MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State will make its final television appearance at home when the Wildcats host Texas A&M on Wednesday from Ahearn Field House. The match, to be televised by FSN Midwest, will get its start at 7 p.m. with the first serve. K-State, currently battling with Oklahoma for third in the league, has an 18-7 overall record while being 10-5 in the Big 12. The Aggies sit at 18-7 overall; 7-7 Big 12 and have won five of their last six contests, dropping a 3-1 decision to Oklahoma.

The two enter the midweek match having opposite results on Saturday. K-State narrowly missed an upset of No. 2 Nebraska when the Huskers came back from a 2-0 deficit to win in five, while the Aggies took care of the Cyclones 3-1 in College Station, Texas. In the earlier meeting between KSU and Texas A&M, the Wildcats earned their first victory in College Station since 2003 when K-State won by a 3-1 score (23-30, 30-24, 30-27, 30-23).

Those unable to attend Wednesday’s match can find the action on FSN (Cox cable channel 34 in Manhattan) or live on the radio at 1350KMAN, www.kstatesports.com or www.1350kman.com. A complete recap as well as statistics will be posted at Kansas State’s official athletic website, www.kstatesports.com, following the completion of the event.

At Stake
Kansas State is ranked 12th, its highest rank of the season... K-State is 6-4 in the last 10 contests with the losses being handed to the Cats from ranked squads... K-State has an 8-3 home record while being 4-3 in Big 12 home matches... K-State’s nation-leading ace streak continues and sits at 280 straight matches of at least one service ace... The Wildcats have six matches of 10 or more aces this year... K-State won the first match against Texas A&M this year, marking the first in four meetings... The last KSU home win over the Aggies was Oct. 1, 2005, in a 3-0 score... K-State’s only home loss to TAMU was Nov. 4, 2006, in three games... The Wildcats lead the series 13-11 and are 6-4 in the last 10 meetings... The Cats are 10-1 at home in Ahearn versus A&M, while Suzie Fritz is 8-5 all-time against TAMU... K-State is 17-1 against unranked teams in 2007... The Cats have held 15 of their last 18 opponents under .250 hitting, including six of the last seven under .200.

Kansas State Pre-Match Report
With only five regular season matches remaining, No. 12 Kansas State sits with an 18-7 record while being 10-5 in conference matches. In their last outing, the Wildcats dropped a heartbreaking match to No. 2 Nebraska after having the 2-0 advantage in front 3,254 spectators, the largest home crowd of the season.

K-State jumped to the lead after capturing games one and two in scores of 30-24 and 30-27. The Wildcats were backed by .341 hitting in the first while the Huskers had a .216 clip. Each team had lower accuracy in the second with KSU at .122 and NU with only .094. In the first two combined, K-State had 34 kills with 14 errors on 90 attempts to hit at .222 and Nebraska tallied 29 kills with 16 errors on 90 attempts with an average of .144.

After the break, the Huskers returned to the court fighting as they won the last three games in scores of 30-25, 30-19, 15-8 and improved to .266 hitting while holding the Wildcats to .187.

K-State received a 32-dig effort from senior Angie Lastra, marking a season-best and the fifth time the Carolina, Puerto Rico, native has had 30 or more in her career. Stacey Spiegelberg put together a double-double with 61 assists and 10 digs. Nataly Korobkova was one dig shy of addding a second double-double for the Cats as she finished with a team-high 22 kills with nine digs. Rita Liliom, Kelsey Chipman and Megan Farr each had double figures in kills with 14, 12 and 10, respectively. In blocks, Chipman, Farr and Jantsch each put back six block assists to lead the squad.

Kansas State’s .258 season attack is led by Korobkova and Liliom who each have converted for over 300 kills this season. Korobkova inches her way to the 400 mark as she sits with 390 through 87 games to average 4.48 kills per game, ranking fourth in the conference. Liliom has 327 season kills with an average of 3.59 per game. Each of the junior attackers has a hitting percentage of over .200 with Liliom at .242 and Korobkova hitting .235.

The middle blockers have provided depth for the offense with both Kelsey Chipman and Megan Farr over 200 kills on the year. Chipman is third for K-State with 231 kills and second in hitting as she swings at .330 percent. Farr leads the team in hitting, with a clip of .362 to sit at sixth in the conference, with 213 kills and 49 errors on 453 attempts.

The two also sit among the top 10 in the Big 12 in blocks per game. Chipman leads the team with an average of 1.45 per game (11 solo, 121 assisted) and is second in the conference behind Anna Breyfogle of Baylor (1.60 bpg). Farr is third in the league with 1.36 per game, as she has put back 13 solo and 111 block assists this season.

Spiegelberg continues to pace the Cats in both assists and service aces. The senior setter has 1203 assists with an average of 13.22 in 91 games for the Cats. She paces the Big 12-leading service ace squad with 35 to average 0.38 per game. Spiegelberg ranks third in assists per game and fifth in aces among conference individuals.

Lastra has separated herself from the other Wildcat defenders in terms of digs, as the senior libero has 426 digs on the year, while the next closest is Spiegelberg with 163. Lastra averages 4.68 per game to sit at second in the Big 12, while she has a slightly higher average in conference matches only with 4.98 per game. As Spiegelberg averages 1.79 digs per game, Korobkova sits with 162 digs and averages 1.86 per game.

Kansas State continues to lead the pack of Big 12 members in service aces, as the Wildcats average 1.99 per game after tallying 181 in 91 games. K-State ranks third in the conference in assists per game with an average of 15.18 while Spiegelberg also ranks third. The Cats are fourth in a number of categories, including hitting percentage (.258), opponent hitting percentage (.182), kills (16.11 kpg) and blocks (2.96 bpg). K-State is ninth in digs per game with an average of 14.81, trailing Kansas by .05.

Scouting Report: Texas A&M
Texas A&M has battled through this season to an 18-7 overall winning record, but sits at .500 in the conference at 7-7. The Aggies opened conference play with a perfect 10-0 record, but dropped the first two Big 12 matches to Oklahoma and Iowa State. A&M has also been handed losses by Nebraska, Kansas State, Texas, Missouri and a second one from Oklahoma. The Aggies started with a 3-6 Big 12 record, but have improved by going 4-1 in their last five conference matches.

The Aggies captured a win in their last match by defeating Iowa State 3-1 in games of 30-18, 28-30, 36-34, 30-17 in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M finished with three Aggies notching double-doubles. Leading in both kills and digs was Sarah Ammerman who converted for 22 kills while dishing out 15 digs. She also put together four service aces and three blocks. Kristen Schevikhoven had a match-high 59 assists while also recording 14 digs. Mary Batis added 13 kills and 14 digs. Also contributing in the winning effort were Kelly Stanton with 16 kills on .500 hitting, Kelsey Bryant with 11 kills and Jen Moore with a dozen digs.

As the Aggies have played 84 games in 2007, Ammerman leads the .281 attack of Texas A&M, who ranks third among Big 12 schools. The sophomore has 327 kills on .258 hitting with an average of 4.19 kills per game, ranking seventh. Sophomore Batis is second with 279 kills (3.36 kpg). Both are in the top 10 in the conference for service aces as Ammerman ranks fourth (31; 0.40 sapg) and Batis is eighth (26; 0.31 sapg).

Schevikhoven sets for the Aggie attack and has 947 assists on the year. The sophomore setter averages 11.69 to sit at eighth in the Big 12.

Along with being Texas A&M’s second go-to hitter, Batis also is the top defender for the team as she has 301 digs on the year to average 3.63. Jen Moore and Ammerman each have over 200 digs as well, notching 266 and 203, respectively. Jillian Phillips paces the squad in blocks with 93 total (11 solo, 82 assisted) to average 1.26 per game and rank seventh. Kelsey Bryant and Kelly Stanton each add over 80 blocks with both averaging 1.02 per game.

Texas A&M ranks third to fifth in every stat in the conference. The Aggies are third in hitting percentage (.281), kills (16.33 kpg) and aces (1.61 sapg). They are fourth in assists with an average of 14.65 per game and digs at 16.15 per game. With an opponent hitting percentage of .187 and a 2.80 blocks per game average, A&M is fifth in the conference.

Senior Night Set
A full slate of Kansas State athletics will take place on November 17th, which marks the Wildcat volleyball Senior Night. The match against Colorado has been moved back to 7:30 p.m. Seniors Angie Lastra, Lauren Rosenthal and Stacey Spiegelberg will all be honored on the night.

Chart Chasers
A number of Wildcats are pushing themselves into the K-State record books as the season nears an end. Nataly Korobkova is one block away from joining the single season KSU triple-triple club. The junior from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, has 390 kills, 162 digs and 99 blocks on the year. With 22 kills in match against Nebraska, Korobkova moved into a tie for seventh on the 20-kill matches in a season list and tied for eighth on the career list. Stacey Spiegelberg needs 62 more assists to tie for 10th for most assists in a season. Kelsey Chipman only needs two more blocks to enter the top 10 for block assists in a season.