Okay-State Upends #14 Kansas in Five Sets Friday

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Okay-State overcame a 2-1 deficit to drag off a five-set victory over No. 14 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, 14-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 15-18, marking its first win over the Jayhawks since 2020.
 
In entrance of a crowd of seven,550, Okay-State (11-6, 4-5 Big 12) rallied behind 93 digs and 11.0 whole blocks to snap an eight-match dropping streak in opposition to its in-state rival. The Wildcats final defeated KU in a five-set match in Lawrence on October 30, 2020.
 
Additionally, Okay-State handed the Jayhawks (15-8, 6-3 Big 12) their first loss since October 1, ending their five-match successful streak. It additionally marks KU’s solely lack of the season to an unranked opponent.
 
Libero Symone Sims and center blocker Jordyn Williams anchored a protection that restricted KU to its third-lowest workforce hitting share of the season at .137 – its lowest mark in Big 12 play. Sims, a junior from Frisco, Texas recorded a career-high 26 digs with two service aces, whereas Williams led the match with eight blocks (one solo, seven assists) to associate with 9 kills.  
 
Aniya Clinton, Shaylee Myers and Ava LeGrand every registered double-doubles within the upset. Clinton tallied a match-high 16 kills together with 14 digs, whereas Myers added 15 kills and 16 digs. LeGrand, who has recorded eight double-doubles within the final 10 matches, dished out 33 assists with 15 digs.
 
The victory marked this system’s first over a top-15 workforce since 2023, the place the Wildcats swept No. 3 Texas – the eventual National Champion.
 
FROM THE CATS
JASON MANSFIELD, Okay-STATE HEAD COACH
Overall feedback
“The crowd was incredible tonight. We agreed to do this knowing it was going to be a great crowd but also knowing this isn’t necessarily a home court for them. They had never played here before, so we felt like it would be a good match and a great environment. The girls really stepped up after the first set. I’m really proud of our bounce back in the second set, and then how we battled through a tough third and fourth. We’ve been so close in these last few matches, and I’m just really happy for them. They deserve a win like this against a really good team and they found a way to finish.”
 
On Okay-State’s protection
“We had 93 digs as a team. It was incredible. And Symone [Sims] having 26 of them was just fantastic. That’s the type of team we know we need to be, especially against a team that can hit over our block a lot – or really over anyone’s block. We needed to play great defense, and we did.”
 
On Jordyn Williams’ efficiency
“We need her to be great, both as a blocker and as an attacker, and when she’s going, we’re just a much better team. I’m really proud of her – her connection with Ava [LeGrand] was special tonight.”
 
On Aniya Clinton’s efficiency
“When it comes to Aniya [Clinton], when she plays with passion and grit and really wants the ball, we’re a different team. She’s one of our leaders out there. I love it when she’s aggressive offensively. She got a couple of big blocks at the end against [Jovana Zelenovic], and those are the types of plays she’s capable of making. We wanted to match her up in front of [Zelenovic], which was a tough assignment both attacking and blocking, but I thought she handled it extremely well. She had a tough day – her club coach passed away today – and I know she wanted to play well for him. And she did.”
 
SET-BY-SET
Set 1 – #14 KU 25, Okay-State 14

• Highlighted by a 6-1 scoring run, the Jayhawks expanded their result in eight, 15-7, kills by Aurora Papac and Jovana Zelenovic.
• KU racked up 10 kills and hit at a .176 workforce effectivity in Set 1, whereas the protection compelled Okay-State’s eight errors behind three whole blocks. The Wildcats tallied eight kills, that included 4 by Clinton.

Set 2 – Okay-State 25, #14 KU 17

• Down 9-5, the Wildcats rounded out a 9-1 scoring run to take their simply their second lead of the match. Okay-State fended off the Jayhawks late rally to place the set away.
• Clinton led an offense that hit at a match-leading .237 clip with 5 kills. As a workforce, Okay-State produced 13 kills with 4 errors on 38 swings.
• Behind 4 whole workforce blocks, the Wildcats held the Jayhawks to a -.023 hitting share (9 kills, 10 errors, 43 makes an attempt).

 Set 3 – #14 KU 25, Okay-State 18

• Trailing 14-11, Okay-State put two on the board with the assistance of a service error and ace by Clinton. However, the Wildcats have been unable to beat to deficit as KU answered with 4 straight factors to run away with the set win.
• As a workforce, Okay-State hit .156 (10 kills, 5 errors), whereas KU produced a .205 (13 kills, 5 errors) hitting share.
• Service errors proved to be the distinction maker, as Okay-State had 4 in opposition to KU’s two. The Jayhawks served up three aces within the set.

 Set 4 – Okay-State 25, #14 KU 23

• Following KU’s 9-4 run, Okay-State responded with consecutive kills from Myers and Williams to open the Wildcats’ personal profitable run and convey the rating inside two, 16-14.
• With a pair of aces by Clinton and Myers’ 12^th kill of the night time, Okay-State rallied to take a 23-22 lead. Myers delivered the ultimate blow along with her sixth kill of the set.
• The Wildcats registered 14 kills on 43 swings (.140), and recorded three service aces.

 Set 5 – Okay-State 15, #14 KU 8

• Okay-State capitalized on a 4-0 scoring run to take a 7-3 within the last set however was answered with a profitable run from KU to make it a one-point set.
• Leading 8-7, the Wildcats put collectively a 7-1 closing run to place the match away.

 INSIDE THE BOX

• Wildcats upset KU in five-sets, 14-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 15-8, Friday night time.
• Okay-State hit .137 (51 kills, 27 errors) whereas KU was restricted to a .104 hitting share with 48 kills and 29 errors.
• In whole, the match had 19 tie scores with 9 lead adjustments.
• Clinton led the match with 16 kills (.156), adopted by Myers with 15. Williams added 9.
• Sims produced a match-leading 26 digs with an ideal 1.000 reception share.
• LeGrand dished out 33 assists to associate with six kills and 5 blocks.
• Okay-State had seven service aces led by Clinton with three.
• Five completely different Wildcats tallied a block, led by Williams with a match-high eight blocks (1 solo, 7 assists),
• The Cats out-dug the Jayhawks 93-78 and with an 11.0-10.0 edge in blocks.

 
BEYOND THE BOX

• Okay-State leads the all-time collection, 68-62-1, relationship again to 1974, whereas the win snapped an eight-match dropping streak to KU.
• Okay-State final gained on October 30, 2020, a five-set victory in Lawrence.
• Cats are 32-22 on the street within the collection.
• Okay-State is 2-3 in opposition to Top 25 groups in 2025, posting an general 8-16 document in opposition to nationally ranked foes within the Mansfield period.
• Myers recorded her 16^th match of the yr eclipsing the 10-kill mark – 14^th consecutive match with 10 or extra kills.
• Clinton turned in her seventh consecutive match with double-digit kills – 15^th 10-kill match of the season.

 
UP NEXT
The Wildcats are again in motion Wednesday, October 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to tackle Utah (10-10, 2-6 Big 12) earlier than dealing with BYU (16-4, 4-4 Big 12) on Halloween.

Single-match tickets can be found for all Okay-State residence matches by the Okay-State Athletics ticket workplace at 1-800-221-CATS and www.kstatesports.com/tickets.