Kansas University volleyball players said they should have won Wednesday’s matchup against seventh-ranked Kansas State.

If the Jayhawks would have picked up their 15th victory this season, it most certainly would have been the biggest win in KU coach Ray Bechard’s six-year reign.

Instead, a Wildcat squad with its highest-ever ranking scoffed at the Jayhawks’ two-games-to-none lead Wednesday night at Horejsi Center, rallied to tie the match at 2-all — and then left Kansas with more fifth-game question marks when K-State emerged with a 15-10 final-game victory to take the match, 3-2 (28-30, 28-30, 30-27, 30-22, 15-10).

“There was no complacency,” Bechard said of his team after it took a two-game lead. “There was an urgency in the locker room, a feeling of confidence that ‘Hey, we can manage this.'”

“But their (K-State’s) experience came through.”

Indeed, the Wildcats, behind senior standout Lauren Goehring, controlled Kansas from start to finish in the final game.

K-State took a 1-0 lead when KU’s Sarah Rome misfired on the Jayhawks’ opening serve.

The Wildcats jumped to an 8-4 advantage when Goehring — who leads the Big 12 in hitting percentage and is ninth in the nation at .402 — put away her third kill of the game.

“I think we’re kind of an older team than they are,” said Goehring, who led KSU with 20 kills and a .485 attack percentage. “So when we started getting up in that third game we started playing a lot better.

Kansas University's Lindsey Morris, left, dives for the ball as Andi Rozum watches. KU lost to Kansas State, 3-2, Wednesday night at Horejsi Center.

“And I think they got a little tentative. They were lights out the first two games, and I think that hurt them.”

While KU — which dropped leads of seven points in the first two games, but held on for two 30-28 wins — did rally in the fifth game to cut the score to 9-7, Kansas State closed on a 6-3 run.

The loss not only dropped Kansas to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the Big 12 Conference, but it was another example of the Jayhawks’ recent struggles in matches that have gone the distance.

“We always play fifth games, it’s kind of our routine right now to play five games,” said Jayhawk Josi Lima, who led Kansas with 20 kills on a .381 hitting percentage and also had a team-high 17 digs.

Fifth games haven’t exactly been a good thing, though.

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Kansas is coming off two straight fifth-game losses and has lost six of 10 matches that have come down to the final game. The Jayhawks’ last two final-game setbacks, including Wednesday’s to K-State, have been very disappointing.

Kansas failed to gain ground in the Big 12 when it dropped a five-game match to Colorado, which was tied with KU for fifth, in Boulder, Colo., last weekend.

While KU took its first game off the Wildcats since 1999, the streak of Wildcat wins improved to 18.

Kansas University's Jordan Garrison (11) celebrates a kill with teammates Andi Rozum and Josi Lima (10) during KU's match with Kansas State. The Jayhawks lost, 3-2, Wednesday at Horejsi Center.

“Coming off the loss in Colorado we had fire in us,” said middle blocker Ashley Michaels, who had 13 kills and combined 10 blocks. “We showed that in the first two games.

“Then came the third and fourth games, then the fifth game — and it’s so frustrating in those fifth-game losses.”

For KU junior Lindsey Morris, who hails from Overland Park, a heartbreaking loss to the Wildcats when nearly a third of their fans filled Horejsi was even more frustrating.

“I have this thing against K-State. I’ve always had that big rivalry there and I really wanted to get it done,” said Morris, who along with Rome each tallied 17 kills.

While Bechard said every win in Big 12 play was crucial for a team in trying to get into the NCAA Tournament, Wednesday’s loss was even more so.

“The Colorado match would have been just as important from a standpoint of standings,” Bechard said. “But for our fans, for our program, and for in-state — that would have been pretty important.”