KU Defeats Maine, Rutgers for Classic Crown

Sept. 2, 2006

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA –

Kansas volleyball completed the Temple Classic with victories over Maine (3-0) and Rutgers (3-1) Saturday at McGonigle Hall to take home the tournament crown. With the wins, the Jayhawks finished 3-0 in the Temple Classic and improved to 6-1 on the season.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

“We don’t want to discount winning three matches and a tournament here, but we know there were too many times during games that the execution wasn’t as good as it should have been,” KU head coach Ray Bechard said. “We took a lot of teams’ best shot this weekend, which we responded well to, and now we look forward to getting back home, training and focusing on BYU and Arkansas.”

KU 3, Rutgers 1 (30-22, 27-30, 30-26, 30-25)

In the later match against Rutgers, junior Emily Brown led all players with 22 kills and posted a team-high .320 attack percentage to go with 13 digs and five block assists. Senior Jana Correa added 18 kills and set a new career best with 18 digs. For their efforts, both Jayhawks were named to the all-tournament team and Correa was named MVP.

Sophomore Savannah Noyes, who also represented KU on the all-tournament squad, finished with 15 kills and three block assists. Freshman Katie Martincich, who enjoyed a day of career-bests, had 57 assists, six digs and five kills in the effort. Four Jayhawks turned it double-digit dig performances – Correa (18), senior Jamie Mathewson (16), Brown (13) and freshman Melissa Grieb (10), who also totaled a match-high four service aces.

Senior Linsey Morningstar changed the tempo of the match in games three and four with her jump serve, finishing with three aces and her first kill in a KU uniform.

KU 3, Maine 0 (Box Score)

KU swept Maine, 30-22, 31-29, 30-17, Saturday morning in its second match of the invitational. Noyes led the Jayhawk offense with 13 kills while junior Caitlin Mahoney set a career best with 10 kills on a match-high .750 attack percentage (1 error on 12 attempts). Correa (.444) and Brown (.375) each added nine kills to round out the top scorers.

Martincich ran the offense with 37 assists and added eight digs while Brown recorded eight assists in the win. Mathewson paced the defense with nine digs while the balanced KU offense posted a .423 hitting efficiency to go with seven service aces.

The Jayhawks return home Thursday to host BYU in the Jayhawk Classic at 7 p.m. KU also faces Arkansas Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.

-KU-