LAWRENCE, Kan. (KUAthletics.com) – No. 14 Kansas volleyball swept Kansas State (25-19, 26-24, 25-23) Saturday afternoon before a sold-out crowd at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown.
With the win, the Jayhawks have won six straight and improved to 18-4 and 9-3 in Big 12 play, while the Wildcats move to 13-10, 7-7 Big 12.
The two teams started off the match even-up through 7-7, until junior Caroline Bien stepped back to serve and led the Jayhawks on a 5-0 scoring run, knocking down two aces in the process. KU led out as far 15-9, and once K-State finally got into double digits, back-to-back KU points highlighted by a huge solo block by junior Toyosi Onabanjo pushed the Wildcats to call a timeout. It was to no avail, however, because the high-powered Jayhawk offense held K-State down for a 25-19 set victory.
Neither side held more than a three-point lead for the duration of the second set. Both teams were hitting well, and once the game got tied up at 18-18, K-State won a challenge to reverse the score, and knocked down another point after that, which would push the Jayhawks to call a timeout down 20-17. K-State continued to hold its lead until the score read 24-21. The Wildcats would stay at match point for four points as KU ran the score up to tie it at 24-24. A huge rally ended with an Elnady kill for Kansas’ 25th point, and K-State would hit it out of bounds so the Jayhawks took the second-set victory in extra points, 26-24.
There were six ties to start the third set until KU finally pulled away to lead 10-7. K-State fought back in, and things got as close as 17-15 in favor of the home team. Bien started heating up, however, knocking down back-to-back kills and helping the Jayhawks take a 19-15 advantage. The Jayhawks’ lead would become narrow again with K-State keeping it at two-point game at 22-20. However, a huge London Davis kill would make K-State call a timeout at 23-20. The Wildcats knocked down back-to-back kills to put things at 23-22, but Elnady killed it for the Jayhawks’ 24th point. After a KU serve into the net, Bien redeemed KU with the match-winning kill.
Bien had a team-leading 14 kills on the day, hitting .357 in the process and also recording nine digs and two aces to round out her stat line. Davis and Elnady each totaled nine kills a piece, while graduate Mykayla Myers added six kills for the Jayhawks.
Defensively, freshman Raegan Burns and junior Camryn Turner each tallied 13 digs a piece to lead KU, while Onabanjo posted the most blocks with three.
“We knew yesterday, coming back, they were going to come for revenge,” said Burns discussing KU’s five-set win versus Kansas State Friday night. “We knew we had to be on our game today and we definitely were.”
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks head to Ames for a pair of matches at Iowa State on November 10-11. The matches will take place at 6:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.
