Kansas Volleyball Sweeps Texas Tech
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Behind a strong offensive performance from seniors Karina Garlington and Jenna Kaiser, the Kansas volleyball team swept the visiting Texas Tech Red Raiders (25-13, 28-26, 25-17) Saturday night at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
With the win, KU improved to 14-10 overall and 5-8 in conference play. Texas Tech fell to 3-19 overall and just 1-12 in the Big 12.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Jayhawks as Garlington and Kaiser both finished with a match-high 16 kills. The 16 kills tied a season-high for Kaiser. Kaiser also finished with an impressive .652 attack percentage, while Garlington hit .615 for the match. Junior Nicole Tate led the team with 47 assists and junior Allison Mayfield chipped in 11 kills.
“Offensively tonight I thought we were awfully good,” said head coach Ray Bechard. “We hit .423 and had a side out of 77%, that’s as clean offensively as we’ve been all year. Obviously Kaiser and Garlington were outstanding tonight. I was a little concerned with Texas Tech’s hitting efficiency in the first two sets. We broke through finally in the third set, blocked four balls and created some point-scoring opportunities there.”
On the night, KU held Texas Tech to an attack percentage of just .198. KU finished with a season-high hitting percentage of .423.
In the first set, the Jayhawks came out on fire as they hit an impressive .655 as they cruised to a 25-13 win. Garlington led the way with a set-high seven kills and finished the set with an incredible attack percentage of .700. Mayfield added five kills for the set, while Tate finished with a team-high 17 assists.
Texas Tech came out fired up for the second set as they fought to the very end only to come up short. KU pulled away late to win 28-26. Neither team could get a sizeable lead throughout the set, with the largest lead only being three by the Jayhawks. Kaiser led the way with nine kills and an attack percentage of .750.
For the second set in a row the Red Raiders started fast, but were unable to withstand a 7-1 run by the Jayhawks as KU won the third and final set 25-17. KU’s defense was stellar as they held the Red Raiders to an attack percentage of just .139 for the set, while KU hit .500.
Tate paced the KU defense with 12 digs on the night for her eighth double-double of the season. Freshman libero Brianne Riley followed with 10 digs.
Kansas will welcome its third nationally-ranked team in the last five matches when it hosts No. 2 Nebraska on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m.
