Kansas Volleyball Swept By No. 3 Nebraska

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Volleyball lost in three sets to No. 3 Nebraska here Saturday night. KU was defeated by the Huskers 25-21, 25-18 and 25-12 ending a four match home winning streak for the Jayhawks.

With the loss, Kansas fell to 12-14 overall and 6-11 in the Big 12, while NU improved to 25-1 and 16-1 in conference action.

Sophomore libero Melissa Manda led the Jayhawk defense as she dug up a match-high 12 balls.

Sophomore Karina Garlington led Kansas with 9 kills on the offensive side, marking the 20th time this season that she has led the Jayhawks in that category. Senior Savannah Noyes added eight kills in the effort.

KU came out strong in the first set holding a lead until the Cornhuskers locked the score at 16. From there, NU held onto a two to three point advantage before finally coming away with a 25-21 win. Despite hitting an impressive .343 hitting percentage, KU was topped by Nebraska’s .421 attack as the Huskers committed just one error during the opening stanza.

The Jayhawks stayed close with Nebraska in the beginning of set two, but after tying the score at 10, the Huskers pulled away and Kansas could not catch up as they fell 25-18. NU used a match-high .500 attack percentage, while KU hit at a .263 clip.

Nebraska sealed the three-set victory with a 25-12 win in the third and final set.

“We played good volleyball in the first and second sets and really came out sharp,” said head coach Ray Bechard. “We hit about .300 in each of the first two sets which is good enough to win matches, but we had too many errors in set three. We definitely could have done more to help our cause in the last set.”

Kansas has a bye in the schedule next Wednesday. The Jayhawks return to action again with their second straight ranked opponent at No. 4 Texas on Saturday, November 22 at 6:30 p.m.