Jayhawks earn sweep of ‘Roos

Senior setter Melissa Grieb bumps the ball to a teammate. Grieb led the team with 18 dig in the 3-0 win against UMKC.

Photo by Jerry Wang

Senior setter Melissa Grieb bumps the ball to a teammate. Grieb led the team with 18 dig in the 3-0 win against UMKC.

By Zach Getz

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Kansas volleyball team recorded its seventh sweep of the year as the Jayhawks defeated UMKC 3-0 Tuesday night.

Playing a nonconference opponent in the middle of Big 12 play helped Kansas try out a new lineup and could help Kansas get over its recent loss to Missouri, coach Ray Bechard said.

“It gave us a chance to run a completely different lineup in game three, and get some other people involved,” Bechard said. “I thought after the disappointment of Saturday this match came at a really good time.

Kansas looked better in nearly every aspect of the game. Kansas out-dug UMKC 58 to 47 and out-killed 48 to 35.

Senior Melissa Grieb led Kansas with 18 digs while filling in at libero for injured junior Melissa Manda, who did not play because of a tight back. The 18 digs were a season best for Grieb, and just three shy of her career record. Grieb said she enjoyed filling in for Manda.

“A lot of long rallies, a little worn out, but it was a good experience,” Grieb said.

Sophomore setter Nicole Tate recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 39 assists and 13 digs and sophomore outside hitter Allison Mayfield led Kansas with 12 kills. Eight Jayhawks hit for more than .300 and the team had a .367 hitting percentage for the entire match.

The victory gave Kansas some of its momentum back and helped get over the disappointing loss to Missouri, Mayfield said.

“I think it’s good for our team to get some momentum and to get this win under our belt,” Mayfield said.

A good scouting report and good rhythm helped propel Kansas over UMKC, Mayfield said.

“We had a couple of instances where we got caught,” Mayfield said. “But I think we did a pretty good job of working it out. Just overall the game went pretty smoothly.”

After starting off the first set even, Kansas scored nine out of 10 points to take a 13-6 lead early. Kansas dominated the rest of the set and used a .405 hitting percentage to win the set 25-14.

While UMKC battled early on in the set, Kansas scored seven in a row to take a 14-6 lead. Kansas had only one error and hit .484 on its way to defeat UMKC 25-16.

UMKC came out playing well and had a 10-7 lead early in set three, but then Kansas went on a 4-0 run to take the lead. Kansas and UMKC went back and forth, but UMKC was able to get a 18-15 lead over Kansas. The Jayhawks then went on to score the next seven points and put UMKC away late 25-21. The set had 11 ties and six lead changes.

Kansas improved to 12-9 while UMKC fell to 10-13. Kansas will finish its three game home stand Saturday when it faces No. 25 Texas A&M.

— Edited by Tim Burgess

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