LINCOLN, Neb. – K-State volleyball saw its season come to an end Saturday night at Bob Devaney Sports Center, as the Wildcats fell to No. 1 Nebraska in straight sets in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, 17-25, 21-25, 16-25.
Nebraska (32-0, 20-0 Big Ten), the No. 1 overall national seed, carded 43 kills with Andi Jackson and Harper Murray each putting down 10 kills. Jackson hit at a .533 clip with two errors on 15 attempts. Taylor Landfair added eight kills.
Six different Wildcats (18-10, 10-8 Big 12) contributed a kill in the match paced by seven from Aniya Clinton. An All-Big 12 Second Team selection, Clinton turned in five digs with three blocks to lead the Cats with nine total points.
The Wildcats forced 18 errors from the Cornhuskers – Nebraska’s most since September 16 against Creighton (26) – producing an 8.0-5.0 advantage in total team blocks, led by five from senior Brenna Schmidt.
The 18 attack errors marked the Huskers’ fourth-highest total of the season, joining 20-plus error outings against Creighton (26), Kentucky (25) and Pittsburgh (23).The match also marked just the fifth time in which the Cornhuskers were held below the .300 threshold, as the team’s .253 hitting percentage was the team’s fourth lowest output of the year.
Of the 52 sets played at the Devaney Center, K-State’s 21 points in Set 2 marked just the 11th set Nebraska allowed 20-plus points at home.
LeGrand, who earned All-Big 12 Second Team recognition Tuesday, handed out 19 assists to go along with a team-high nine digs. K-State also got six digs from Symone Sims and Shaylee Myers, who put down six kills.
Nebraska will advance to the Regional Semifinals of the 2025 NCAA Tournament and will face No. 16 national seed Kansas (24-10, 13-5 Big 12) on Friday, December 12 in Lincoln.
FROM THE CATS
JASON MANSFIELD, K-STATE HEAD COACH
Overall Statement…
“Congratulations to Nebraska on a really good match. Elite defensive team and their offense was good at times. I’m really proud of our team and just the fight that we had in all three sets. I felt like we battled with them for a while, just couldn’t sustain it. Just really proud of this team and what we accomplished this season.”
On the 2025 senior class…
“They’ve been special. We’ve talked about it all the way back in January, I felt like this team was going to take the program to a different place and the seniors were going to lead us in that direction, and they have. All five of them are very unique, very special, they’re different in their own way. They’ve added so much to our program their whole career, really, but their senior season was special. There’s no substitute for urgency and I think they were really urgent this whole season in trying to get us to this place. I’m really proud of them and they’ll be remembered forever.”
AVA LEGRAND, SENIOR SETTER
On setting the standard for the next generation of K-State players…
“We want it to be the standard to make it to the tournament and not only make it to the tournament, but to make it to the next round. And hopefully every year we get past the next hump. That is something we tried instilling in the freshmen and younger girls, and hopefully for the future of this program we will have a standard here and K-State is going to be one to remember.”
On ending her career in her hometown state…
“It comes full circle. I had such a great cheering section with so many friends and family members that it was so awesome to see them all out there. But also, just Bob Devaney is a special place. Growing up in Nebraska, it’s a volleyball state, can’t deny that, but hearing the fans cheer for all us Nebraska girls was pretty awesome, but I think full circle comes to mind.”
ANIYA CLINTON, SENIOR OUTSIDE HITTER/OPPOSITE
On the senior leadership…
“This is kind of where we want our program to be and we don’t want it to start here. This is a spot that we’ve brought our program, and we don’t want it to stop here. This is a spot that we’ve brought our program, and I think we’ve done a really good job as seniors leading so I hope that the next group of seniors continues to follow in our footsteps.”
SET-BY-SET
Set 1 – #1/(1) Nebraska 25, K-State 17
- Nebraska jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead behind a pair of kills from Rebekah Allick and aces from Laney Choboy and Virginia Adriano.
- Four unanswered points for K-State highlighted a 6-1 scoring run that trimmed a seven-point deficit, 15-8, to two. The run included a block by Clinton and Schmidt, along with a service ace from Emerson Van Lannen – her 28th of the season.
- The Wildcats were held to a .086 hitting percentage (8 kills, 5 errors, 35 swings) in the opening frame against the Cornhuskers’ .250 (16 kills, 7 errors, 36 attempts).
- K-State out-blocked Nebraska in Set 1, 4.0-2.0.
Set 2 – #1/(1) Nebraska 25, K-State 21
- The Wildcats captured their first lead of the match, 4-1, with a pair of blocks from Schmidt, Clinton and LeGrand.
- After seven tied scores, Nebraska ran away with a 4-0 scoring run to take the first substantial lead of the set, 13-10, but was answered with kills from Schmidt and Reagan Fox to make it a one-point score.
- K-State came out of a timeout with a kill from LeGrand to spark a 4-1 run, that included three consecutive kills from LeGrand, Fox and Clinton, bridging the gap to two, 22-20.
- The run forced a timeout from Nebraska, their first of the match, and was followed by a solo stop by Schmidt.
- With the score notched at 22-21, Nebraska put together a 3-0 closing run to put the set away.
- K-State recorded a set-best .171 hitting percentage behind 12 kills on 35 attempts with six errors, while the defense limited Nebraska to a .139 clip (12 kills, 7 errors, 36 swings) with four blocks.
Set 3 – #1/(1) Nebraska 25, K-State 16
- After back-and forth action, the Wildcats pieced together a 4-0 scoring run to take a one-point lead.
- Tied 8-8, the Cornhuskers rattled off an 8-1 scoring run to overcome the deficit and take control of the set.
- K-State managed just seven kills in the final set, hitting at a .097 efficiency, while Nebraska turned in a match-high .393 clip (15 kills, 4 errors, 28 errors).
INSIDE THE BOX
- Nebraska defeated K-State in straight sets to advance to the Regional Semifinals – 25-17, 25-21, 25-16.
- K-State turned in a .118 hitting percentage (27 kills, 15 errors, 118 attempts), while Nebraska finished with a .243 efficiency (43 kills, 18 errors, 99 attempts).
- The 18 attack errors marked the Huskers’ fourth-highest total of the season.
- The match also marked just the fifth time the Cornhuskers were held below a .300 hitting percentage.
- The team’s .253 hitting percentage was the team’s fourth lowest output of the year.
- Clinton led the Wildcats with seven kills to go with five digs and three blocks.
- Myers finished with six kills while Fox added five.
- LeGrand handed out 19 assists and logged a team-leading nine digs.
- LeGrand and Van Lannen each recorded a service ace.
- The Cats out-blocked the Cornhuskers, 8-5.
- Nebraska was led by Jackson’s 10 kills at a .533 clip. Murray also put down 10 kills.
- Olivia Mauch finished with a match-high 13 digs and Laney Choboy picked up 12.
- Of 52 sets played at the Devaney Center, K-State’s 21 points in Set 2 marked just the 11th set Nebraska allowed 20-plus points at home.
BEYOND THE BOX
- In its history, K-State has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times, advancing to the Regional Semifinal three times (2000, 2003, 2011).
- K-State is 16-19 overall in the tournament, that includes a 3-10 record in the second round.
- The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016, making the program’s 12th overall appearance in the round.
- The 2025 postseason run marks K-State’s sixth time being sent to Lincoln for the first-round in school history (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2025).
- Nebraska leads the all-time series 84-4, that includes a 36-3 record at home.
- Saturday’s contest marks the third meeting between the Wildcats and Cornhuskers in the postseason and first since 2011.
- The Cats are 1-2 in the postseason series vs. the Huskers.
- In 2011, K-State upset third-seeded Nebraska in five sets to advance to the team’s third NCAA Regional Semifinal (Sweet 16).
- The Wildcats were 9-5 in three-set matches this season.
- K-State is now 9-9 is three-set matches all-time in the NCAA Tournament.