MANHATTAN, Kan. No. 25 Kansas State overcame a game one setback to conclude the Varney’s Kansas State Invitational with a victory on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats defeated Montana State, 3-1 (22-30, 30-25, 30-14, 30-7), to extend its winning streak to four.

K-State is now 69-14-5 (.784) in home invitational tournaments and 167-26-4 (.848) all-time against non-conference opponents in Ahearn Field House.

The Wildcats (5-1) held the advantage in a number of statistical categories including kills (69-30), hitting percentage (.313 to .050), assists (63-28) digs (57-51) and service aces (10-5). The hitting percentage of .313 is a new season-high for a four-game match.

The game four output by the Bobcats of seven points, set a new record for the Wildcats for the fewest points allowed to an opponent since the institution of rally scoring before the start of the 2001 season. The previous low was nine by UMKC on Sept. 9, 2003.

K-State extended the nation’s longest current streak with at least one service ace in a match to 231 during game two. The 10 service aces are a new season-high for the Wildcats, surpassing Friday night’s effort of nine against Wichita State.

Leading the Wildcats was senior Sandy Werner with personal season-highs of 22 kills and a .405 hitting percentage. For the weekend, the Topeka, Kan., native carded 44 kills on a .319 hitting percentage and four service aces.

Joining Werner in double figures were redshirt freshmen Tiffany Johnson and Ginta Gabruseva. Johnson tallied 11 kills, five blocks and a career-high two digs. Gabruseva registered 10 kills and five blocks.

Adding to the Wildcat attack on Saturday were sophomores Jenny Jantsch and Megan Kroeker. Jantsch equaled her career-high in aces with four, while tabulating nine kills and eight digs. Kroeker added nine kills and four blocks to the effort.

Junior setter Stacey Spiegelberg helped guide the balanced attack with 56 assists and chipped in seven digs, six kills, three services aces and two blocks. Junior libero Angie Lastra recorded a match-high 18 digs. The product of Carolina, Puerto Rico has 1,084 digs for her career and trails Liz Wegner for sixth on the K-State all-time digs list by 37.

Kansas State will conclude its four-match home stand on Wednesday, Sept. 6 against Drake at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on 1350 KMAN in Manhattan and will be available live to Powercat Passport subscribers at www.kstatesports.com.

Varney's Kansas State Invitational All-Tournament Team
Sandy Werner, Kansas State (MVP)

Tiffany Johnson, Kansas State

Sara Lungren, Wichita State

Angela, Jakubov, Wichita State

Angela Wiebe, Montana State

Alex Scruggs, Lipscomb