LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 10 Jayhawks defeated the No. 6 Purdue Boilermakers, 3-1, on Thursday night in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in a battle of the unbeaten. London Davis led Kansas with 22 kills off of .513 hitting while Camryn Turner tied her career high in assists as she reached 59 on the very last point of the match to seal the Jayhawk victory after losing 2-3 in last year’s matchup.
“Grit and grace are two things that we try to exhibit, and grit was definitely on display tonight,” said Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard. “That is a gritty, hard working Purdue volleyball team that deserves their top 10 ranking.”
The first set was a back-and-forth contest that featured 21 ties and resulted in extra points as Kansas secured an early match lead after taking it 31-29. Senior London Davis came in big for the Jayhawks as she picked up four kills starting at the 23-22 Purdue lead.
Coming out of the first media break leading 15-14, Ayah Elnady and Toyosi Onabanjo combined for the next three points as the duo roofed a Purdue attack before both contributing a kill for the largest lead by either team at 18-15. A late 5-1 Boiler run by would cause the fifth lead change of the set as Kansas trailed at 19-20.
After last year’s match between the two ended in a thrilling 17-15 fifth set loss for Kansas, the teams picked up right where they left off by forcing a total of ten extra points before the Jayhawks sealed the first set.
In the second set, the Boilermakers took an early three-point lead, but the Jayhawks quickly closed the gap and took a one-point lead over Purdue at 5-4. Kansas would continue to stay ahead with 23 attacks & 11 kills before Purdue would lead the Jayhawks 15-13 at the media timeout.
Purdue widened its lead to 21-17 but it was shortly cut by an Onabanjo kill and back-to-back service aces by Bryn McGehe for Kansas to trail by one and force a Boilers timeout. A 4-1 run would level out the match as Purdue clinched the second set 25-21.
The Boilers jumped to a quick 7-3 lead to start the third set and extended it to 9-4 before Kansas called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Jayhawks narrowed the gap to 9-6 with back-to-back kills from freshman Zoey Burgess and senior London Davis. Kansas then secured its first lead of the set at 16-15 after a Purdue attack error. The Jayhawks would carry the momentum behind three more Davis kills and a Caroline Bien and Burgess kill, reducing the Boiler bench to call a timeout at 22-20. A Davis and Onabanjo block would secure the third set for the Jayhawks at 25-22.
Kansas took an early 4-2 lead to start the fourth set, they would maintain the lead until Purdue closed the gap, tying it at 10-10 after a Jayhawk attack error. However, the Jayhawks held their ground and regained an 18-16 lead with two massive kills from Bien and Davis before a media timeout was called. A successful Kansas challenge would be a large contributor in the home team’s momentum, and after some gritty Jayhawk points, the top-10 upset was completed when Bien nailed an attack off of Turner’s 59th assist of the night to the middle back for game point.
Another noteworthy performance came from reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Week Zoey Burgess, who tied her career high with eight kills off of .538 hitting.
“Grace (Nelson) came in and gave us a little extra spark that we needed in a very tough situation,” said Bechard. “London offensively was awesome, and so were Toy and Cam Turner, who had 59 assists and 17 digs. You know, it was a good win, but here we go.”
Up next, The Jayhawks will take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Friday, September 20 in their second match of the 2024 Jayhawk Classic. First serve is slated for 6:30 p.m., and fans can follow along on ESPN+, Kansas’ StatBroadcast platform and the KU Volleyball social media pages.
