No. 10 Kansas Showcases Depth in Sweep of Tulsa

Friday, September 20

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No. 10 Kansas Showcases Depth in Sweep of Tulsa

9/20/2024 7:05:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

LAWRENCE, Kan. - The No. 10 Kansas Jayhawks swept the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 3-0 on the second day of the Jayhawk Classic in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

"Cam Turner does an unbelievable job of distributing the ball," said Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard. "But, prior to that, you have to have a good first contact, a good first pass, and we continue to pass at the level we're at, which creates a lot of options for Cam. We've also got some pretty successful hitters on the back end of her sets, so that combination has been really good for us."

The Jayhawks looked comfortable from the jump, holding Tulsa to single-digits in the first set and running up a lead as large as 13 points. At 22-9, Bechard decided to empty the bench a bit, working in Rhian Swanson, Ellie Schneider, Grace Nelson, Ellie Moore and Molly McCarthy. Tulsa finally was able to make it 22-10, but a Moore to Swanson attack brought the Jayhawks right back. Nelson would be the one to plunge the dagger with a huge swing for the final kill in set one, lifting the Jayhawks to a 25-13 final score.

With the starting lineup back on the court, the second set took a bit of a different tone, with various ties up through 11-11 and even a couple narrow leads by the Golden Hurricane. The Jayhawks finally got rolling later in the set, and at 16-13, Tulsa took a timeout. From there, the visiting side was able to battle their way back into it, applying pressure all the way up to a two-point deficit. Ayah Elnady answered with a big swing to make it 24-21, however, but Tulsa's hit off the Kansas block kept it at match point a little longer. Toyosi Onabanjo ended the set for the Jayhawks right after, notching her fourth kill of the match at the perfect time.

Kansas kicked off set three with a nice 5-0 run, pushing Tulsa to take a timeout right away in hopes of slowing the Jayhawk attack. Freshman Reese Ptacek got her first action of the 2024 season with a kill from the middle, and quickly notched a second and a third right after. Nelson and Swanson both got back into the mix with the Jayhawks up 11-2, and Nelson's first serve of the set was an ace. A Swanson kill to make it 13-2 would be enough to push Tulsa to take their second timeout. The Golden Hurricane knocked down back-to-back points, but a serve into the net got the Jayhawks back to the service line.

Aisha Aiono also checked into the match for the Jayhawks in set three, coming up big with back-to-back solo blocks for points 18 and 19, keeping Tulsa at single-digits in the process. The Golden Hurricane was still unable to break that threshold thanks to Kenzie Dean's first collegiate kill and a block assist by Aiono and Schneider right after, making it 22-9 for the home side. Dean notched another kill for point 24, and a serve into the net by the Golden Hurricane would carry the Jayhawks to another victory.

Elnady led the way in the attack with 10 total kills, hitting .375 in the process. Camryn Turner added another 30 assists to her weekend stat line and also racked up 11 digs. Raegan Burns added 11 digs of her own, tying Turner on the leaderboard in that category.

As a team, Kansas hit .364 and held Tulsa to .082.

Up next, the Jayhawks will host No. 9 Creighton to wrap up the Jayhawk Classic on Saturday, September 21 at 3 p.m. Fans can follow along on ESPN+, as well as Kansas' StatBroadcast platform and social media pages.