The Shockers fell into a 9-5 hole in the opening set and were never able to claw their way out, as the Jayhawks lengthened their lead out to 14-7. Three Jayhawks produced at least four kills in the set, highlighted by Elnady’s six, while the Shockers struggled to find scoring outside of Morgan Stout’s five terminations. Kansas hit .400 as a team in the opening frame.
Wichita State had their best opportunity to level the ledger in the second set, surging to a 13-10 advantage following consecutive kills from Brooklyn Leggett. Kansas rallied to tie the set at 15-15, then the two sides traded points to reach 20-20. A Kansas challenge on what was originally a Leggett kill gave the Jayhawks a 21-20 lead, and the Shockers could not recover as Kansas scored four of the next five points to claim a 2-0 lead.
The Shockers were again on even footing at 15-15 in the third set but committed three attack errors and a service error in short succession to hand the Jayhawks a 20-15 cushion. WSU clawed back within three via an Allie Paulsen kill that made it 21-18, but the Jayhawks again rattled off four of the next five points to close out the victory.
Kansas (4-0) out-blocked the Shockers 9.0-7.0 and racked up six aces to only five errors. Wichita State managed just a single service ace while misfiring four times.
Paulsen recorded her first career kills in the match, hitting .364 with six terminations.
The Shockers square off with another ranked foe on Friday as they travel to #21 Arkansas. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 pm CT.
