Monday, October 20, 2008
Contradicting her own last name, senior Savannah Noyes has quietly been the Jayhawks most consistent player since Big 12 play started.
But after last night, the middle blocker could not of been louder.
Senior middle blocker Savanah Noyes jumps for a spike against Oklahoma during Saturday night's 3-1 victory in the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
Noyes and the rest of her Kansas teammates picked up a critical win last night at the Horesji Family Athletic Center against Oklahoma, winning in four sets (27-25, 17-25, 26-24, 25-22).
“Obviously excited about beating a real quality team,” coach Ray Bechard said.
Noyes, who has led the Jayhawks in hitting efficiency since Big 12 matches have started, posted a season high 17 kills at a .577 clip. Noyes also threw in six digs and three block assists for good measure.
“I was just hitting the ball that Nicole [Tate] gave me.” Noyes said, attributing her success to the freshman setter. “We we’re passing well and in system.”
It was not a picture perfect match for Kansas, who crept close to their season high in errors with 29. And after Noyes’ .577 hitting percentage, the only other Jayhawk to hit above .200 was the setter Tate. To add on even further, Kansas failed to be the first team to reach 20 points in every set except for the fourth and deciding one.
The Jayhawks had to rally when most of their players were not playing up to par, which makes Noyes’ game ever more important.
“She was bouncing some balls tonight,” Bechard said of Noyes with a smile. “One of the better nights I’ve seen her have.”
Bechard was pleased to see some of his players excel at places they are normally not accustomed too. For example, junior defensive specialist Katie Martincich recorded her first block assist of the season, having to play some key minutes at the front line after Kansas only had one substitution left during the important third set.
“Everybody was trying to do something, maybe if it wasn’t their best skill,” Bechard said. “They tried to help the team somehow.”
The victory gave Kansas it’s third in the conference, tying Missouri for seventh place. However four teams ahead of Kansas have four wins, while fourth place Baylor sits with five. The home victory kept the Jayhawks in the hunt for climbing out of the Big 12 cellar and with two straight road matches coming up, Bechard knew the importance of winning on their home court.
“I told the team after Missouri, we’re not losing again at home,” Bechard said. “That’s the attitude we got to have.”
Even though the starts were not as crisp as Bechard would have liked to see, he could not have been happier with the finishes. Kansas played well from point 20 to finish in every set except for set two, the set Kansas lost. Once the Jayhawks reached point 20 in sets one, three, and four they out scored the Sooners 17-10.
“We were good in end game, from point 20 on,” Bechard said. “We could have had a little more urgency in the other five point segments.”
Besides Noyes’ production, two other Jayhawks finished with double digit kills. Sophomore outside hitters Karina Garlington and Jenna Kaiser finished with 17 and 10 as Garlington’s total tied Noyes for match high honors.
For senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart, she was just relieved the Jayhawks did not drop another match in a row. Uhart now wants to put together consecutive successful matches
“We simply need momentum,” Uhart said. “This is really important that we go to Baylor and get a victory out of it.”
— —Edited by Ramsey Cox
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