No. 4 Kansas volleyball visits West Virginia on Wednesday

 MATCH 25
 #4 KANSAS (23-2, 12-1 Big 12) at
 West Virginia (12-15, 3-10 Big 12)
Date Wednesday, Nov. 16
Time 5 p.m. Central
Location Morgantown, W.Va.
Arena WVU Coliseum
 LIVE COVERAGE
TV
Video Mountaineer TV
Radio
Audio Jayhawk Radio Network
Stats WVUSports.com
 SOCIAL
Twitter @KUVolleyball | #kuvball
Instagram @kuvolleyball | #kuvball
Facebook /KansasVolleyball
 STATS KU WVU
 Hitting % .242 .190
 Opp. Hitting % .146 .201
 Kills 13.4 12.8
 Assists 12.6 11.7
 Aces 1.4 1.0
 Digs 15.7 13.1
 Blocks 2.5 2.5

Notes Match Notes (.pdf)

No. 4 Kansas volleyball visits West Virginia on Wednesday

No. 4 Kansas volleyball visits West Virginia on Wednesday

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Fourth-ranked Kansas volleyball makes the trek to Morgantown, West Virginia to face the Mountaineers on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. Central. The Jayhawk Radio Network will carry live audio coverage of the on KUAthletics.com/radio.

SERIES
Kansas is undefeated in the all-time series with West Virginia, 11-0. The Jayhawks won the first two meetings in the series in 1999 and 2000 before the Mountaineers joined the league in 2012. KU has won the last four matches in straight-set form. Wednesday marks KU’s sixth trip to Morgantown, where the Jayhawks are 5-0.

LAST TIME OUT
For the second-straight match, Kansas rallied from a one-set deficit to extend its winning streak. KU put on a defensive clinic, featuring 14 blocks and 72 digs, on the way to a four-set win over TCU (21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-17) last Saturday in Lawrence. The win improved KU’s overall winning streak to 11 matches and its home-court winning streak to 15 matches. Following a 25-21 first-set loss, the Kansas defense held TCU to a combined .103 hitting percentage in the final three sets, including a .053 clip in the fourth set. Senior middle blocker Tayler Soucie continued with her feverish pace by recording a season-high 11 blocks, adding nine kills on a .348 hitting percentage. Senior libero Cassie Wait recorded 30 digs for her second-career 30-dig output in a four-set match.

100 WINS FOR SENIOR CLASS
Seniors Maggie Anderson, Tayler Soucie and Cassie Wait celebrated their 100th win as a group on Nov. 12 after Kansas defeated TCU in four set. In their four-year playing careers at Kansas, the tremendous trio boasts a 100-22 record (.820), including a 53-5 record (.914) since 2015.

ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12
Eight Jayhawks were listed on the 2016 Academic All-Big 12 Conference Volleyball Team released on Nov. 15. It is the third-straight year that KU’s trio of seniors – Anderson, Soucie and Wait – have been recognized with Academic All-Big 12 distinction. It is the second-straight year Havili and Rigdon have been listed on the Academic All-Big 12 Volleyball Team. Cheadle, Montero and Miller earn the honor for the first time.

#RootForScoot
Kansas associate athletics director for academic and career counseling Dr. Scott “Scooter” Ward is on the path towards recovery after recent emergency open-heart surgery on Oct. 7. Kansas volleyball has chosen to wear #RootForScoot shirts during warm ups for the remainder of the season to show their support for their long-time mentor and friend. Ward has worked with the Kansas men’s basketball and volleyball programs since 2003.

WINNING STREAK
As winners of the last 11 matches, KU enters Wednesday on its second winning streak of 10 matches or more this season. The 2016 season becomes the first in program history the Jayhawks have had two winning streaks of 10 matches or more.

The winning streak also ties for the fourth-longest in program history. KU’s current winning streak is the longest late-season winning streak in program history; starting at the 15th match of the season against Baylor (Oct. 1). Previous 10-match winning streaks or longer have started within the first two matches of the season.

Kansas went undefeated during the month of October (8-0) for the first time in program history.

RACKING UP THE DUBS
Kansas boasts the second-best winning percentage in the nation since the start of the 2015 season. The Jayhawks’ 53-5 record (.912) since last season is second only to 2015 national champion Nebraska at 55-5 (.917). KU’s 22-2 (.917) record this season currently stands as the highest winning percentage in program history, just ahead of last season’s Final Four campaign which finished with a 30-3 (.909) record.

SET-BY-SET BREAKDOWN
When winning the first set, Kansas is 18-0 this season. But the Jayhawks have also shown resiliency after not starting strong during conference play. Kansas has lost the first set in six Big 12 matches but has come back to win five of them – against Baylor (Oct. 1), at Iowa State (Oct. 5), against No. 2 Texas (Oct. 29), at Oklahoma (Nov. 5), and against TCU (Nov. 12).

With a 71-21 (.772) record in sets this season, Kansas has the highest set winning percentage in the Big 12. Kansas has a 14-9 (.609) set record in sets decided by two points, including a 10-2 set record in the third, fourth and fifth sets combined.

Kansas has not been swept by an opponent this season.

In the 10 sets that have been decided in extra points, Kansas has a set record of 7-3. Three of KU’s extra-point sets have been in the first set (2-1).

Kansas’ largest margin of victory in a set this season is 17 points, which has occurred twice with 25-8 wins over Texas Tech (Oct. 5) in the first set and Chicago State (Sept. 2) in the second set. The Jayhawks have double-figure margin of victories in 17 sets this season, including a 25-11 second-set victory over No. 2 Texas (Oct. 29).

JAYHAWKS’ FORMIDABLE DEFENSE
Kansas leads the Big 12 in four defensive categories – hitting percentage allowed (.146), kills allowed (11.34), assists allowed (10.60) and aces allowed (0.57). KU’s opponents have recorded a hitting percentage below .200 in 21 of 25 matches this season, including three with a negative hitting percentage (under .000). In the Jayhawks’ only two losses this season, their opponent has hit over .300.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Kansas remained at No. 4 for the third-straight week in the AVCA Coaches Poll on Monday. The Jayhawks spent the previous four-straight weeks ranked sixth before defeating No. 2 Texas on Oct. 29. The Jayhawks have been ranked in the top-25 for a program-record 28-consecutive weeks (since Sept. 7, 2015), including 23-consecutive weeks in the top-10 (since Oct. 5, 2015). KU’s No. 4 ranking ties a program high in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the sixth time.

KU finished last season ranked No. 4 after advancing to the NCAA Championship semifinals.

CLIMBING THE LADDER
Senior libero Cassie Wait enters the weekend with 1,858 career digs, which ranks second on KU’s career digs list and 9th on the Big 12’s career list. She now stands 195 digs away from all-time leader Brianne Riley (2010-13; 2,053). Wait and Riley played on the same team in 2013. At her current season average of 5.29 digs per set, Wait would need to play 39 sets in order to break Riley’s record. On Sept. 23, 2015 against K-State, Wait became the third-fastest Jayhawk to reach 1,000 career digs (77 matches; 282 sets).

Senior middle blocker Tayler Soucie currently has 511 career blocks, ranking third on KU’s career blocks list, and 829 career kills, ranking 26th on KU’s all-time list. Soucie has recorded 100 blocks for four-consecutive seasons, joining career blocks leader Caroline Jarmoc (2010-13; 555) as the only two Jayhawks to record four 100-block seasons. Soucie, the 2015-16 Big 12 Female Sportsperson of the Year, trails second-place Amanda Reves (1996-99; 514) by three blocks.

Junior All-American setter Ainise Havili became the seventh Jayhawk to reach 3,000 career assists after registering 47 against Chattanooga (Sept. 9). She enters the week with 3,692 career assists, ranking fourth all-time at KU. The reigning Big 12 Setter of the Year already ranks second in career assists per set (11.45) in the KU record books.

Junior All-American right-side hitter Kelsie Payne is KU’s career leader in hitting percentage (.353) among attackers with at least 1,000 attempts. The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year totals 1,021 kills as the 15th Jayhawk to reach 1,000 career kills.

FIVE-SET EXPERIENCE
Kansas has won all five of its five-set matches this season — Kansas State (Nov. 2), No. 2 Texas (Oct. 29), Arkansas (Sept. 3), Creighton (Sept. 8) and Xavier (Sept. 16). During last season’s unprecedented run to the Final Four, the Jayhawks played two five-set matches the entire season – against No. 5 Texas and a win the NCAA regional final against No. 1 USC.

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