Kansas loss to K-State drops team to 12-16
Jayhawks witness third loss against Wildcats
Kansas had an early lead against K-State, but the Wildcats won the match 3-1. The loss dropped Kansas to 12-16 overall and 5-13 in the Big 12 Conference.
By Rustin Dodd (Contact)
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
Kansas sent Kansas State an early message on Wednesday night, and the No. 12 team in the country responded. With Kansas holding a one game to none lead, and leading 26-25 in game two, K-State was four points away from trailing Kansas 2-0 on its home floor. But K-State rallied to take the next five points, won game two 30-26, and parlayed that momentum into a 3-1 (21-30, 30-26, 30-14, 30-26) victory.
“Obviously a 2-0 game at the break would have been a lot better than a 1-1,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. “But for two hours we really competed. We didn’t always execute at the best time, but we competed hard and had some really good efforts out of some players.”
Bechard was probably thinking of junior middle blocker Savannah Noyes, who led Kansas with 14 kills and a .400 hitting percentage. Noyes did most of her damage in Kansas’ game one victory.
But the Wildcats stormed to a 7-1 lead in game two and tied the match at 1-1 with a 30-26 victory. K-State performed better in game three, dominating Kansas 30-14 to take a 2-1 lead.
K-State continued its torrid pace in game four as the Wildcats built a 6-2 lead.
A kill from freshman outside hitter Jenna Kaiser cut the lead to 12-9, but K-State won the next two points and pushed the lead back five to 14-9. A kill from senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart cut K-State’s lead to 19-13, but K-State cruised from there, winning game four 30-26 and clinching the match 3-1.
“They lead the Big 12 in aces and they had 12 tonight,” Bechard said. “We hadn’t seen that much short serve on tape. They would drive us back and then short serve us, and they really took us out our offensive rhythm. Even after game four we were convinced we could get it to a game five, but they just made a few more plays in the end then we did.”
Kansas dropped to 12-16 and 5-13 in the Big 12 Conference, while K-State improved to 21-7 and 13-5 in the Big 12.
Freshmen outside hitters Karina Garlington and Jenna Kaiser also put up good offensive numbers for Kansas. Garlington had 11 kills and Kaiser had 12 in the loss.
The loss was the third in a row for Kansas against K-State, and the second this season. Kansas fell 3-0 to K-State at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center on Sept. 12. The Jayhawks dropped to 34-55 all-time against the Wildcats.
Edited by Meghan Murphy
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