Jayhawks Host Wildcats Wednesday

Oct. 10, 2006

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Kansas and Kansas State face off Wednesday night in the first Sunflower Showdown of the season. The Jayhawks (8-9, 1-7 Big 12) are looking to end a five-match skid while the Wildcats (8-9, 0-7) have lost eight straight. Wednesday’s match is sold out of reserved seating, but a limited number of general admission tickets may be available 30 minutes prior to match time at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center ticket window. First serve is set for 7 p.m. Gametracker, live web streaming, a recap and box score for the match can be found here.

About the Jayhawks
The Jayhawks (8-9, 1-7) are looking to stop a Big 12 skid that included road losses at No. 25 Oklahoma, No. 17 Missouri, Colorado and Texas Tech and a home defeat at the hands of Iowa State. KU is averaging 15.92 kills and 14.67 assists per game, which ranks fifth in the Big 12. Senior outside hitter Jana Correa paces a balanced KU offense with 4.18 kills per game — good for eighth in the league — and has recorded 14 or more kills in 14 matches this season. With her 14 kills against the Sooners Saturday, Correa became the ninth Jayhawk in school history to record 1,000 for her career and currently ranks ninth on the KU all-time list. Junior right side hitter Emily Brown (3.54 kpg), a threat in all six rotations, and sophomore middle blocker Savannah Noyes (3.21 kpg) round out the top KU hitters. Redshirt freshman setter Katie Martincich averages 11.41 assists per game and ranks ninth in the league. KU’s defense features senior libero Jamie Mathewson (3.59 dpg) and four Jayhawks who average 2.20 or more digs per game.

Scouting the Wildcats
Kansas State (8-9, 0-7) continued its slide Saturday night, falling to Colorado, 3-0, in Manhattan. The Wildcats have lost eight straight and seven in a row in Big 12 play. K-State has been paced by senior outside hitter Sandy Werner and sophomore middle blocker Megan Kroeker. Werner leads K-State with 3.77 kills per game and ranks 10th in the Big 12. Kroeker leads the Wildcats with a .310 hitting percentage and 1.50 blocks per game, good for fourth in the league. Providing solid back row defense this season has been junior libero Angie Lastra, who ranks second in the Big 12 with 5.22 digs per game. Lastra has tallied double-digit digs in all seven Big 12 matches this season and has surpassed 20 digs in five of the seven matches.

Kansas vs. K-State
The Wildcats lead the all-time series against KU, 52-33. The Jayhawks won the last meeting, a four-game match in Manhattan on Nov. 5, 2005, for their first victory over KSU since 1994. KU head coach Ray Bechard is 1-15 against K-State while Wildcat coach Suzie Fritz is 9-1 against the Jayhawks.

Crimson and Blue Bits
-Senior Jana Correa has tallied 14 or more kills in 14 of KU’s 17 matches this season. In fact, she has had exactly 14 kills in six matches and 10 or more digs on eight occasions. Correa notched a season-best 24 kills and career-high 20 digs against Texas A&M on Sept. 20.
~Junior Emily Brown has notched 20 or more kills on five occasions and has seven double-doubles (kills/digs) this season. Brown recorded a rare triple-double against UMKC on Aug. 29 — 12 kills, 10 assists and 10 digs.
~Freshman Isadora Rangel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) carried on the tradition of the KU-Brazil volleyball pipeline when she became a member of the Jayhawk squad this Fall. Rangel and Correa (Macapa, Brazil) both hail from the Sao Paulo club team Pinheiros.

Super Senior Fastest to 1,000
Senior outside hitter Jana Correa recently became just the ninth Jayhawk in school history to reach the 1,000th-kill mark — and did so in just 76 matches. Correa sat out 16 of KU’s 33 matches in 2003 and 14 of 30 in 2005 due to season-ending injuries. Known for her thunderous, hard hits, Correa has emerged as a leader in her senior year despite having her freshman and junior seasons cut in half by injuries. The Macapa, Brazil, native leads KU with 4.18 kills per game, which ranks eighth in the league. Correa is on track to leave Kansas among the all-time program leaders in kills, kills per game, attempts, aces and aces per game.

Up Next
The Jayhawks will play three of their next four Big 12 matches at home. After hosting Baylor Saturday night at 7 p.m., KU will travel to Texas A&M Oct. 21 and return to Lawrence to face No. 24 Oklahoma (Oct. 25) and Texas Tech (Oct. 28) to wrap up the month of October.

Match Notes in PDF Format
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