#19 Kansas State Tops Jayhawks 3-0 In Conference Opener
Sept. 12, 2007
LAWRENCE, Kan –
The Horejsi Family Athletics Center experienced its first sellout of the season as 1,300 seats were filled in tonight’s Big 12 volleyball conference opener at the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of Kansas. The Kansas Jayhawks (7-4, 0-1 Big 12) fell 3-0 to in-state rival #19 KansasState (9-2, 1-0 Big 12) by scores of 30-20, 30-21 and 30-25.
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Despite the loss, junior Savannah Noyes hit a team-high 11 kills on a .400 clip, including an .833 clip (5-of-6) in game two, for her second consecutive match hitting above .400. Junior Brittany Williams also had an above .400 night with a .462 hitting percentage on six kills. The pair also had two block assists.
Senior Emily Brown and sophomore Katie Martincich ran the offense with 22 and 10 set assists, respectively. Newcomer Melissa Manda led the KU defense digging up 22 balls.
In the first game of the match, KansasState jumped ahead early holding onto its lead through the whole game. The Jayhawks couldn’t find an answer to a brutal .444 Wildcat hitting percentage.
Kansas came out firing in game two as they used two five point runs from Flavia Lino and Melissa Grieb at the service line to earn a 12-5 lead. The Jayhawks continued to distance themselves from the Wildcats eventually going ahead 18-11, their largest lead of the match. However, KSU bounced back and used a 12-0 rally late in the game to take a 30-21 come from behind win.
With the teams tied at 15 in game three, the Wildcats again used a late run to claw past Kansas, 30-25 for the match victory.
“We played a very good team tonight,” said head coach Ray Bechard. “There were moments when we played very well, but we have to get to the point where we are playing better, longer. When you play against a team like KansasState, if you let down at all they will take advantage and that is what happened tonight.”
“We made some progress in areas, but our hats are off to KansasState; they played very well. We are looking forward to getting back into the gym.”
Kansas puts an end to its five-match home streak this Saturday, Sept. 15, when it travels to Norman, Okla. to take on the Sooners in an 11 a.m. match. Live stats will be available by logging onto KUAthletics.com.
