Volleyball Drops 5-Set Heartbreaker to K-State
October 25, 2014 09:18 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Nikki Attea’s career-high 25 kills led a total of four players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough to push the West Virginia University volleyball team past No. 22 Kanas State as the Mountaineers dropped a five-set heartbreaker, 3-2, to the Wildcats on Saturday evening at the WVU Coliseum. WVU fell in set scores of 29-27, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23 and 12-15.
The contest marked the third five-set match for the Mountaineers (13-9, 3-5) this season – all of which have come against Big 12 opponents. It was also the second time WVU has taken a ranked opponent to five sets, as they previously took the first two sets against No. 2 Texas before falling to the Longhorns, 3-2, on September 24. They also defeated TCU, 3-2, at home on October 11.
“I’m really proud of the performance we had today,” said WVU coach Jill Kramer. “When we were practicing before this we talked about how this was going to be a team effort. We might need a lot of people in this one, because I think Kansas State is a great team. I think they do simple things very well. Suzie (Fritz) and her staff are really good at what they do. You can tell they have a really great system, and they work well within it. For us to play as well as we did against a healthy, sound Kansas State team is great for us.”
Attea also recorded 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, hitting for a .512 clip in the process. Jordan Anderson joined Attea in recording a double-double, her seventh, with 21 kills and 13 digs on the evening. Hannah Shreve had a career-best ten kills, hitting .471, while Evyn McCoy went for a season-high 10 as well, hitting for a .361 clip. Hannah Sackett added in seven kills.
Lamprini Konstantinidou was good for 42 assists as she split time at setter with Brittany Sample, who dished out 22 assists along with six digs. Gianna Gotterba recorded a career-best 21 digs, while Anna Panagiotakopoulos had 10.
The Mountaineers posted 10 team blocks, led by a solo block and six assists from McCoy. Attea, Shreve and Anderson each had a trio of blocks, while Konstantinidou added a pair. The Mountaineers hit .263 with 78 kills in the match.
Attea led the way in set one, hitting .643 with nine kills as the Mountaineers hit .229. Early kills from Attea and Anderson tied the set at the start before the Wildcats went on to take four of five points in claiming a 15-11 lead on a kill. A pair of K-State errors, combined with a kill from Anderson, cut the WVU deficit to just one at 16-15, but the Wildcats rolled off three straight points to lead 19-15. Kills from Sackett and Anderson, along with a K-State attacking error, once again brought the Mountaineers with in one at 23-22. The teams traded off serving set-point before a ball handling error on the Wildcats and a kill from Attea gave WVU the 29-27 win.
McCoy hit .750 with three kills in set two, but it was again Attea who led the way with four kills. However, seven attacking errors would hurt the Mountaineers’ chances. Attea found the court for the first time in set two to give WVU the 4-2 advantage before Shreve made it 6-4 with a kill of her own. Another kill from Attea, followed by a pair of K-State attacking errors, pushed the WVU lead out to 12-8. McCoy, Sackett and Shreve each put down a kill as the Mountaineers again increased their lead, this time to 15-11. West Virginia kept a slim lead for most of the match until a 6-0 run brought Kansas State in front of the Mountaineers as the Wildcats took the set 25-23 to tie the match 1-1.
Despite hitting .316 with a trio of blocks, the Mountaineers couldn’t come away with the win in set three. Three kills and a block by the Wildcats gave them the 9-3 advantage before three more kills in a row put them ahead 16-7. The Mountaineers rattled off four straight points, including a pair of Anderson kills, to cut the deficit to five at 19-14, forcing K-State into a timeout. Attea put one through the pins while Anderson added two more to her tally, helping to keep the set alive. Ultimately, a K-State kill gave the set to the Wildcats, 25-21, as they took a 2-1 lead in the match.
With their backs against the ropes, the Mountaineers came out hitting .282 with 18 kills in set four. Attea and Anderson each put down a pair of kills to give WVU the 7-5 lead. Shreve then teamed first with Anderson, followed by Konstantinidou, on back-to-back blocks as West Virginia moved to a 14-11 advantage, forcing Kansas State to burn a timeout. The Wildcats scored three straight out of the break to tie the set at 14-14, then went on to rattle off three more in a row to take a 20-18 lead. Consecutive kills from Attea tied the score at 20-20, and the squads traded points to knot the score at 23-23. A service error on the Wildcats made it set-point for the Wildcats, and Anderson took advantage, putting down a kill to give the Mountaineers the 25-23 win and force a fifth set.
Sackett led the way in set five with a trio of kills, but it wasn’t enough. A 3-0 run midway thought the set, capped by an ace, gave the Wildcats the 8-5 advantage. A pair of K-State errors and an Anderson kill tied things up at 8-8, but the Wildcats rolled out four straight to take a 12-8 lead. A block by Attea and McCoy, along with a kill from McCoy, extended the match and forced K-State into a timeout. However, the Wildcats came out of the break and went for a kill for the final point, taking the set 15-12 to win the match 3-2.
The Mountaineers will hit the road for a pair of contests next week. First up for WVU is a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, where they will face TCU in a Big 12 rematch on Wednesday at 5 p.m. They will then head to Norman, Oklahoma, for a Saturday night tilt with the Sooners.
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