Coach Ray Bechard hopes that for the rest of the year, the team that showed up to play against NC State this past weekend is the one that shows up to every game. But the team that played against VCU — not so much.

The volleyball team split its two matches at the VCU Invitational this past weekend, falling to VCU on Friday night in three sets, but swept NC State Saturday morning in three sets.

Although it was the team’s first game of the year, Bechard said he was disappointed by some of the uncharacteristic things he usually didn’t see from the team.

Because of the rule change that limits sets to 25 points instead of 30, Bechard said it was even harder to come back after a slow start. That slow start, combined with a home team that was excited for its first game and an opportunity to knock off a Big 12 school, doomed the Jayhawks in their first match.

“We just did not create enough opportunities to be successful,” Bechard said. “But I really felt we learned from that and made some adjusts for our approach (against NC State).”

In Saturday’s sets, the Jayhawks finally looked like a team that rattle the Big 12. Displaying a killer instinct and energetic physical play, sophomore Karina Garlington’s led Kansas with match-high 14 kills, along with a personal best 5 service-aces.

“She was a little disappointed in the quality of swings she had last night (against VCU),” Bechard said. “She checked in with herself. She hit some very good shots.”

The lone bright spot in the sets against VCU was freshman Allison Mayfield’s match-high 11 kill performance.

Freshman setter Nicole Tate had 23 assists her debut as a Jayhawk against VCU, and she followed that with 29 against NC State.

“She was a little bit uneven on Friday night,” Bechard said. “But I thought today (against NC State) she came back and took a huge step forward, a huge responsibility for a kid like that.”

It was no surprise that Bechard preached the leadership of senior Natalie Uhart, the Jayhawks’ only pre-season Big 12 team player.

“She set the tone a little bit for our team,” Bechard said. “She made some demands in the warm-up saying, ‘Here’s how we need to play.’”

The Jayhawks will need Uhart’s leadership when they venture into a tough Big 12 conference. But the Jayhawks still have seven non-conference games left. The next two are against Utah Valley and Oregon on Sept. 5.

Bechard said he needed his team to work on what he calls stages of the set, where the team breaks in 0-10, 10-20 and then 20-25 points. Bechard said he wanted his team to value each set more.

“You can’t get too far behind and expect to come back,” he said, “and you can’t relax when you have a lead.”

— — Edited by Lauren Keith