KU Volleyball Tops Xavier to Tally First Win of 2009

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After falling behind in set one, the University of Kansas volleyball team bounced back to win its next three sets and defeat Xavier (1-1) for its first victory of the 2009 season. The Jayhawks, now 1-1 during the Middle Tennessee State Invitational, won by scores of 16-25, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-16.

The Jayhawks, who had to make a quick recovery after playing just 12 hours earlier, return to the court later today to play Murray State at 5 p.m. in its last match of the MTSU Invitational.

Kansas was led by senior Paige Mazour, who recorded a career-best 14 kills in the match swinging at a .400 clip. Sophomore Allison Mayfield joined her in double figures tallying 11 kills on a .368 attack percentage. Senior Brittany Williams added seven kills with a team-best .500 hitting efficiency.

After starting the match with 10 hitting errors in the first set, the Jayhawks gradually improved its offense as the match went on, eventually hitting at a .429 clip in the final frame. Kansas was also accurate from the serving line as it recorded 11 aces.

In the fourth and final set, the teams went back-and-forth tying 10 times through the first 20 points. Finally, after 10-10, the Jayhawks were able to take the lead off kills from Mayfield and sophomore Lauren Hagan. Xavier never came closer than three points of Kansas as the Jayhawks’ momentum carried them to a 25-16 victory.

Hagan notched her first career kills during the match and ended the contest with four total.

The Jayhawks took advantage of the Musketeers’ match-low .154 hitting efficiency and tallied four service aces for the second straight set to take the third set 25-17. Kansas built up a sizable lead at 19-9 with a 7-1 run and never looked back. KU committed just three attack errors while taking advantage of eight Musketeer hitting errors and two service errors. Xavier had six total service errors during the match.

After falling behind early in set one and suffering a loss, Kansas turned play around and held the advantage in set two. Xavier did manage to chip away at its deficit and tie the score at 18-all, but the Jayhawks responded with back-to-back kills from Mazour and Nicole Tate along with a Tate service ace and Xavier attack error to quickly take back a four-point lead. The Musketeers snagged the next two points with a pair of kills but another kill from Mayfield and two attack miscues by Xavier ended the set at 25-20 in KU’s favor.