by LARAMIE, Wyo. – Sophomore outside hitter Madison Rigdon notched KU’s first kill-dig double-double of the season to help guide No. 22 Kansas Volleyball to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 25-20) win over Northern Colorado to open Pistol Pete’s Showdown on Friday on the campus of the University of Wyoming.
Rigdon recorded 12 kills and a career-high 15 digs as a six-rotation player for the Jayhawks. In the last two matches, Rigdon has totaled 29 digs and 21 kills.
“Madison had a great effort today,” Kansas Head Coach Ray Bechard said. “Anytime we can get that kind of production from middle-back, it is a great thing. We have asked a lot of her as a six-rotation player, and she has been delivering.”
Senior outside hitter Tiana Dockery (Navajo) posted a season-high 18 kills with seven digs and seven blocks, while junior middle blocker Janae Hall added seven blocks to help Kansas set a season-high 11.0 team blocks. But it wasn’t all perfect in KU’s first match at 7,220 feet above sea level. The Jayhawks (7-0) maintain their best start to a season since 2010, despite a season-low .186 attack percentage and not recording an ace for the first time in over a year (Sept. 5, 2014 against Bradley).
Kendra Cunningham led Northern Colorado (2-5) with 17 kills, 15 digs and four blocks. Kansas held the Bears to a .154 attack percentage.
KU and Northern Colorado traded a pair of runs start the first set before the Jayhawks prevailed with a 25-20 victory. Reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week Kelsie Payne paced Kansas with two early kills. UNC later erased a four-point deficit to tie the set, 18-18. KU gained control with a 5-0 run, including two kills from Dockery and a setter’s dump from Ainise Havili, who finished with over 40 assists for the third time this season (43). Dockery polished off KU’s 7-2 run by clinching the set with her sixth kill.
The Jayhawks nursed a three-point lead for most of the second set and staved off a late rally from the Bears to take the set, 25-23. A kill from Dockery, a KU double-block involving Dockery andJanae Hall, and an attacking UNC error gave KU set-point at 24-20. UNC regrouped for a 3-0 run after calling a time timeout, but committed a service error to give KU the second-set victory.
Kansas fell behind early in the third set, 7-3, which included a 4-0 UNC run fueled by three Kansas errors. The Bears kept Kansas at bay for the remainder of the third set and won, 25-16. It ended an 11-set winning streak for the Jayhawks, which spanned four matches.
Northern Colorado jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth set, but Kansas quickly responded with a kill from Rigdon, a solo block by Tayler Soucie and a kill from Soucie for a 3-2 lead. The deciding set would be tied two more times by UNC, but KU never surrendered its lead on the way to a 25-20 match-clinching victory. Soucie recorded four of her seven total kills in the fourth set. Dockery registered her 18th kill on the final point of the match.
