Kansas Volleyball Sweeps UMKC for Sixth Victory
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the third time in four matches, redshirt junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc tied a career high, notching 16 kills to power the Kansas volleyball team past the UMKC Kangaroos in the Jayhawks’ first midweek match of the 2012 season, Tuesday evening, 25-15, 25-17, 25-17.
In front of nearly 800 in the Horejsi Family Athletics Center, Jarmoc had a superb night at the net, connecting on 16 of her 27 attempts while committing just one error for a .556 hitting percentage. Additionally, she rang up five block assists and two solos. With her help, Kansas rejected six total blocks in the first set alone.
“Our blocking set the tone in the first set,” head coach Ray Bechard said. “We blocked six balls and I think that put them back on their heels a little bit. I thought they changed offensively what they were doing, so we added 59 digs on top of that. Defensively, we were good. Offensively, (Tayler) Tolefree and Jarmoc were good as was (Tiana) Dockery. I did like the way we jumped out early in each set, first to 15 and first to 20.”
Tiana Dockery, a freshman outside hitter from Richmond, Texas, also had a career night in kills (13) and digs (seven), allowing Kansas to sweep the `Roos by a score of 3-0 to pick up its sixth win of the season. The victory improved KU to 6-1 (0-0 Big 12) while UMKC fell to 5-4 (0-0 Summit League).
Bechard, his staff and players welcomed back former longtime KU assistant coach and current UMKC head coach Christi Posey to Lawrence for the first time since Posey took the reins of the UMKC program last fall.
“We visited before and I’m sure we’ll visit after, but during the match, she was about what I thought she would be – pretty intense,” Bechard said. “I knew she would be fired up and I knew her team would play hard. She’s a really good person, number one, and a really good volleyball coach, number two. UMKC is really fortunate to have someone of that quality. (UMKC assistant) Trent Jones was a volunteer assistant here, too, so there’s some history there. So it was good to see them. They’re going to have some good moments this year for sure.”
Posey’s squad was led by redshirt senior outside hitter Emily Lucas who recorded a team-high eight kills while fellow outside hitter Chloe Jarema added five kills for the visiting `Roos.
In the opening set, Kanas spread the wealth around, as four different Jayhawks collected two or more kills. Jarmoc led the Jayhawk charge with five kills while Tolefree and Dockery collected three a piece and junior Kara Wehrs, who started the match at outside hitter, added two. Junior setter Erin McNorton effectively ran the offense, dishing out 11 assists in set one and 33 overall.
KU took a commanding lead in set two, getting off to a 13-6 start behind four Jarmoc kills. In her first nine attempts on the night, the Calgary, Alberta, Canada native was perfect at the net. The Jayhawks maintained a comfortable lead, never letting UMKC get closer than five points, when the scoreboard read 17-12. Redshirt junior outside hitter Catherine Carmichael recorded her third kill of the match to end set two, 25-17, and send KU into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
In the decisive set, the teams put together a series of long rallies, the longest of which resulted in Kansas taking the slim, 10-9, lead. After the Jayhawks tacked on two more points, Posey called for the timeout.
Kansas had the momentum in hand, however, breaking out a 5-0 run to open up the gap. Dockery’s final kill of the evening wrapped up the sweep with the 25-17 third-set win.
Brianne Riley’s six digs in the third set moved her into the top 10 on KU’s career digs list. The junior libero from Naperville, Ill., has now accumulated 1,019 digs in her two-plus seasons donning the Crimson and Blue. Jaime Mathieu also contributed double-digit digs in the back from for KU, collecting 10.
UP NEXT
Kansas continues its seven-game homestand this weekend when hosting its second tournament of the 2012 season. The Jayhawk Invitational will be played in HFAC Friday and Saturday, Sept. 7 and 8, with the College of Charleston, Arizona State and Wyoming comprising the tourney field.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
