Kansas Sweeps No. 13 Texas A&M
Nov. 20, 2004
Kansas Total Access Video Highlights
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Four Jayhawks notched double-digit kills as the University of Kansas volleyball team swept No. 13 Texas A&M Saturday night at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The Jayhawks (16-11, 7-11 Big 12 Conference) defeated the Aggies (17-7, 13-5) by scores of 30-28, 32-30 and 31-29.
Josi Lima led KU with 16 kills (.378) and added 10 digs in the win. Outside hitters Jana Correa and Paula Caten added 11 kills apiece. Correa had zero errors for a .478 hitting percentage and added three digs and a solo block.
Ashley Michaels, who had 10 kills on a .400 hitting percentage and two blocks, became just the eighth player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. She joins Lima as the second Jayhawk this season to reach the 1,000 career kill milestone.
After sitting out the last match with an injury, libero Jill Dorsey had a match-high 16 digs on the night. Emily Brown added six kills and six digs while Andi Rozum had a match-best 49 assists to go with five kills (.444), four digs and three block solos. Lindsey Morris also played the entire match and contributed three digs.
Caten and Lima each notched five kills in game one as KU hit .356 in the 30-28 win. Correa gained momentum in game two and paced the Jayhawks with seven kills. KU also out-blocked TAMU 6.0 to none and committed just three hitting errors in the 31-29 win.
After the break, the teams exchanged leads four times in game three until the Aggies jumped ahead 22-19, forcing a KU timeout. Rozum tied the match for KU 26-all with a big solo block and Lima knocked in a kill to give KU the late lead. TAMU later tied the game at 29, but KU held on as Caten notched two straight kills for the upset, 31-29.
The Jayhawks out-hit the Aggies .348 to .259 and out-blocked them 8.0 to 4.0. Both teams recorded 60 kills on the night, but KU had just 12 hitting errors to TAMU’s 22. All-American Laura Jones led TAMU with 17 kills.
“It felt really good to win tonight,” KU head coach Ray Bechard said. “What really jumps out at me when I look at our statistics is that we only had 12 hitting errors in three games against the second-best blocking team in the Big 12. Andi Rozum did a great job of distributing the ball tonight.”
“Texas A&M is playing as well as any team in the Big 12 right now — and we knew we had that kind of effort in us to win,” Bechard added. “That is the best we have played three games in row, maybe all year, and I hope that is a sign of things to come later in the week.”
KU will travel to Lubbock, Texas for its final regular-season road match of the season Wednesday. KU and Texas Tech will face off at 7 p.m. at United Spirit Arena.
