Team sweeps Texas Tech; starts streak

Photo by Weston White

By Zach Getz

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Kansas volleyball team is now on its first Big 12 Conference winning streak of the year. Kansas swept Texas Tech 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20) Wednesday and is now 11-9 (4-6). Texas Tech falls to 2-16 (0-9), continuing to struggle in Big 12 play.

The win doubles the number of Big 12 road victories Kansas had in 2008 when it posted a 1-9 record on the road in the Big 12.

The game against Texas Tech could have been easy to overlook coming off a big win against Kansas State. And with Missouri in the near future, Kansas stayed focus on Texas Tech, coach Ray Bechard said.

The team did what it needed to do to get the win and took care of business, junior outside hitter Karina Garlington said.

“It was another good road win to get under our belt,” Garlington said. “We’re pretty pleased with how we played.”

Kansas has had several bad starts at the beginning of first sets this season, and Texas Tech was no exception. Kansas realized that the team needed to step up and play together if it wanted to come back, sophomore outside hitter Allison Mayfield said.

“That was kind of encouraging to know that even though we got down in the beginning, we found a way to fight back and get right back in it,” Mayfield said.

Kansas held Texas Tech to an impressive .050 hitting percentage, which Berchard attributed to a good defensive game plan.

Junior libero Melissa Manda had a team high 19 digs and senior defensive specialist Melissa Grieb was right behind with 14 digs. On the offensive side Mayfield had a team high 15 kills.

Kansas started slow in first set, falling behind 2-8. The Jayhawks then scored eight of the next 10 points to tie the score. Kansas went on a few more small runs and defeated Texas Tech 25-17.

Kansas started by scoring the first five points in second set. Kansas had another five-point run later that helped propel Kansas to a 25-17 victory.

Texas Tech stayed competitive for most of the third set, keeping the score close. A strong push late helped Kansas win the set 25-20.

Kansas will start a three-game home stand this weekend when the team continues the Border Showdown with Missouri.

— Edited by Alicia Banister

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement