"I never paid any attention — someone just told me the other day that we had served an ace so I said, 'that's nice,'" K-State coach Suzie Fritz said. "One of the identities of the K-State team is we want to be an aggressive serving team, but outside of the streak ending or not ending, it doesn't matter to me as long as we win matches."
K-State (10-1) jumped ahead with a 9-1 run to take a 9-3 early first-set lead. Late in the first game, the Wildcats added another 9-1 run to put Liberty away 25-10.
"I thought the first game was more of them not playing to their abilities than anything else," Fritz said. "We came out and were ready to go and I was excited about that."
Kelsey Chipman led the way for K-State with five kills in the set while Abby Fay added seven assists. The Wildcats had 13 kills and no errors in the game while Liberty had eight errors and nine kills.
Liberty (8-2) handed the Wildcats their first set loss of the weekend in the second game, 25-22. The Flames went on a 5-2 run with the score tied at 20 to take the win.
"In game two there was an incredible letdown," Fritz said. "We always say we don't want to beat someone that bad in game one because then you lose that sense of urgency that you need to try to maintain all the way through the match."
Rita Liliom led the Wildcats with five kills while Fay added 11 assists. K-State finished the set with seven errors. Chipman was not as effective for the Wildcats in the set with just one kill and two errors.
Liberty, which was an NCAA Tournament-qualifiying team a year ago, had 14 kills to K-State's 13 in the game and also finished with seven errors. Chelaine McCarty led the Flames with four kills.
It appeared K-State was going to put Liberty away easily it the third set, when the Wildcats went on a 4-0 run to take a 21-16 advantage. The Flames rallied back though with a 5-1 run late to cut the lead to 23-22 before KSU scored the last two to win the set, 25-22.
The Wildcats recorded a match-high 16 kills in the game, led by Liliom who had four. Fay again led the way in assists with nine. Liberty had a match low four errors in the set.
K-State reverted back to form from the first set in the fourth and final set as they opened with a 11-2 run to go ahead 11-3. With a late 6-0 run the Wildcats went ahead 20-6 before putting the Flames away 25-12.
Liliom had a match-high 18 kills and Megan Farr and Kelsey Chipman each had 10 kills. Fay recorded 37 assists.
It was the final non-confrence game for the Wildcats who will open conference play at home against Nebraska on Wednesday.
"I think from here on the sense of urgency we felt in that match, we are going to have that feeling from here on," Fritz said. "I think it's huge that we get tested early."
Liliom led the Wildcats with 12 kills in the early game Saturday as K-State rolled to a sweep over Cornell 25-19, 25-17, and 25-9.
Farr also contributed to the win as she recorded eight kills on nine swings with no errors. K-State had nine service aces to one from the Big Red side, with Fay leading the way at three.
The Wildcats put Cornell behind them early in the third set as they jumped out to an early 16-4 advantage and never let up.
K-State swept Northern Iowa on Friday night, handing the Panthers their first loss of the season 25-21, 25-19, and 25-18.
Liliom led the way again with 16 kills and eight digs, while Korobkova and Chisholm each added eight kills. It was Chisholm's first start of the season.
The match was highlighted by the Wildcats recording 14 kills in the third game as they pulled to a 25-18 match win.
