Volleyball fights back for road victory
Colorado took advantage of Kansas mistakes early, but couldn’t hang on
The Jayhawks found themselves in an early 2-0 hole but came from behind to steal their fifth Big 12 victory of the season.
By Rustin Dodd (Contact)
Monday, November 12th, 2007
All season, Kansas has fought, scratched and clawed its way through its unforgiving Big 12 conference schedule. One might have thought all the fight had been drained out of this team after it ground out only four victories in its first 16 conference matches. But after Kansas’ 3-2 (16-30, 24-30, 30-24, 33-31, 15-11) comeback victory against Colorado on Saturday night in Boulder, Colo., one thing was evident: This team has plenty of fight left. For Kansas coach Ray Bechard, the theme of the night was simple. Sometimes a team has to win ugly.
Melissa Manda leads defense
Bechard said he was pleased with the performance of freshman libero Melissa Manda, Wichita freshman. She led Kansas with 27 digs against Colorado, and the next closest Jayhawk, Karina Garlington, had only seven. Manda is averaging 3.97 digs per game this season.
Up next
Kansas travels to Manhattan to play Kansas State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Kansas lost to its in-state rival 3-0 earlier this season at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
“I told them that even if it’s not the prettiest of volleyball, we just have to fight, and although we weren’t pretty tonight, we were efficient,” Bechard said.
Saying the Jayhawks’ play was ugly during the first two games on Saturday is an understatement. Kansas came out flat in game one and Colorado promptly thumped Kansas 30-16. Some of the ugliness carried over into game two, a game the Jayhawks lost 30-24.
But Kansas responded to its coach’s demands with one of its better offensive performances of the season.
Freshman outside hitter Jenna Kaiser had 17 kills and hit .389, and senior right side/setter Emily Brown had 15 kills and 41 assists to lead a Kansas team that finished with a .263 hitting percentage. The Jayhawks also were buoyed by freshman outside hitter Karina Garlington and junior middle blocker Natalie Uhart. Garlington had 14 kills and Uhart added 13 in Kansas’ second Big 12 road victory of the season.
“We got into a better rhythm,” Bechard said of his team’s comeback in games three, four and five.
Kansas took game three 30-24, but still had to hold off Colorado in game four. Colorado had a 29-28 advantage and a chance to close out the match. But Brown helped Kansas stave off defeat with a kill, and Kaiser finished a ball on the next play to give Kansas a 31-30 lead. Colorado tied it at 31-31 on the next point, but two straight Uhart kills gave Kansas a 33-31 game four victory.
The Jayhawks jumped out to a 6-1 lead in game five and closed out the match with a 15-11 victory.
The theatrics came late, but Bechard said he actually thought the momentum changed at the end of the second game.
“At the end of game two we started playing better,” Bechard said. “Before game three, I told the girls, ‘If we want to extend the match, we’ve got to keep playing better.’ ”
Kansas improved to 12-15, 5-12 in the Big 12 conference, while Colorado dropped to 6-19, 1-16 in the Big 12.
“I’m just glad they let us play after game two,” Bechard said. “Because for the first 45 minutes, it was not pretty.”
— Edited by Tara Smith
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