Three Players Hit Double-Digit Kills to Lead KU Volleyball to Sweep of Murray State
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – – Karina Garlington, Allison Mayfield and Paige Mazour each recorded 10-plus kills to help lead Kansas volleyball to a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-19, 25-18) of Murray State in its final contest of the MTSU Invitational.
The Jayhawks, who defeated Xavier 3-1 earlier in the day, improved to 2-1 on the season, while the Racers fell to 0-3.
Garlington posted a team-high 13 kills as Mazour and Mayfield contributed 10 more a piece. Mazour also hit a team-high .500 attack percentage along with sophomore Lauren Hagan. Hagan finished with a career-high seven kills in her first career start for the Jayhawks.
Defensively, Kansas out-dug MSU 46-33 led by Mayfield’s team-high 11 for her first career double-double. Junior Melissa Manda had eight digs.
The score stayed close to open set one but Kansas began to pull away after going up 9-7. The Jayhawks went on a 6-1 run to pull out of Murray State’s reach and coasted to a 25-16 win. KU totaled 17 kills in the opening set with a .464 attack percentage compared to the Racers’ seven on a .103 hitting efficiency. Garlington tallied six of her 13 kills in set one.
KU was able to stay ahead of the Racers in set two but couldn’t quite shake them completely as MSU hung around within two to four points. Ahead 21-18, Kansas strung together three straight points from a Garlington kill, Manda service ace and combined block by Nicole Tate and Mazour to nearly put the set away. One Racer point later, Kansas did just that thanks to a solo block by Garlington, her second of the match.
Kansas opened set three with a 6-1 deficit and was forced to play catch up for the first part of the set. After chipping away at the score, the Jayhawks tied the set at 14-14 and then used a Garlington kill and block from Tate and Mazour to take a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the match. KU went on to score nine of the contest’s final 12 points to put the match away at 25-18.
The Jayhawks finished the match with a season-high .324 hitting percentage helped along by a match-high 37 assists from Tate.
Kansas hosts its own Jayhawk Invitational next weekend, Sept. 4-5, in its home opener. KU will face Lipscomb and Florida International on Friday before going up against Creighton on Saturday to wrap up the tournament.
