Box Score
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Trailing 20-14 in the fourth set and down 2-1 in the match, the Portland Pilots volleyball team made a dramatic comeback to claim the fourth-set but ultimately fell to No. 21 Kansas State (25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 23-25, 15-5) on Saturday in the Ahearn Field House on the second day of the Kansas State Invite in Manhattan, Kan.
Portland now sits at 2-8 overall, while No. 21 Kansas State improves to 6-3.
Junior Jessica Clemens accumulated her fourth double-double this season with a team-high 13 kills and 13 digs. Clemens also posted two service aces. Sophomore Marissa Plummer and freshman Ariel Usher helped pace the attack with seven kills each. Plummer also put up four block assists.
Junior Danielle Dupar led the defensive effort with a team-high 22 digs. Senior Kaylyn Jones and freshman Madison Smith shared duty at the setter position dishing out 10 and 22 assists, respectively.
Freshman Kate Bostwick sent over two service aces against K-State and now leads the Pilots in service aces this season with eight.
Portland trailed 20-14 in the fourth set before Rachel Femling recorded two straight kills to spark a comeback. Plummer and Jessica Clemens followed up with a big block and Kate Bostwick sent over a service ace to reinforce a five-point-run for the Pilots. After a tie at 22, the Pilots would drill over three straight kills from Usher, Sievers and then Bostwick to give Portland the 25-23 fourth-set victory.
An Usher kill opened the scoring for the Pilots early in the fifth set but with the Pilots trailing 3-2 K-State would go on a 5-0 run. A Jessica Clemens kill momentarily disrupted the Wildcats who would regain momentum and proceed on another 5-0 run. At 14-5 the Pilots evaded match point behind the strength of a Kate Bostwick kill but the Wildcats would reply to finish off the Pilots 15-5.
The match started with a tug-of-war in the first set that saw five ties and two lead changes. The Pilots owned the lead at 13-12 after a Jessica Clemens kill. But at what would be the last tie score of the set at 13-13 the Wildcats launched a four-point-run to pull ahead to 17-13. Another 8-4 run secured the set victory for KSU.
Portland fell behind early in the second set at 8-2. KSU would extend their lead even further to nine-points at 19-10. From there the Pilots outscored the Wildcats 7-6 but it was K-State who won the race to 25 claiming the set victory at 25-17.
The Pilots launched a fierce attack to open the third set with a 5-0 advantage. Jessica Clemens scored Portland’s first three points of the set (one kill then two aces) followed by a kill from Usher and a Wildcat error. Portland would enjoy its largest lead of the match at 15-7 but the Wildcats rebounded to pull within one at 18-17. With the match on the line, the Pilots rallied to keep the lead behind the strength of kills from Usher, Maria Clemens and Plummer. A service ace from Plummer nailed down the set win at 25-20 forcing a fourth-set.
K-State opened the fourth set with a 7-1 scoring streak and Portland seemed unable to gain any rhythm scoring not more than one point at a time. Finally, trailing by six at 15-9, the Pilots strung together two-points in a row thanks to a Shelley Sievers kill and a Dupar service ace. The teams exchanged points bringing the score to 20-14 in KSU’s favor to set up Portland’s late set heroics that resulted in a fifth-set face-off.
K-State was led by Kelsey Chipman’s 17 kills, while three other Wildcats reached double digits for the same category. Caitlyn Donahue registered 14 kills, while Audrey Horton and JuliAnne Chisholm added 11 each.
Portland returns to the court later today to face No. 17 Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. in its last match of the Kansas State Invite. Live stats available at www.k-statesports.com
