LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 13 Kansas Jayhawks knocked off the Wichita State Shockers in a 3-0 sweep in front of a sold-out crowd at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on Wednesday night.
“Thought when we were a little bit out of sync, we found a way to dig ourselves out of it in the second set and a little bit in the third set,” said Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard. “And certainly, that’s going to happen over the course of the year. For us to have that opportunity to do something like that playing at home, it was great. We won’t be back home for a little while, but we’re excited about this place, and I know our team was pretty pumped up to get the band going and good student section tonight, and we sold a ton of season tickets, which we’re excited about. The fan base has been great.”
The Jayhawks looked confident in the attack from the jump, hitting .533 through their first 13 points. At 14-7, the Shockers called their first timeout in an effort to slow down Kansas’ rolling offense, and were able to slightly close the gap, but Kansas kept their cool, maintaining no less than an eight-point lead through the duration of the set. The Jayhawks closed out the first set 25-17 with a kill from Toyosi Onabanjo, who notched four total on six attempts, hitting an impressive .667.
In the second set, Wichita State held a 5-2 lead until the Jayhawks fought back to tie it at 6-6. The teams continued to trade points, but the Shockers pulled ahead again at 12-9, prompting Kansas to take a timeout. The set would continue to see back-and-forth action until Kansas won a challenge to make it 21-20 that would give the Jayhawks the momentum to pull away from Wichita State, closing it out at 25-21 on a service ace from Bryn McGehe.
Set three followed a similar pattern to the last, staying close at 7-7. Kansas hit .222 with a .407 kill percentage and led 15-14 at the media timeout. Kansas continued to power through as the Shockers would not go down without a fight and found a solid lead after Heidi Devers aided the Jayhawks with five serves that put Kansas ahead of the Shockers 20-16. The Jayhawks did not slow down as London Davis got a kill to finish the 3rd set 25-19.
Elnady was at the forefront of the attack, tallying a team-leading 14 kills as well as two service aces against the Shockers. Camryn Turner was in double digits in both assists (36) and digs (10) to lead the Jayhawks in both statistical categories.
Up next, the Jayhawks will head to Milwaukee to Marquette for a two-day tournament, starting with a 6pm match on Friday, September 6, against the host, No. 24 Marquette.
