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.
No comments:
Post a Comment