Cats Face #14 Bears Saturday at Bramlage

MANHATTAN, Kan. (Kansas State Athletics) – Following Kansas State’s exciting comeback win at Oklahoma, the Wildcats welcome #14 Baylor to Manhattan, Kansas, for another Big 12 match-up. The Cats and the Bears battle it out on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

K-State (12-8, 3-4 Big 12) was down two sets on Wednesday night against the Sooners and came back to clinch its first reverse sweep of the season and first since 2019.

Junior Aliyah Carter paced the Wildcats with 16 kills (.297) in her highest output since Sept. 24. The outside hitter added two aces and seven digs in her 19-point run. Sydney Bolding collected a match-best .381 clip on 11 kills and contributed four blocks.

Libero Mackenzie Morris led both teams with a career-best 29 digs while setter Loren Hinkle tallied the 99^th ace of her career with three against the Sooners.

Baylor (16-4, 5-2) is ranked #14 in this week’s AVCA poll and won its Wednesday match against Texas Tech (3-1). The Bears are 3-2 on the road this season and 2-1 in Big 12 play, dropping to Iowa State on Sept. 28.

K-State leads the all-time series with BU 29-25 and is 17-10 at home against the Bears. Head coach Suzie Fritz owns a 22-21 record against Baylor.

Saturday’s match will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Fans can also listen to Emma Wiley on News Radio KMAN (93.3FM) with online audio available at K-StateSports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.

MATCH #21
K-STATE (12-8, 3-4 BIG 12) vs #14 BAYLOR (16-4, 5-2 BIG 12)
Saturday, Oct. 22 // 1 p.m. // Bramlage Coliseum // Manhattan, Kansas
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM) // Emma Wiley
Listen: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats

K-STATE AT A GLANCE

• K-State hosts Baylor Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.
• The Wildcats are coming off their five-set win over Oklahoma on Wednesday.
• K-State hit .227 as a team with 53 kills while OU swung at a .195 hitting percentage with 57 kills.
• The team had 17 kills in set three, more than the first two sets combined.
• This is the Wildcats’ third win this season when trailing in blocks (3-5).
• Carter led the Cats with 16 kills (.297).
• This is the fifth time that Carter topped the team in kills.
• Bolding paced the team at a .381 hitting percentage.
• She has nine matches with .300+ hitting percentage (min 10 kills).
• Morris collected a career-high 29 digs.
• She has turned in at least 15 digs in six of the last seven matches.
• Morris also holds sole possession of third place in K-State history with 18 20-dig matches in her career (rally-scoring era).
• Hinkle tied her career best with three aces.
• She posted the 99^th ace of her career.
• She added 43 assists and was one dig away from a double-double.
• Baka had one kill in her lowest output of the season.
• The Wildcats have not lost in straight sets at home this season.
• K-State sits second in the Big 12 with a 2.64 per set average.
• The Cats lead the conference with 1.79 average aces.
• The eight three-set wins tie the most by the Wildcats since eight during the 2018 season.

SCOUTING BAYLOR

• BU (16-4, 5-2 Big 12) enters Saturday third in the Big 12 standings.
• The Bears are 3-2 on the road and 3-1 in away conference matches.
• Baylor dropped to Iowa State (1-3) and #1 Texas (1-3).
• The Bears are third in the Big 12 with 12.05 assists/set, 13.42 kills/set, and 2.64 blocks/set.
• BU ranks eighth in the conference with 12.67 average digs.
• The team’s opponent service ace is first in the Big 12 at 0.99 per set.
• Baylor sits second in the conference in opponent digs (11.84), opponent assists (10.77), and opponent hitting percentage (.173).
• Seniors Kara McGhee and Mallory Talbert rank third and fourth in the Big 12 at .411 and .407 hitting percentages.
• McGhee leads the conference with 1.56 blocks per set.
• Freshman Averi Carlson sits third in the Big 12 ranks with 10.49 average assists.
• Sophomore Lauren Briseño is seventh with 0.33 aces/set and 3.23 digs/set in the conference.

INSIDE THE SERIES

• K-State leads the all-time series 29-25, which began in 1993.
• Both schools were inaugural members of the Big 12 when it began in 1996.
• The Wildcats are 17-10 at home against the Bears.
• Baylor took both matches in the 2021 series 3-0 on Oct. 25 and 26.
• The Cats are 1-9 in the last ten matches against BU.
• Head coach Suzie Fritz is 22-21 versus the Bears.

IN DA CLUB

• With her 20 digs against Kansas (Sept. 24), K-State junior libero Mackenzie Morris joined the 1,000-digs club.
• She became the seventh Wildcat to play her entire career in the rally-scoring era to reach career dig No. 1,000.
• Additionally, Morris is the fastest player in program history (rally-scoring era) to reach the milestone, doing so in just 63 matches.
• On Wednesday, Morris set a career-high with 29 digs at Oklahoma.
• 29 digs are the fourth-highest single-match dig total in the Big 12 this season.
• Earlier this year she produced three straight 20-dig outings – the longest such stretch of her career.
• Morris has carded at least 17 digs in eight of her last nine matches.
• The junior was held to her lowest output against the Longhorns with six digs (10/12).
• Her 22 digs against Iowa State equaled the highest total in a three-set match in the Big 12 this season (Zoe Fleck, Texas).
• The Dallas native now owns 18 career matches with at least 20 digs, as she now has sole possession of third place in program history.
• At 4.14 digs per set, she is currently one of just two players in the rally-scoring era to average over 4.00 digs per set (Angie Lastra, 4.37).
• Morris is one of just four active players in the Big 12 with at least 1,000 career digs (third among active Big 12 athletes).

ACE ACE BABY

• After recording nine aces against TCU, K-State has racked up 136 service aces, ranking first in the Big 12 and tied for 36th nationally with a 1.79 average.
• Sydney Bolding did not have an ace in the match for the first time since Sept. 17 (vs Creighton).
• Her season total of 31 aces is tied for third in the conference while her average of 0.42 ranks fifth.
• Bolding has eight matches with multiple aces and has equaled her career high of four aces three times this season.
• Elena Baka is second on the team and fifth in the league with 26 aces.
• Six times the Cats have eclipsed the 10-ace mark, including in back-to-back matches at the UCF Challenge with 11 against Syracuse and a season-high 12 vs. North Florida.
• The 12 aces were the most in a three-set match since the 2007 season and were tied for fourth-most in the rally-scoring era.
• It was the first time K-State produced back-to-back matches with at least 10 aces since 2007.
• Last season, K-State finished with 10 or more aces just twice.
• Additionally, the six matches with 10 or more aces are the most since a rally-scoring-record seven matches in 2007.

BAKA BREAKS THROUGH

• Senior transfer Elena Baka has had an immediate impact through 20 matches with the Wildcats.
• Playing six rotations, Baka leads the team in total kills with 200, eclipsing the 200 mark on Wednesday against the Sooners.
• She pairs this with 26 aces.
• The Saint Mary’s transfer set a career-high with 19 kills against UCF on the way to her second straight all-tournament team selection.
• Baka has led K-State in kills seven times this season and finished as the team leader in digs twice.
• She has a team-leading six double-doubles on the season.
• Her 26 aces are fifth-most in the Big 12, as she has served up multiple aces eight times – including in each of K-State’s first five contests.

BOLD BOLDING

• Senior middle blocker Sydney Bolding is off to a fast start for K-State in 2022, averaging 1.92 kills per set with 1.26 blocks per set and 31 aces.
• The senior’s hitting .314 hitting percentage tops the Wildcats for the season.
• Bolding three times has produced four aces this season, including in K-State’s conference match against Iowa State and four coming in the first set alone against St. Thomas.
• The four aces matched a career-high, as she has seven matches with multiple aces this season (two such matches last season).
• Her 31 aces match the most by a Wildcat middle blocker since Zsofia Gyimes’ 31 in 2018.
• The record for a K-State middle blocker in the rally-scoring era is 37 aces, done by Lauren Goehring (2001) and Kaitlynn Pelger (2013).
• She was named to the Rambler Challenge All-Tournament Team, her second all-tournament team selection after also being voted to the K-State Invitational All-Tournament Team.
• Bolding, who missed the first three weeks of the 2021 season due to injury, turned in a season-high eight blocks against Kansas City.
• She repeated the feat versus TCU, tallying eight block assists.
• The Pickens, South Carolina, product has eclipsed double-figure kills six times this season and has hit .350 or better eight times, including a career-best .588 at Rice.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• K-State has won the opening set in 15 of 20 outings to begin the campaign, going 10-5 in those matches.
• The Wildcats are unbeaten (9-0) when hitting at a higher hitting percentage and are 9-1 when producing more kills than their opponents.
• Additionally, the Cats are 8-2 when they have limited their opponents to a hitting efficiency under .200.
• The Wildcats’ 3-0 over Kansas City marked the 200th sweep under head coach Suzie Fritz.
• Fritz collected her 200th career home win against Missouri on Sept. 7 and is 13 away from her 400th career win at the helm of the Wildcats.