LAWRENCE, Kan. – Behind 14 kills and three total blocks from junior London Davis, No. 23 Kansas defeated No. 19 Marquette 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-19) before a sellout crowd in the final volleyball match of the Kansas Invitational at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Kansas improved to 3-1 on the season, while Marquette dropped to 2-3.
"After a bit of a disappointing first set, which is on us and nobody else, I thought we responded well. Our serving game was great, we were passing well together and we had some good attacking performances. That team is going to win a ton of matches; we will see them in the NCAA tournament and they have a great volleyball history so it was a good match for us."
Head Coach Ray Bechard
Davis came up big in the fourth and deciding set posting two blocks and two kills in KU’s final five points of the match. Junior Ayah Elnady posted 13 kills, while graduate Reagan Cooper had 12 for the Jayhawks. Davis hit .444 for the match with just two errors in 27 attempts, while Elnady hit .321 with 28 attempts and four errors. Junior Camryn Turner paced Kansas with 41 assists, while junior Toyosi Onabanjo totaled six blocks, including five solo, to go along with her six kills. It was Davis and Onabanjo who combined for the game-winning block in the fourth set. Turner and junior Caroline Bien led KU with 12 digs each for the match.
As expected by two nationally-ranked teams, the first set went back and forth. Kansas took an early 5-1 lead highlighted by three kills from Cooper. Marquette answered and tied the set at 5-5. With the set tied at 16-16, Marquette would score four of the next five points and hold on to win the set 25-21. Cooper led KU with five kills for the set, while Davis had three.
Kansas tied the match at one set apiece with a 25-20 win in the second set. KU opened the set like they did in the first, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead that included kills by Davis and Onabanjo and a block solo by Elnady. KU would build an eight-point lead at 13-5 that ended with a Turner ace, her second of the match. Marquette did not go away scoring seven-straight points, but then KU turned to Elnady who registered four kills set down the stretch, including two of KU’s final three points of the set. An Onabanjo kill gave KU a 24-20 lead and Elnady ended the set with her fifth kill of the set.
Kansas continued to go to Elnady in the third set, building a 10-2 lead that forced two Marquette timeouts during the span. Elnady had four kills in the run, while Davis and graduate Mykayla Myers had two kills each. Up 13-8, the Jayhawks went on a 6-0 run highlighted by three kills from Cooper to make the score 19-8 en route to a 25-14 set win. Elnady ended the set with six kills, while Cooper and Davis had four apiece.
The fourth and deciding set was quite the battle as there were nine ties and five lead changes. Neither team led by more than three for most of the set. With the set tied at 15-15, Kansas would score four of the next five points with kills from Elnady and Turner and an ace from redshirt-sophomore Bryn McGehe to go up 19-16. Then Davis took over ending the set with a KU 25-19 win.
As a team, Kansas outhit Marquette .227 to .117 for the match. The Jayhawks tallied 8.5 total blocks and had five service aces with two by Turner and one each from sophomore Brynn Kirsch and freshmen Raegan Burns and McGehe.
UP NEXT
Kansas will head to Wichita, Kansas, to play in the Shocker Volleyball Classic, Sept. 7-8, at Charles Koch Arena. Kansas will play host Wichita State on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. CT. The KU-WSU contest will be televised on ESPN+. KU will play past and future Big 12 foe Colorado on Friday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m.
