MANHATTAN, Kan. ? Colorado sophomore Amber Nu'u had a career-high 16 kills but Kansas State offset her performance by hitting .326 as a team in a 30-21, 30-11, 27-30, 30-19 Big 12 Conference win over the Buffaloes on Wednesday evening at Ahearn Field House.
Colorado drops to 11-12 overall and 6-10 in the Big 12. The loss also drops CU into seventh place in the Big 12, one-half game behind Kansas (6-9) which defeated Baylor in three on Wednesday. Kansas State improves to 16-8 overall, 10-5 in league play.
Nu'u, making her fourth consecutive start in place of injured Maragda Santillana, hit .265 with a season-high 34 attacks and pitched in defensively with eight digs. Junior Nicole Carr registered her second-straight double-double with 10 kills and a team-high 14 digs.
Kansas State's Vali Hejjas had a match-high 17 kills and hit .412, notching just three errors on 34 attacks. Rita Lilom hit .545 (6k-0e-11att) and recorded seven blocks. The Wildcats, who also out-blocked the Buffaloes 16-3, had 58 kills with only 14 errors on 135 attacks.
Kansas State had just two attack errors in the first two games, hitting a whopping .467 (30k-2e-60att) on its way to a 2-0 lead. Colorado made a formidable comeback in the third frame, holding KSU to a .171 mark (15k-8e-41att), but the Buffaloes hit under .100 in two of the four games finishing at .142 (53k-3e1-155att).
Allie Griffin had 12 kills and three blocks for Colorado while Austin Zimmerman had six kills and 10 digs.
Colorado will return home to host Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Coors Events Conference Center.
