Wildcats Drop Conference Opener to Arizona in Four Sets

A K-State volleyball player jumps in the air and prepares to spike the ball. Courtesy: Silas Hawkins

Two K-State volleyball players jump to block the ball in front of the net. Courtesy: Silas Hawkins

The K-State volleyball team huddles at midcourt during the match. Courtesy: Silas Hawkins

As families visit their kids in Manhattan for the weekend, your Kansas State Wildcats welcome Arizona to kickoff conference play in Volleyball. Coming into this game, Kansas State was coming off a strong road trip with wins over 25^th ranked North Carolina and East Carolina in Chapel Hill. While this was the first game of conference play, this was the first time that Arizona played against Kansas State as an away team. 

Conference play could not come sooner for the Arizona Wildcats as they rode a four-game losing streak with being recently swept by the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. 

First Set 

This matchup started with a service error by Arizona’s Avery Scoggins and many one-point lead changes coming from kills made by both teams. 

Kansas State continues to deal with service errors this season after recording 8 in this set. 

Arizona took the first set 25-19. 

Second Set 

Your Wildcats look completely different than they were in the last set starting off 6-0 and taking advantage of Arizona’s service errors. Kansas State reduced their number of errors to 8 while Arizona recorded 13 paved ways for them to win the second set. 

Kansas State took the second set 25-19. 

Third Set 

Following Kansas State’s strong second set performance, it seemed as though their spark was being lost. Some mistakes by Kansas State included hitting the ball on the edge of the court and out of bounds. Arizona took advantage of these errors and made 13 kills. 

Arizona took the third set 25-14 with Jordan Wilson, Ana Heath and Scoggins leading the way. 

Fourth Set 

Morgan Family Arena erupted when Kansas State forced a tie game at 24 apiece, forcing both teams to score two more points to win the set. It looked like Kansas State was in control when they scored their 25^th point, but Arizona tied it again and scored two more points to win the set and match by a score of 27-25.  

With a win, Arizona starts conference play strong by getting their first win in Game 1 and improving their overall record to 9-4. Kansas State fell in their first conference game of the season, and suffered their first home loss of the year, ultimately falling to a 7-2 overall record. 

Coming up next 

Your Kansas State Wildcats stay at home this Sunday as they face another challenge in eighth-ranked Arizona State at 2 p.m. 

Arizona completes their trip in Kansas this Sunday in Lawrence against the 18^th-ranked Jayhawks at 10 a.m.