by LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 9 Kansas served up 11 aces to help defeat Furman, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-17), in the NCAA Volleyball Championship First Round on Thursday night. Despite hosting the first and second rounds for the fourth consecutive season, Thursday marked the first NCAA postseason match inside KU’s true home court – a sold-out Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
“That was a lot of fun,” Kansas head coach Ray Bechard said. “We have played at Horejsi a number of times but it feels a bit different when it’s a NCAA tournament-type setting. I thought we got a little sped up at times with our serve and offense but once settled in serving the ball tough and in, everything else started to come together.”
The Jayhawks (27-2) reached an NCAA tournament program record for hitting percentage in a match (.364) with 44 kills and just eight attacking errors. Sophomore outside hitter Madison Rigdon posted a career-high four aces and sophomore right-side hitter Kelsie Payne contributed 13 kills on a .423 hitting percentage to give KU its 19th three-set sweep of the season.
Furman ends its season with a 21-9 record after making its second NCAA postseason appearance as Southern Conference champions. Annie Bierman paced the Paladins with nine kills and 11 digs.
Kansas came out in the first set anxious to erase memories of a first-round upset to Little Rock last season in Topeka. The Jayhawks did just that – jumping out to leads of 8-4 and 21-11 before winning the first set, 25-14. Payne emphatically closed out the set with three consecutive kills.
Payne kept rolling into the second set with eight kills on 11 errorless swings. In fact, the entire Kansas squad did not record an attacking error in a 25-21 second set victory. Furman kept pace with the Jayhawks’ offensive production, matching KU’s 16 second-set kills and playing to a 20-18 advantage late in the period.
Sophomore Tori Miller entered the match as a serving specialist with the second set tied, 20-20, and aggressively served a three-point run which swung the momentum back the Jayhawks. The run also set up another dominating finish from Payne, who recorded the last four points for KU during a 7-1 run to end the second set.
Kansas closed the match with six aces on just two service errors to fuel a 25-17 victory. Senior Tiana Dockery (Navajo) zipped three aces and Rigdon two past Furman’s defense in the closing set. Dockery finished with 6 kills in the match.
NEXT UP
Kansas advances to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the fifth time in seven postseason appearances, and will face No. 25 Missouri on Friday night (6:30 p.m., ESPN3). The Tigers defeated Missouri State on Thursday, 3-1, to advance.
