LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas volleyball posted a pair of 3-0 sweeps in claiming two wins at the Jayhawk Classic at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on Friday. KU defeated Bellarmine (25-14, 25-18, 25-16) early in the day following by a win over New Hampshire (25-26, 25-14, 25-18) in the evening.
With the win Kansas won its sixth-consecutive match, fourth straight 3-0 sweep, to improve to 8-1 on the season. New Hampshire lost both its matches Friday and fell to 7-5.
In the nightcap, in the opening set, Kansas jumped out to a 9-2 lead highlighted by two kills from junior Ayah Elnady and three from junior Toyosi Onabanjo. New Hampshire would not back down and closed to within four at 16-12. Up 17-13, Kansas went on a 6-1 run concluded by a combo block from graduate Mykayla Myers and graduate Regan Cooper to make it 23-14 en route to a 25-16 set win. Kansas outhit New Hampshire .455 to .219 for the set and KU was led by Onabanjo with five kills, while Elnady had four.
In the second set Kansas jumped out to a 9-3 lead forcing a New Hampshire timeout. In the run, Onabanjo posted four straight kills for KU, while Elnady posted three-consecutive service aces. KU would go on to score seven-straight points on Elnady’s serve to make it 11-3 and cruise to a 25-14 set win. KU hit .407 for the set to New Hampshire’s .208.
Like the first two sets, Kansas jumped out to an early lead in the third set, 5-0, that included two kills by Elnady. New Hampshire responded to tie the set a 6-6 before KU would go on a 6-1 run making it 12-7. New Hampshire carved away at the KU lead and cut it to one at 17-16 but KU responded scoring five of the next six points and eight of the last 10 points to win the set 25-18.
Onabanjo led KU with 12 kills for the match, while Cooper and junior London Davis posted 10 each. Cooper posted a .476 hitting percentage with no errors in 21 total attempts. Junior Camryn Turner had a team-best 28 assists to go along with six kills and a team-high 13 digs. Elnady had a season-high four services aces to complement her seven kills and five digs.
Earlier in the day, Kansas opened the Jayhawk Classic with its third sweep of the season in the win 3-0 over Bellarmine.
After a strong start to the match, Kansas closed out the first set 25-14, led by five kills Davis. Turner facilitated early for Kansas with 12 assists in the opening set. The talented Kansas defense asserted itself in the first set, recording five team blocks and allowing just a 41 percent kill success rate.
The second set kicked off with a service ace from junior Caroline Bien, leading to an early-set tie at 5-5. The Jayhawks pulled away to an 18-12 lead resulting in a Bellarmine timeout. Davis continued her dominance on the attack game for Kansas, picking up five more kills on the way to a 25-18 second set win.
Over the three-set win, Kansas held Bellarmine to a .150 hitting percentage, highlighted by team blocks. On the offensive end, the Jayhawks connected with 42 kills on 103 attacks for a hitting percentage of .320.
Davis led all players with a game-high 12 kills and 13.0 points. Turner dished out 31 assists in the sweep over Bellarmine and notched three blocks.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawk Classic will conclude on Saturday, Sept. 16. Bellarmine (2-9) will face New Hampshire (7-4) at 10:30 a.m. CT, while Kansas will host Texas State (7-3) at 1 p.m. The Kansas contest will be televised on Big 12 NOW via ESPN+ and fans can also follow the game via the Kansas Volleyball social channel.
