No. 8 Iowa State Hands Jayhawks 3-0 Loss
AMES, Iowa – Despite upsetting a top 25 opponent in its last match, the Kansas volleyball team could not repeat the feat here Wednesday evening as No. 8 Iowa State defeated the Jayhawks 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-20).
The loss, which spoils KU’s two-match winning streak, dropped the Jayhawks to 15-12 overall and 7-10 in the Big 12. ISU improved to 23-4 on the season and 15-3 in league action.
Senior Paige Mazour and sophomore Allison Mayfield provided Kansas with an all-around effort on both offense and defense. Each collected 10 kills to lead KU as Mazour recorded double-figure kills for the eighth time this season and first time since Sept. 30 while swinging at a team-best .471 attack percentage. Sophomore Lauren Hagan also had an accurate night hitting .333 for seven kills.
On the defensive side of the net, Mazour blocked four balls during the contest and Mayfield dug a team-best nine balls.
Senior Melissa Grieb chipped in from the back court with eight digs in the libero position.
Set one started out promising for the Jayhawks as KU built a four-point advantage to lead 10-6. Iowa State turned on an offensive switch however as it used six kills as part of an 8-1 rally to claim the lead at 14-11. From there the Cyclones cruised to a 25-17 win committing just three attack errors in the opening frame for a .371 attack percentage.
Kansas stayed within one and two points of the Cyclones to open the second set and knotted the score once at 7-7. With ISU leading 10-9, Iowa State went on a 6-0 run and looked as though it would run away with a quick victory but Kansas would not give up.
At 21-13, sophomore Jenna Kaiser tallied two kills and senior Brittany Williams added another to help put KU back in the game and scare the Cyclones into a timeout. Kansas came out of the timeout to score four of the next five points but still trailed 23-20. Iowa State recorded a kill and a block in the next two plays to end the set.
Although Kansas hit a match-low .068 attack percentage, the Jayhawks scored seven of the last 11 points in the second set and were able to cut an eight-point deficit down to three before ISU tallied its last two points to put the set away.
Despite taking over the lead three times in the third set, Iowa State battled back to win 25-20 and earn the sweep.
Kansas claimed the upper hand at 5-4, 7-6 and again at 11-10, which it was able to expand to a 14-12 lead. The Cyclones responded with four unanswered points to reclaim the lead and never relinquished it for the remainder of the set.
The Jayhawks play their third consecutive ranked opponent on Saturday, Nov. 21 when they host No. 9 Nebraska. The match has been pushed up from 6:30 p.m. to a 3 p.m. start time.
