🏐 Jayhawks Take Down OU 3-1 on Saturday
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Volleyball returned to their winning ways on Saturday, defeating Oklahoma in four sets at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
Kansas won the match by set scores of 24-26, 25-14, 28-26, 25-22. The win snaps a six-game slide for the Jayhawks, who improve to 12-9 on the year and 4-6 in Big 12 play.
The first set saw seven ties, the final at 24-all after an ace from Jenny Mosser evened the score. The Jayhawks led 21-17 before OU scored four straight to tie the score and eventually took a 24-22 lead after a KU timeout. OU had a service error and Mosser aced the Sooners, but then a service error and a kill ended the first set in favor of the visitors.
KU responded strongly in the second set, hitting .300 with 12 kills against three hitting errors as they took the set 25-14 and evened the match. The Jayhawks added four more blocks to their total as well, forcing OU into eight hitting errors and holding the Sooners to a .027 attack clip for the set. Caroline Crawford finished off the set, scoring the final two points with kills.
Extra points were needed to decide the third set as KU took the 2-1 with a 28-26 win in the set. The Jayhawks trailed 22-20 before scoring four straight points to earn their first two set points. OU would fend off both and three in total before Jenny Mosser ended the set with a kill at 28-26.
The Jayhawks would again have to fend off a late rally from the Sooners in the fourth set. Kansas built a lead of 21-14, but OU answered with six straight points, forcing the Jayhawks to use both timeouts. Anezka Szabo ended the run with a kill and consecutive hitting errors by OU gave Kansas it’s first set point. The Sooners would survive the first point, but Crawford made sure that was the only one as she ended the match at 25-22 with her 13th kill of the night.
Kansas was led by the stellar play of Crawford, who set new season-highs with 13 kills and 10 blocks, which also matches a career-high set during the spring 2021 season. London Davis also had a career-high with 11 kills, while Rachel Langs added nine and Szabo was effective both offensively and defensively with eight kills and seven blocks.
Camryn Turner led the Jayhawks with 24 assists and 20 digs. Lacey Angello added 18 digs while Elise McGhie finished with 18 assists and nine digs. Caroline Bien put down eight kills and also recorded 13 digs.
“Proud of our team, I thought we came back after dropping the first set and competed hard after that,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said following the match. “It was a typical day two where the opponents know each other, so the hitting efficiencies aren’t going to be that high. We served it better today and I thought we were good defensively and got enough offense to make it work.”
The Jayhawks are back in action next weekend, traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a Big 12 matchup with West Virginia on November 4-5. Both matches against the Mountaineers will be broadcast on ESPNU.
