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
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