defense, led by junior libero showed a great amount of improvement as well. Mathewson dug 5.56 balls per set, while the team averaged 15 per set.

"Our focus this tournament was being disciplined." Chisholm said.

On Saturday, the Wildcats fell behind early in the first set to Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets quickly mounted a 20-15 lead on K-State, but a late rally, anchored by Chisholm enabled the Wildcats to get back within reach, and eventually take the set 25-23.

With 1-0 lead on Georgia Tech the Wildcats never looked back, completing the sweep in convincing fashion holding the Yellow Jackets to a .086 hitting percentage on the day.

"I think we were really happy with how we kept going point by point," Ludwig said. "I think we tried to be good over time and that is what we say a lot."

Now, the Wildcats shift their focus to a much needed break. Following the four-day stretch of matches, K-State will have six days to recuperate, and prepare for their next tournament, a trip to the University of Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, KY.

"It will be really nice," Fritz said of the time off. "We need it."

Photo - K-State Sports Info



Tournament MVP -JuliAnne Chisholm - KSU

All Tournament Selections:

Alex Muff — KSU
Lauren Mathewson — KSU
Monique Mead — GT
Mary Ashley Tippins — GT
Jasmine Rankins — LMU
Elizabeth McVicker — ORU

Wildcats Top South Dakota in Home Opener

If there is one thing about Kansas State volleyball coach Suzie Fritz, she tells it like it is.

So, no, she wasn't completely pleased by her team's performance in their home opener Wednesday night inside the newly renovated Ahearn Field House—but her team needed a win.

And so despite a slow, inconsistent, and somewhat concerning start by the young Wildcats, Fritz admitted she wasn't satisfied at the end of the 3-1 victory over South Dakota.

"I'm frustrated," she said. "I should probably be happier — people tell me that all the time . But I want to play well and I want to be more disciplined and I want to be good over time... I'm happy that we won, but I want to play better."

The home-opening win came by way of scores 22-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 in front of crowd of more than 1,800.

However, the Wildcats (1-3) were slow, gave up leads and struggled to put a second set completely away after leading the Coyotes 23-13 at set point. KSU finally did win the set 25-19 before heading into the locker room for the intermission.

"Early on we were bad," Fritz said. "We were terribly inconsistent, terribly undisciplined, and that's the challenge that I pose to our team. Can we overcome our inexperienced by being a disciplined team?"

If you took the final two sets of the Wildcats play last night, then the answer to that question might be yes.

K-State looked like a completely different volleyball team during the final two sets of the match, hitting above .300 in both sets, passing setting and making plays on balls that they let drop during the first half of the match.

"It took us a little long to get going, but I thought we were great at the end." KSU senior outside hitter JuliAnne Chisholm said. "I think that might be a characteristic of a young team, but we are going to have to get past that and get [better] fast."
Indeed that is true. With Wednesday's victory, the Wildcats began a stretch of four matches in four days as the annual Varney's
Kansas State Invitational begins on Friday with a doubleheader against Loyola Marymount and Oral Roberts.

But it's clear that the young team is growing, and right now, the most visible growth comes in the form of middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger.

The freshman from Olathe who shined in the team's first three matches in Hawaii, showed no signs of slowing her pace against South Dakota (2-3).

Pelger was a consistent force in the Wildcat offense, and finished the night with a team-high 15 kills, hitting .364. She also racked up a team high four block assists.

"(Pelger) has been, quite honestly, been really good, and keeps getting better," Fritz said. "She has gotten better and better with each match."

The Wildcat veterans stepped up as well. Chisholm set a career high in digs by notching 15 on the night and sophomore Kathleen Ludwig hit a match-high .438 on 16 total attacks.

So this weekend, the Wildcats will get just the opportunity they are looking for — to continue the search for their consistency and identity.

And that's exactly what Fritz wants.

"We need to play," she said. "Young teams need to play. They need to learn, you need throw them out there and put them in the fire and allow them to figure things out.
"That's what we are doing."