It's difficult for Kansas State to put a positive spin on this one. The Wildcats want to, but in the end it's yet another sweep.
In front of a packed Ahearn Field House, thanks partially to the traditional bandwagon of traveling red, the Wildcats fought as if they may sneak past No. 3 Nebraska, but the same miscues that have cost them in the past caught up with them again.
And so for the fourth consecutive match, the Wildcats found themselves cleanly swept 3-0.
The loss came by scores of 25-19, 25-21 and 25-18.
"They've got it in them," Fritz said after the match. "But they don't have it day-to-day. They don't have it yet point-to-point."
It was clear from the first point, a kill from K-State middle blocker Alex Muff that erupted the anxious purple crowd, that the Wildcats wanted this one.
In the end though, they were just too young and too beaten up from three straight sweeps, and Nebraska was far too seasoned to let one slip through its grasps.
"We were right there with them," said Muff, who led the team with nine kills. "It's just a matter of stringing points together."
The brutal stretch is over - the Wildcats have now suffered four consecutive sweeps in a row - three to top-15 teams - dating back to a 3-0 sweep to the Oklahoma on Oct 1.
Despite the sweep the Wildcats feel they have improved throughout the stretch, as Nebraska was clearly one of the best teams they have faced during the grind.
"We are definitely improving," Muff said. "We are coming together a lot more."
The Wildcats began the match with a renewed sense of energy after a 3-0 sweep in Ames on Wednesday, and took command of the first set early with a 14-12 lead midway through the set.
"We felt so much more like ourselves," sophomore Kathleen Ludwig said of the early energy. "We felt so much more together."
But just as they have so much during this four-match losing streak, the Wildcats allowed Nebraska to string together a devastating run.
This time, it was a seven-point swing that took the life right out of the Wildcats.
"We are losing games with our inability to side-out," Fritz said. "We will give three, four and five and as we keep trying to tell them we have got to find our way out of it."
With the momentum swing and Ahearn suddenly silent, Nebraska rolled taking the set 25-19 and the early 1-0 lead.
Another run by Nebraska in the second set slowed the Wildcats' attack down yet again. After K-State took a 12-11 lead early, the Huskers used an 8-2 run to cruise to a 19-14 lead, and forced K-State into back-to-back timeouts.
In the third set the Huskers took an early lead and never looked back, winning in convincing fashion 25-18.
The Wildcats will look to end their losing streak on the road this week as they travel to Texas for a two-match road trip. The trip begins with a Wednesday tilt in Waco against Baylor, followed by a Friday match against Texas in Austin.
"We played better," Fritz said. "Does playing better and not winning give you confidence? That has yet to be determined. Winning cures a lot of things and right now, wins are hard to come by."
Photo- K-State Sports Information
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