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."
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