Nov. 30, 2001

Box Score

Manhattan, Kan. - Liz Wegner finished with 25 kills, leading four Kansas State players in double figures, as the Wildcats won the final two games to earn a five-game victory over Arkansas on Friday in a first-round match of the NCAA Volleyball Championships before 2,114 at Ahearn Field House.

Kansas State prevailed, 30-15, 18-30, 27-30, 30-18, 15-8.

The Wildcats, now 20-7 overall, will host second-seeded Nebraska in a second-round match on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Cornhuskers moved to 28-1 and won their 26th straight match with a 30-8, 30-15, 30-23 victory over Oral Roberts earlier on Friday.

Lauren Goehring had a career-high 19 kills and a match-high eight blocks for the Wildcats, with Jenny Pollard adding 19 kills and 25 digs. Jayne Christen had a dozen kills for K-State, which finished with a .323 hitting percentage.

Eftila Tanellari had 20 kills and 22 digs to lead Arkansas, which finished 21-12 overall. Anna Velikanova had 12 kills, while Michelle Coens added 10 kills and 10 digs.

The Wildcats rolled to leads of 5-2, 10-3 and 16-6 in earning a comfortable first-game win. K-State hit .528 in the game, getting 22 kills in the opening game alone, including seven from Wegner.

Arkansas had a similar comfortable win in the second game, taking a 13-9 lead before an 11-3 run put the game out of reach.

Kansas State led only once in the third game, at 3-2, as the Lady Razorbacks stayed in front in a close battle. The largest lead down the stretch was four points, but Arkansas used eight kills from Velikanova and seven from Tanellari to claim the win.

The Wildcats controlled game four, taking a 5-0 lead and never trailing. The decisive run was an 11-1 string that put K-State ahead 22-10 in the middle of the game.

K-State never trailed in the decisive fifth game, taking an early 7-1 lead. Arkansas managed to climb back within 10-6, but K-State put the game away with solid middle hitting, including five kills from Wegner and four by Goehring.

Kansas State, which finished third in the Big 12 Conference behind Nebraska and Texas A&M, lost both its matches to the Huskers this season by 3-0 scores.