Kansas volleyball takes second at tournament
Published on Mon., September 8th, 2008
The Kansas volleyball players had three goals for the weekend: compete, show signs of improvement, and, of course, win all their games. Well, as the saying goes, “two out of three ain’t bad.”
The Jayhawks wrapped up the Jayhawk Invitational Sunday afternoon with a convincing victory against Central Florida in four sets, finishing second in the invitational. Kansas, which improved to 3-2, had its only setback of the weekend against nationally ranked Oregon.
Junior middle blocker Brittany Williams smashes a ball for a point Friday afternoon against Utah Valley. Williams finished with 5 kills and a dig. Kansas won the match 3-0.
Photo by Weston White
Coach Ray Bechard said he was relieved his team came out with energy after losing to Oregon in 3 sets the night before.
“It really was a pretty good match,” Bechard said. “It was an hour-and-45-minute match, and we played really well for an hour.”
Bechard said that after the Jayhawks dominated the Knights in the second set 25-10, they came out flat for the third, falling 25-20. Consistency was a common problem for the Jayhawks all weekend. The Jayhawks would follow a great play with a hitting error or service error, making it hard to maintain any momentum. But thanks to back-to-back aces from senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart, Kansas took a 18-9 lead in the second set and never looked back.
A big reason the Jayhawks rolled against the UCF was an incredible balance that showed six players with five or more kills, three of them having at least 10, with freshmen Allison Mayfield leading the way with 11.
“You can’t get too top-heavy to the left side. Teams will game plan against that,” Bechard said.
Uhart, who was doubtful for the weekend after tweaking her ankle on Tuesday, finished with 10 kills and continued to live up to her preseason All-Big 12 team selection. And as for that flat third set? Uhart said it would be used as a practice point.
“Just like last night, we were a roller coaster,” Uhart said. “We know that we do it, and we’re very aware and we’re trying to get over the humps that we go through.”
Another factor to watch was how junior middle blocker Brittany Williams looked after playing three games in two days. Williams looked like the player of old at times, as it was obvious Williams still needed more time to continue to get herself back to 100 percent.
“We need to get Brittany more involved, which we will,” Bechard said. “She has some soreness after back-to-back games, but I think that it will continue to be more manageable.”
Williams said her trainer gave her a specific regimen for her to follow, which has helped her feel better after a long stretch of games. Williams also knows how important these non-conference games are.
“We realize that from these past couple of years, that these non-conference games are actually the ones that put us above the .500 mark,” Williams said.
Which is exactly where the Jayhawks stand after the invitational, with a 3-2 record heading into a Tuesday match against UMKC. “This is the challenge this early in the year: can you play better long?” Becahrd said.
— Edited by Adam Mowder
Discussion
The Kansan.com staff reviews comments regularly. Please be respectful of your peers. For our full user policy, click here.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.