Mayfield's 21 Kills Lead KU Volleyball to Sweep at Colorado

LAWRENCE, Kan. – – Sophomore Allison Mayfield recorded a career-best 21 kills to help lead the University of Kansas volleyball team to its third-straight conference road sweep at Colorado Wednesday night.

The Jayhawks won by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-16 in their fourth-straight road win. It marks the most Big 12 road victories since 2003.

KU improved to 13-10 overall and 5-8 in the Big 12, while Colorado dropped to 6-17 on the season and 1-13 in the conference.

Mayfield scored a career-high kills for the second-straight match. Against Texas A&M last Saturday, Mayfield had a then-personal best 20 kills.

Junior Karina Garlington, a Denver, Colo., native playing in front of a hometown crowd, was next with eight kills on a team-high .400 attack percentage.

Senior Melissa Grieb led the KU defense for the third consecutive match digging up 17 digs. Junior Melissa Manda also finished with double-digit digs collecting 10. Sophomore setter Nicole Tate was just shy of her fourth-straight double-double recording nine digs and 36 assists.

Tate was the guiding force behind KU’s .500 attack percentage in the third set as the Jayhawks committed just one hitting error to record a 25-16 win in the final set.

Kansas trailed 12-10 in the third frame but used a 15-4 run to close out the set for the victory.

In set two, KU fell behind at 10-9 and struggled to catch up with the Buffaloes. Down 18-14, Jenna Kaiser jumpstarted a 7-0 run by the Jayhawks, which included two service aces from senior Paige Mazour, to lead 21-18.

Colorado would not go away easily as it came back to tie the score at 22-all. Kansas closed out the set scoring three of the final four points to win 25-23 and take a 2-0 lead heading into the break.

Kansas scored 19 of its 25 points on kills in the opening set en route to a 25-22 win to open the match.

Colorado was limited to just 12 kills due in large part to Grieb’s 10 digs, which accounted for more than half the team’s digs.

Trailing 3-6, Kansas scored five unanswered points to take its first multi-point lead at 8-6. The Buffaloes managed to stay close knotting the score at 11, 13 and again at 15 but never gained the upper hand.

With the score locked at 15, Mayfield tallied three-straight kills followed by a CU attack error and another kill from Nicole Tate to cap a five-point run by the Jayhawks as they took a 20-15 lead.

The teams traded points down the stretch but used a pair of kills from senior Brittany Williams and Mazour and another tally from Garlington to wrap up the opening frame. Mayfield led Kansas with nine kills in the first set.

Kansas stays on the road for its next match on Saturday, Nov. 7 when it travels to Oklahoma for a 2 p.m. match.