Record Night Overshadowed as No. 22 Kansas Falls to Iowa State in Five

LAWRENCE, Kan. – On the night Caroline Jarmoc became the all-time leading blocker in Kansas volleyball history, she would’ve traded it in to offset No. 22 Kansas’ loss in five sets to Iowa State, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-16, 13-15, Wednesday evening inside the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.     
 
Jarmoc’s 16 kills, .419 hitting percentage and six blocks led the Jayhawks in all three categories, in a match that saw five Jayhawks record double-digit kills, but it wasn’t enough to claim a victory as No. 22 Kansas (16-5, 6-2) came up short against Iowa State (11-6, 5-2).

“Individual awards are great, but I always want to contribute to the team first. The individual stuff comes after,” Jarmoc said. “Sometimes I’m so hard on myself that Coach B (head coach Ray Bechard) has to stop and remind me of the impact I’ve had here. I’m so happy that I can bring something to this team and help elevate our program to where it is now.”
 
Redshirt senior Catherine Carmichael notched 15 kills, while junior outside hitters Chelsea Albers and Sara McClinton put down 14 kills each. Freshman middle blocker Tayler Soucie tied a career-high 12 kills of her own as KU had five different attackers with double-digit kills for the first time since Oct. 6, 2012 against Baylor.
 
Two Jayhawks posted double-doubles as Albers along with her 14 kills, dug a career-best  23 Cyclone attacks. Senior setter Erin McNorton orchestrated the Jayhawk offense with 60 assists, while also digging 11 balls on the defensive side of the net.
 
Kansas put up more kills, more assists, more aces, more digs and a better attack percentage than the Cyclones, coming back from a 2-1 deficit and forcing a fifth set – but the comeback trend the Jayhawks have become accustomed to left them Wednesday night.
 
“You can look at the fifth set and dissect all you want, but we shouldn’t have been to that point,” head coach Ray Bechard said. “You’ve got to close that out when you get that chance. Then you get to the fifth set and the volleyball gods take over. You’ve great breaks going this way, breaks going that way and the ball didn’t fall our way on the end. That’s on us a little bit, that we didn’t close it out when we needed to.”  
 
Iowa State had three players who ended up with double digits in the kill column. Senior middle blocker Tenisha Matlock led the floor with 18 kills after hitting .417 for the night. Sophomore setter Jenelle Hudson got her teammates involved with 52 assists, while senior All-American libero Kristen Hahn was able to record a match-high 35 digs.  

Iowa State opened the match in control of a 6-3 lead until the Jayhawks slowly climbed back into the set and eventually tied the score at 8-8. After continuously tying the score, the Cyclones didn’t surrender the lead until a kill from Albers put the Jayhawks up 15-14 going into a media timeout. Kansas looked like a different team out of the timeout, Soucie posted a kill, an Iowa State point followed, then consecutive attack errors from the Cyclones extended the Jayhawk lead to three, 18-15 forcing an Iowa State timeout. The visitors used a Jayhawk error to tie the score at 22-22, but KU capped off the set on a 3-0 run with a kill from McClinton, a block from Albers and Soucie, and a Cyclone error on set point to win the first set 25-22.  
 
In the second set, Iowa State reeled off a 5-0 run led by three kills from freshman outside hitter Ciara Capezio leading to a Jayhawk timeout, down 6-2. The Jayhawks put together a 3-0 run of their own to cut the lead to one, 6-5 on kills from Jarmoc and McClinton and a block from Jarmoc and McNorton. Iowa State pushed the lead back out to three, 9-6 until another 3-0 Jayhawk run this time led by Soucie who had two kills and a block, tied the score 9-9. The teams would trade points back-and-forth with neither team able to breakaway, the set stayed within two points, and the score was tied six times after the score was knotted at nine, until Iowa State was able to establish a two point, 19-17, in the midst of a 5-0 run, late in the set causing a Jayhawk timeout.
 
The timeout didn’t slow down the Cyclone attack as another 4-0 run ensued. The Jayhawks had their backs against the wall, facing set point 24-18 until a Cyclone service error put the ball in senior defensive specialist Jaime Mathieu’s hands to serve. Mathieu came up huge with back-to-back aces scaring Iowa State into calling a timeout clinging to a three point lead 24-21. Iowa State responded out of the break with a kill from sophomore Mackenzie Bigbee to kill the Jayhawk rally and claim the second set 25-21, while tying the match 1-1 going into the break.
 
The third set ended up being crucial as back-and-forth runs from both teams kept the set close throughout. Kansas came out of the intermission firing on all cylinders, offensively Albers, Carmichael and Soucie registered kills, while on the defensive side Jarmoc and Carmichael blocked an Iowa State attack, giving the Jayhawks a 5-1 advantage. Iowa State answered with a 3-0 run to cut the Jayhawk lead to one, 5-4. Kansas answered the Cyclone run by reeling off four-straight points of their own, with two coming from Carmichael kills, to regain control 9-4.
 
And Albers kill followed by consecutive kills from McClinton propelled Kansas to take further control of the set, 16-8. Iowa State gave KU a 5-0 run to slice the once eight-point lead to three, 16-13, going into a Kansas timeout. The timeout cooled off the Cyclones momentarily as Soucie notched three kills over a four-point span.
 
The next point saw Jarmoc would capture her record when she and Carmichael teamed  up to block a Cyclone attack. The milestone moment was short lived, however, as Iowa State mounted a comeback. With Kansas leading  20-15 an Iowa State 3-0 run on a kill from redshirt freshman middle blocker Morgan Kuhrt and two from Matlock got the team back into the set. Iowa State got hot down the stretch and dismantled Kansas on two kills from outside hitter Victoria Hurtt followed by three-straight errors from the Jayhawks  come to an Iowa State set point 24-22. An ace from Hahn gave Iowa State the final point to conclude the comeback victory in the set 25-22 and give the Cyclones the advantage in the match 2-1.
 
Ready to erase set three, Kansas took over in the fourth set, establishing an early 8-3 lead. Kansas spread the wealth on the offensive side of the net, hitting .500 for the set. Early Albers, Carmichael, and Jarmoc each had two kills to help build an early 12-6 lead going into an Iowa State timeout. Jarmoc was instrumental down the stretch knocking down back-to-back kills midway through the set to force another Cyclone timeout as KU stretched its lead to seven, 17-10. Kansas kept its foot on the gas and this time the Jayhawk lead was insurmountable. Led by five kills from Albers, Jarmoc and Carmichael, Kansas took the fourth set 25-16 to force a fifth set with the match tied 2-2.
 
Three-straight blocks from gave the Cyclones an early 4-1 advantage forcing a Kansas timeout to regroup in the opening moments of the fifth set. The timeout fared well for the Jayhawks as Kansas tied the score, 4-4 on a service ace from redshirt freshman setter Maggie Anderson. The momentum shifted after the ace as McClinton gave the Jayhawks three-straight kills, leading to an 8-6 lead forcing an Iowa State timeout. Neither team could pull away in the closely contested fifth set, but Kansas found its small lead erased on three-consecutive points from the Cyclones to trail 9-8. After the Jayhawks tied the set back nine-all, two straight from the Cyclones gave them an 11-9 advantage forcing another Kansas timeout. Kansas took the lead, 12-11, on a 3-0 run out of the timeout, but Iowa State was quick to steal the home team’s momentum, surging ahead 13-12. Although an Albers kill knotted the score back 13-13, but an attack error gave Iowa State the advantage 14-13. A Matlock kill ended the set 15-13, with Iowa State defeating Kansas 3-2 in the match.
 
Notes
– Senior libero Brianne Riley’s 14 digs moved her closer to sixth all-time on the Big 12 Conference’s career digs list (1,872), chasing former Missouri standout Tatum Ailes (1,997; 2004-07).
– Riley now has double-digit digs in 47-consecutive matches.
– Redshirt senior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc’s 1,209 kills rank sixth all-time for career kills at Kansas. That number is second-most among current Big 12 players. She trails fellow senior Kaitlynn Pelger from Kansas State (1,376).
– Jarmoc’s six total blocks made her KU’s all-time blocks leader, passing former Kansas great Amanda Reves (514, 1996-99).
 
UP NEXT
Kansas receives its bye weekend from Big 12 action this Saturday and is scheduled to retake the floor at home against Baylor on Wednesday, Oct. 30. The match is slated for a 6 pm start and will air on ESPNU.
 
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