No. 9 Kansas Wins Dogfight with Houston, 3-1

Friday, September 27

Lawrence, Kan.

6:30 PM

University of Kansas

Houston

No. 9 Kansas Wins Dogfight with Houston, 3-1

9/27/2024 7:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

LAWRENCE, Kan. - The No. 9 Kansas volleyball team earned a scrappy victory over the Houston Cougars on Friday night in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena to improve to 2-0 in the Big 12 and 11-1 overall.

Senior Toyosi Onabanjo paved the way in the victory with 13 kills off of .545 hitting as senior Camryn Turner, who leads the nation in assists per game, finished with 43 total assists.

"I think we need to understand we're going to get everybody's best shot," said Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard. "We go through the coaching line, and they all say 'hey, that's the best we played' so we're bringing out the best in folks. And we got to respond to that."

Both squads traded point for point in an offensive battle as neither team led by more than two as Houston held a slight edge at the first media break, 15-13. Following her 14 kill performance against UCF on Wednesday night, senior London Davis smashed consecutive kills put the Jayhawks up one at 19-18, forcing Houston to call its first timeout of the match.

The Cougars swung back the lead behind back-to-back blocks to force a KU timeout as the Jayhawks trailed 22-21. Kansas would score just one more point in the set from an Ayah Elnady kill as Houston took the first set, 25-22.

In the second set of action, Kansas consistently held a comfortable advantage to lead 15-11 at the media break. During the stretch, Onabanjo provided three kills, including one backed by a Caroline Bien hustle play as she managed to dig a serve that trickled off the net for Turner to set up the kill.

Turner and Onabanjo continued to be a force as they recorded another assist and kill before teaming up for a huge block that extended the Jayhawk edge to 18-12 and forced a Houston timeout. A 6-2 run that included two straight Elnady aces and capped off by a freshman Zoey Burgess and junior Rhian Swanson block would even out the match as Kansas snagged the second set at 25-14.

Burgess kick-started the Kansas attack in set three as she tallied back-to-back kills for her fifth of the night. All was tied up at 8-8 before a 4-0 Kansas run featuring another Davis kill and followed with a block by her and Burgess forced the Houston timeout. The Cougars crawled their way back to trail by one, but a 12-5 Kansas spurt that included four Onabanjo kills sealed the third set, 25-17, for the Jayhawks.

Kansas wouldn't find its first lead of the fourth set until at 9-8 after a successful net battle by Burgess. On the ensuing play, she and Davis put up a wall for the team's tenth block of the night. Kansas would earn its next four points off of one Elnady and three Davis and kills to trail 15-14 at the media break.

Houston continued to build its momentum up to 21-17, but then it was all Swanson as she contributed a dig, block assist, and two kills for the 5-1 Kansas run to flip the advantage to 23-22 and force a timeout. The set reached extra points as back-to-back Bien kills sealed 26-24 four set Jayhawk victory.

Up next, Kansas hits the road for a three-game stint beginning at Colorado on October 3, then heading east to West Virginia on October 10, before rounding up the trip at Cincinnati on the 12th. Jayhawk fans can catch the team back in home action on October 17 for the Sunflower Showdown versus Kansas State at 6:30 p.m.