K-State head coach Suzie Fritz said it's not the number that's impressive, but how efficiently Liliom has been in reaching the milestone.
"It means you've taken a lot of swings in your career and you've been pretty good," Fritz said of Liliom, who now has 1,002 kills. "I've never really been about records or those types of things. I think that over time, the fact she's hit for pretty high efficiency on those kills tells a lot more about her career to date."
K-State (17-3, 7-2 Big 12) entered into a tight battle with Texas Tech (5-16, 0-10) in the first set, but midway through the Wildcats found a way to break away from the Red Raiders. Leading 13-12, K-State went on a 9-1 run to go ahead 22-13. The Red Raiders pulled as close as seven from the lead before the Wildcats closed the game out 25-18.
K-State was led in kills by a host of players as six players recorded two kills, with 10 players seeing action in the set. Soriana Pacheco had nine assists and the Wildcats finished the first game with five service errors.
Jenny Jantsch had two service aces in the first set, helping her pass Kathy Saxon for eighth all-time on the career service aces list at K-State.
Both teams struck back-and-forth at each other in the second set until the score was tied at 10. From that point, the Wildcats went on a 13-1 run and during that run, an 11-0 run to take a 23-11 lead. After one point from the Red Raiders, K-State scored two more to win the set 25-12.
Fritz said the run was possible thanks to the serving of Liliom.
"That was Rita, I think that was an eight or nine point serving run that she went on and her serve was wicked," Fritz said. "If you stand at the in-line watching that thing move around, she really has that thing going."
Natalya Korobkova led the Wildcats in kills for the set with four. As a team, K-State had 15 kills in the game, including three service aces. Pacheco added 11 assists to bring her match total to 20 at that point.
K-State didn't let up in its third set, slowly adding to a lead and leaving the Red Raiders behind it. Leading 16-13, the Wildcats orchestrated their longest run of the set, a 7-2 scoring streak that put them ahead 23-15. K-State took little time to win game 25-17.
Just behind Liliom, Korobkova finished the match with nine kills and Pacheco ended the match with 25 assists.
The Wildcats will head out on the road Wednesday when they travel to Ames, Iowa for a Big 12 matchup with Iowa State.
K-State will travel to Baylor the following Saturday before returning home Oct. 29 to face Texas A&M.
All three of K-State's next three games are against teams that entered the weekend tied for fourth in the conference.
