LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 17 Kansas Volleyball team swept No. 23 Baylor (25-16, 27-25, 25-21) Wednesday night before a sold out crowd in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
With the win, Kansas moves to 20-5, 11-4 Big 12, while Baylor dropped to 14-12, 8-8 Big 12.
“We played some great volleyball,” said Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard. “We had some kids make some great plays. They were a very good offensive team, so we had to be very good offensively to make it work.”
The two sides went on a back-and-forth scoring run to open the match until Kansas went on a four-point run to get up 7-3 and push an early Bears’ timeout. Graduate Reagan Cooper got involved early in her first match back from injury, accounting for Kansas’ 10th and 11th points with a block and a kill, respectively. The Jayhawks’ lead got as large as eight points, and at 16-8, Baylor used its second timeout. Baylor added a few more points, but KU continued to pull away with a nine-point lead that would end the set 25-16.
Baylor took an early lead in the second set (4-1) as the Jayhawks struggled to knock the ball down at first. Once Kansas challenged a call if the ball was out of bounds, the challenge ended up being successful and KU cut the lead to two, greatly helping the Jayhawks’ momentum. The score would finally tie at 9-9, then once again at 13-13 after some back-and-forth play. The next tie would be at 16-16 and the visitors went on a bit of a run, leading 18-16, then 21-18 at one point. Kansas was able to apply some late-set pressure, closing it up at 21-23 and pushing the Bears to use their first timeout. Cooper was absolutely vital for the Jayhawks here, knocking down kills on both Kansas’ 21st and 22nd point. At 23-23, Baylor took its second timeout, and in true Cooper fashion, she was able to tie it up once again with a huge hit off the block at 24-24. The game would tie at 25-25, but the Jayhawks were able to get their 26th point off a big block from graduate Mykayla Myers and a huge swing by junior Ayah Elnady for the Jayhawks’ final point and the 27-25 set win.
The Jayhawks had another slow start in the third, getting down slightly early on. They were able to tie it back up at 14-14, however, looking to swing the momentum back in their favor. Baylor was able to get back out in front at 19-17 with back-to-back points, but KU answered back with two points make it tied at 19-19. A Bears’ error and an Elnady kill would account for the Jayhawks 20th and 21st points, then junior Toyosi Onabanjo kept it rolling with a kill for point No. 22. Baylor called its second timeout here, looking to break the Jayhawks’ 5-0 scoring run. After one more KU point, Baylor closed it up to 23-21, and a timeout from the home side would follow. The Jayhawks held onto their lead, ending the match with a kill from Cooper in the clutch.
Cooper ended the night with an outstanding 17 kills and a .516 hitting clip, while Elnady accounted for 12 kills, hit .407 and led the team in digs with nine total. Junior Camryn Turner was a big part of victory with 38 total assists, while she and junior Caroline Bien also posted the second-most digs on the night with eight apiece.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will head to Provo, Utah to take on No. 13 BYU on Friday, Nov. 17, starting at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now ESPN+.
