No. 10 Texas Longhorns efeats Kansas Volleyball Team In Three
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas volleyball was unable to slow Texas’ high-powered offense as KU lost to the 10th-ranked Longhorns in three sets (29-27, 25-21, 25-17) on Wednesday night in front of a sellout crowd at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
With the loss, KU is now 13-8 overall and 4-6 in conference play. Texas improved its record to 13-5 overall and 8-2 in league play.
Coming into the match, Texas led the Big 12 as the league’s top offensive team hitting .279. Texas hit .425 for the match as the Jayhawks were unable to slow down the Longhorn attackers and for the second match in a row KU’s defense has given up a season-high in that category. Kansas was only able to hit .236 for the three-set match.
“Texas leads our league in hitting efficiency but we can not allow someone to hit over .400 and expect to be successful,” said head Kansas coach Ray Bechard. “You hit .236 in a game like we did and you should win but not when your opponent is at that clip. The last two matches there has been a trend where our opponent’s hitting efficiency is higher than what we have been giving up this year. We are in the top three of our league in opponent hitting percentage.”
For the third-straight match, junior Allison Mayfield led the team with 12 kills and senior Karina Garlington finished with 11. Junior Nicole Tate added a team-high 36 assists.
In the first set, the Jayhawks started out strong as they got out to an early 7-2 lead. Kansas led for most of the set, but a late rally by Texas finished off the Jayhawks by a score of 29-27 despite KU having two opportunities for set point. Garlington led the Jayhawks with eight kills. Tate finished the set with 18 assists.
Texas controlled the second set right out of the gate. Texas scorched the Jayhawks with an attack percentage of .441 en route to a 25-21 win in the second set. KU managed an attack percentage of .237 as Mayfield led the team with six kills.
In the final set, Texas took control early and never trailed. The Longhorns got off to a quick start, leading 5-1 when coach Ray Bechard used his first timeout of the set. KU was only able to tie the score one time in the final set as Texas won 25-17. KU suffered a .100 hitting percentage, while Texas hit another whopping .444 during the set.
Kansas hits the road for its next match as they travel to Ames, Iowa to take on No. 12 Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 p.m. In their last meeting with the Cyclones, the Jayhawks upset tenth-ranked ISU 3-1 for their first-ever win over a top 10 opponent.
