by LAWRENCE, Kan. – A stifling nine-block performance by the Kansas frontline propelled the Jayhawks to a straight-set victory over West Virginia Wednesday night inside the Horejsi Family Athletics Center, 25-19, 25-23, 25-15.
Sophomore middle blocker Tayler Soucie tied for the match-high with six rejections, while senior outside hitter Chelsea Albers sent back five Mountaineer attacks on a night that Kansas (21-8, 9-6) held the Big 12 Conference’s kill leader Jordan Anderson of West Virginia (15-14, 5-10) to just 10 kills. Four of which came in the second set, when the Mountaineers used a 10-0 run in an attempt to fight off the sweep.
“We had a little bit of a hiccup there in the second frame,” head coach Ray Bechard said. “But what was really good about that was we gave them momentum and then took it back to get a 3-0 win against a good team.”
With the win against WVU and Oklahoma’s win against Kansas State on Wednesday, Kansas stays on pace to finish in a tie for second place in the conference standings.
Offensively, senior outside hitter Sara McClinton blasted a career-high three aces and led a trio of Jayhawks that registered 10 or more kills and put together eight momentous runs of three-straight points that helped disband the Mountaineers. The middles led the charge with a combined 19 kills and one error as Soucie rattled off nine kills without an error and freshman Kelsie Payne offset her one mishap with 10 kills.
Rounding out the leaderboard, junior outside hitter Tiana Dockery (Navajo Nation) tossed in 10 kills of her own. The multi-talented Albers stuffed the stat sheet with seven kills, seven digs and five blocks. Freshman setter Ainise Havili passed out 37 assists, guiding her offense to a solid .358 attack percentage. Defensively, sophomore libero Cassie Wait recorded at match-high 14 digs. Both Wait and Havili passed major milestones on Wednesday. Wait made herself one of three Jayhawks in program history to surpass 500 digs in a single season, while Havili broke the KU freshman assist record.
Anderson was the lone Mountaineer to go over 10 kills on the evening, only the fourth time this season that the Big 12 kills leader was held to 10 or fewer in a match. As a team, West Virginia managed to muster an attack percentage of .194.
Both the Jayhawks and Mountaineers reeled off two separate runs of three-straight points through the first 15 serves of the match. Heading into the first TV timeout, Kansas clung to a 15-13 advantage thanks to a balanced distribution of the ball. In all, four Jayhawks found themselves with three or more kills next to their names (Payne 4, Soucie 4, Albers 3, Dockery 3) as Kansas claimed to a 22-17 late in the period. McClinton closed out the first session, scoring two of the Jayhawks’ next three points by way of a kill and a service ace to take an early match advantage, 25-19.
After recording seven more kills, but being out blocked 3.0-1.0 in the first set, Kansas let its offense take a back seat in the second period. After the first 15 points of the set, KU had turned away four Mountaineer attacks at the net – three of which were credited to Soucie. The blocking spark pushed KU out to a sizable 15-5 advantage. Led by Soucie, who also tossed in three kills in the span, KU kept rolling to extend the gap to 20-8. Getting completely outplayed, West Virginia had seen enough. The Mountaineers roared back with a 10-0, slicing their deficit to a mere two points, 20-18. The Jayhawks were forced into a timeout, but still couldn’t solve the errors that were riddling the offense.
West Virginia went on to claim 14 of the next 15 points tying the score at 21-21, leading to another Kansas timeout. After letting West Virginia take its first lead of the set 23-22, Kansas used the trio of points system that it benefited so much from in the first set. First, Soucie tied the score at 23 with a kill, then KU fittingly regained the lead 24-23 on a block from Payne and McClinton. Payne ended the second set drama – and WVU’s hope for a match-defining comeback – with a kill to take a 25-23 victory and 2-0 lead in the match.
The two teams embarked in a back-and-forth affair to begin the third set. The score read 9-9 until a span of four-straight points gave KU a 13-9 lead, causing a West Virginia timeout. Kansas responded out of the stoppage with another 4-0 run thanks to two blocks by Albers and Soucie and an ace by Wait that proved to be devastating to West Virginia’s chances in the match – 20-11. McClinton sparked the victory with five total points coming in the third set which led Kansas to a 25-15 victory and a 3-0 match sweep of West Virginia.
