Jayhawk Volleyball Stumbles at Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas – Senior Karina Garlington led Kansas with 17 kills but it was not enough as Texas Tech defeated the Jayhawks 3-2 in Saturday’s volleyball action. The Red Raiders won by scores of 21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25 and 15-7.

KU fell to 11-6 overall, including 2-4 in the Big 12 Conference. Texas Tech improved to 3-12 and 1-5 in the conference.

Junior outside hitter Allison Mayfield contributed 13 kills in the effort, while sophomore middle blocker Tayler Tolefree finished with seven.

Junior setter Nicole Tate led the defense with 12 kills to go along with 40 assists in her third-straight double-double. Freshman Jaime Mathieu also finished with double-digits digging up 11 balls on the night.

In the first set, an early 6-0 run by the Jayhawks gave them a 7-2 lead, an advantage which held through the remainder of the frame. Kansas benefitted from four TTU errors at the end of the set, which accounted for five of KU’s last four points, before Tolefree added her fourth kill of the frame for set point. The Red Raiders committed 12 errors in the first set, including nine attack miscues.

Kansas came out slow in the second set and dug itself in a hole that it was unable to recover from. Trailing 16-9, the Jayhawks used a 5-1 rally to come within three points of the Red Raiders but they could not keep the momentum as it fell 25-20. The Jayhawks only managed nine kills in the frame, while Texas Tech had 14 on a .258 attack percentage.

Tolefree and two Red Raider attack errors gave Kansas a 4-1 lead to open the third set. TTU retaliated to tie the score at 4-4 but KU quickly took back the advantage following a kill from Garlington, a Texas Tech attack error and a solo block from Tolefree. The Red Raiders refused to go away though, coming within one point several times before eventually taking over the lead at 15-14. KU fell behind 19-16 when it called a timeout. Following the break, Mayfield recorded a kill and solo block paired with a combined block by Tate and redshirt freshman Caroline Jarmoc and another TTU error as KU reclaimed a lead at 20-19. The Red Raiders answered back in the next point but Mayfield added another kill to keep the advantage. Unfortunately for KU, Texas Tech scored five of the last six points to win the set 25-22.

Garlington collected seven kills in the fourth set to help KU to a 25-19 win. The teams remained close until, at 16-15, Kansas strung together five unanswered points to jump to a 21-15 lead. Garlington helped close out the set recording three of the Jayhawks last four points. Mayfield added five tallies in the frame as KU hit a match-best .225.

Kansas could not find an offensive answer in the fifth frame as it fell 15-7 behind a -.118 attack percentage.

The Jayhawks have Wednesday off next week but will return to the court to host nationally-ranked Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m.