"We're playing pretty well for September, and I like where we're at right now," KSU head coach Suzie Fritz said. "Our middle is much improved and we've got several players playing near the top of their game right now. The key now for this team will be to keep improving and keep pushing forward so they can go from good to great."
Senior setter Stacey Spiegelberg served K-State to an 8-2 lead in the opening game, with Rita Liliom making three kills and a block along the way to force a Fresno State timeout. Liliom then served an ace of her own moments later, and the Wildcats got three kills apiece from Kelsey Chipman, Megan Farr and Nataly Korobkova to bury the Bulldogs 30-9 in the opening set.
Farr made two blocks and a kill as K-State closed out the first game with six straight points, and an 11-0 Wildcat run spilled over into a 5-0 lead early in the second game. Angie Lastra made a great diving save beneath the referee's stand to help KSU to its first point in the second game.
The lead later swelled to 13 after Liliom's second ace of the day.
"We've been focused this week on getting a good start to each match," Fritz said. "We started slow against everyone last week in Hawaii, and good teams don't let you recover from that. We wanted to come out sharp this weekend and stay aggressive, and I think we did a better job of that."
Chipman served Kansas State to a 4-0 lead in the third and final game, and a Spiegelberg ace made it 7-2 before three unforced errors helped Fresno pull within one at 7-6.
That, however, was the closest the Bulldogs could come the entire afternoon, and they were outscored better than 2-1 the rest of the way.
Junior Jenny Jantsch served up consecutive aces to make it 17-9.
She added four kills down the stretch as KSU secured the sweep with another double-digit victory.
Jantsch led Kansas State with 10 kills, followed by Liliom with nine and four others with seven.
Spiegelberg supplied her standard 36 assists, and the Wildcats got nine digs from both Lastra and Lauren Rosenthal.
"This team has a combination of things going for it right now," Fritz said. "We're a year older and we have some personnel upgrades at key positions that are making a difference, and these girls have made a stronger commitment to be great. It's not like we're rolling over everyone ... we've had to win some tough matches already, and we've shown glimpses of great things."
K-State's next action is Wednesday against the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Friday's opening round
Kansas State started the four-team tournament with a sweep of Arkansas Friday afternoon. The Wildcats won 30-23, 30-23, and 30-27.
Middle blockers Chipman and Farr finished with double-digit kills on .500 hitter or better.
Chipman had 10 kills and no errors on 17 attempts, while also posting KSU's only block.
Far had a team-high 11 kills with one error in 20 attempts.
Spiegelberg had 39 assists and a match-high three service aces.
Lastra became K-State's career leader in digs with 11 on the day.
She passed Kim Zschau (1995-98), who was ahead by eight going into the day's action.
K-State handled the Northern Iowa Panthers in the nightcap Friday, winning in three games (30-15, 30-25, 30-23).
Liliom had a match-high 16 kills.
Farr and Chipman added 11 apiece.
Jantsch finished the match with three service aces, seven kills and nine digs.
Spiegelberg had 44 assists and Lastra had 14 digs.
