August 26, 2022

🏐 No. 23 Kansas Sweeps Utah Valley in Season Opener

SALT LAKE CITY – No. 23 Kansas volleyball officially opened the 2022 season with a sweep of the Utah Valley Wolverines 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-19) at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on August 26 in the opening match of the Utah Classic. The win marks the Jayhawks fourth consecutive sweep against UVU.

Set One

The Jayhawks took an early 5-3 lead after a service ace by junior Kennedy Farris. KU earned back-to-back-to-back service aces by sophomore Molly Schultz. Kansas then built a 10-4 lead and never looked back. Schultz collected five service aces in the first set of the tournament as the Jayhawks won 25-10. Ayah Elnady earned three kills with a .750 hitting percentage with Anezka Szabo hitting 1.000 with three kills. Sophomore Caroline Bien, super-senior Rachel Langs and sophomore Camyrn Turner also had kills during the first set.

Set Two

Graduate senior Lauren Dooley and super-senior Anezka Szabo kicked off set two with a block to tie up the set 1-1 followed by a block solo by Bien. The Jayhawks kept the lead after Bien earned a kill to advance Kansas to 9-3. Utah Valley seemed to have found its rhythm as the Wolverines had a two-point run, but Langs and Turner shut down the Wolverine run with a block. Utah Valley tried to close in on the Jayhawks, but KU was too much. Set two went to Kansas 25-14.

Set Three

As KU headed into set three leading 2-0, the excitement continued. The Jayhawks took an early 3-1 lead after the Wolverines recorded a service error. Utah Valley went on a. 3-2 run, but Dooley and redshirt freshman Ayah Elnady stopped the Wolverines to make the score 13-8. The Wolverines made sure to break up KU’s aggression, but the damage was already done as Kansas closed out the match 25-18 in the final set.

Important Notes

Sophomore Molly Schultz collected five services aces in the first set.
Super-senior Anezka Szabo led the way with 11 kills and hit .846.
As a team, Kansas had 36 kills, 19 digs and 10 blocks while hitting .429.

Up Next

KU moves to a record of 1-0 (0-0 Big 12) while Utah Valley drops 0-1 (0-0 WAC). No. 23 Kansas will play again later in the day on August 26 at 8 p.m. CT at the Jon M. Huntsman Center against host No. 22 Utah.