Match Stats
- #6 Kansas def. TCU 3-0 (25-12, 15-19, 25-22)
- Kansas moves to 17-2 (6-1 Big 12); TCU falls to 10-7 (3-4 Big 12)
- The Rickel, Fort Worth, Texas (TCU hosted)
The 6th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks traveled south to visit TCU, who played in front of a season-high 1808 fans and 5th-straight sell-out. Despite the crowd, TCU came out flat as Kansas dominated the first set, holding their opponents to .000 early.
“For the second time this week, we started strong right out of the gate again,” Kansas head coach Ray Bechard said. “Being physical and organized defensively created a lot of opportunities for us tonight. That was really great to see. TCU is having a really good season — an NCAA tournament team no doubt, as was K-State (who we played on Wednesday). It is as good of a 2-0 week that we’ve had in a while against quality opponents like that.”
TCU never hit higher than .100 in the game as Kansas dominated defensively with 70 digs and 12 team blocks (as compared to 54 and 4 for the home team).
2015 All-American Kelsie Payne led all players with 16 kills and just 3 errors (.371 average) and chipped in 10 digs. With 7 blocks to boost, she came up just a few shy of a triple-double.
Payne is a hair behind her record-setting, Big 12-leading 4.4 kills-per-set pace from last season, but her overall contributions are up in nearly every other statistical category – includinge triple the rate of digs-per-set.
Videos
Press Releases
Courtesy Kansas Athletics:
FORT WORTH, Texas – Sixth-ranked Kansas volleyball started strong and kept the pressure on TCU during a straight-set Big 12 road victory on Saturday night inside University Recreation Center (25-12, 25-19, 25-22).
Kansas (17-2, 6-1 Big 12) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first set and didn’t trail for the rest of the match, outside of a 2-2 tie in the second set and a 1-1 tie in the third set. A well-balanced defensive effort featured three Jayhawks with six or more block-assists while senior libero Cassie Wait led KU’s back row with 25 digs.
“For the second time this week, we started strong right out of the gate again,” Kansas head coach Ray Bechard said. “Being physical and organized defensively created a lot of opportunities for us tonight. That was really great to see. TCU is having a really good season — an NCAA tournament team no doubt, as was K-State (who we played on Wednesday). It is as good of a 2-0 week that we’ve had in a while against quality opponents like that.”
TCU (10-7, 3-4) entered Saturday with a .243 hitting percentage and the second-most blocks per set in the Big 12 (2.5), but Kansas held the Frogs to a .056 hitting clip and four blocks in three sets. Junior All-American setter Ainise Havili guided the Kansas offense to an efficient .250 hitting percentage with her seventh double-double of the season, recording 32 assists and 13 digs.
For the second time four matches, junior right-side hitter Kelsie Payne proved her All-American status beyond measure by nearly recording a triple-double. The Austin, Texas native recorded 16 kills, 10 digs and seven blocks for her fifth double-double of the season. On Oct. 5, Payne poured in 18 kills, 16 digs and eight blocks at Iowa State.
Junior outside hitter Madison Rigdon, the Big 12’s leader in aces per set, set the tone early for Kansas at the service line. Rigdon maintained possession on KU’s side for a 5-0 run – not adding to her Big 12 lead in aces, but serving aggressively to keep the Horned Frogs out of system and setting up easy-to-terminate plays for the Kansas offense.
Kansas held TCU to a .000 hitting percentage in the first set, while posting a .417 attacking clip on the way to a 25-12 first-set victory.
The Jayhawks started the second set with a 9-5 advantage, forcing a TCU timeout. Kansas was able to maintain its lead for the remainder of the set with the help of 10 second-set digs from Wait and five second-set team blocks. Payne reached her 10th kill of the night without recording an attacking error until her first fault brought TCU within four points, 23-19. But a TCU service error provided a side-out and set-point for the Jayhawks.
Junior defensive specialist Addison Barry subbed in to serve an ace on set point to give Kansas a 2-0 lead in the match. Barry made the most of her playing time, as her ace on set point was the first and only time she checked in to the match on Saturday evening.
Before Kansas put its fifth-straight victory on ice, junior middle blocker Kayla Cheadle helped withstand a late TCU run in the third set. Cheadle made back-to-back plays to stop a 5-0 TCU run that cut KU’s lead to two, 22-20. The Columbia, Missouri native’s sixth kill of the night halted the run, followed by a block assist with Rigdon to give Kansas match point.
“Cheadle got us a key kill and a block when TCU was making a run in the third set,” Bechard said. “Those back-to-back points were huge for us.”
Payne clinched the Kansas win with a first-ball kill on KU’s third match point.
The Jayhawks cap-off its week of competition with a pair of wins over 2015 NCAA tournament teams – and likely 2016 tournament teams – in Kansas State and TCU.
UP NEXT
Kansas returns to Lawrence to face West Virginia on Thursday night (6:30 p.m., JTV/ESPN3).
“I was encouraged after the K-State match that we are really starting to come into our own and understand who we are and what we do well,” Bechard concluded. “I think this solidifies it a little bit, but we have to get back to work to prepare for a good West Virginia team to end the first round of Big 12 play. But I think we are playing with some good momentum right now.”
Courtesy TCU Athletics:
FORT WORTH, Texas – In the final home match of the first half of Big 12 play, the TCU volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-22) setback to No. 6 Kansas on Saturday night at The Rickel inside the University Recreation Center.
In front of the team’s fifth straight sellout of the season, the Horned Frogs (10-7, 3-4 Big 12) struggled to get a rhythm offensively as the Jayhawks (17-2, 6-1 Big 12) held TCU to its lowest hitting percentage of the season at .056 and out-blocked the Frogs with 12 total in the match.
Natalie Gower led the team offensively with 7 total kills in the match and no errors for a .412 hitting clip. Gower also led the team defensively at the net along with Anna Walsh with three total blocks each. Ashley Smith and Sarita Mikals each picked up double-digit digs with 12 and 14, respectively.
Stat of the Match
11 – The number of matches this season that Natalie Gower has hit above .300. The senior has hit above that mark 41 times in her career and in the match against Kansas, it marked the fourth straight match with a .400 hitting clip or better.
Quotes of the Match
TCU Director of Volleyball Jill Kramer
Opening Statement
“Well first and foremost, I want to thank our fans for coming out today. It was our largest attendance to date and I thought they were really into the match the whole time. We made it tough at times for them to have something to cheer about at the beginning. We just had a really tough time getting into a rhythm and they stuck in there with us and they had our backs and we love that.
“It took us a long time for us to get to a point where we were executing our game plan defensively. We started to digs some balls and pick some good spots blocking wise in the second and third sets. In the first set, we weren’t really on our game plan that well. We have to get on that quicker. We were also in a little bit different of a lineup tonight and you could see that it affected some of our offensive rhythms. We got to get back in the gym with the girls and work on some things there. We held some of the players of a very good Kansas team to lower numbers which is what we wanted and then a couple of them went off. Kelsie Payne is a good player. She hit some really sharp and high angles and we expected her to do some really good things but we just wanted to slow some other people down and we did that a bit. It was more about us not being in an offensive rhythm. Again, it is another opportunity to get better and learn and get back in the gym and improve every day.”
Notes
-TCU falls to 10-7 overall this season, 7-2 in home matches and 3-4 against conference opponents in 2016
-With the win by the Jayhawks, Kansas improves to 8-2 all-time against the Frogs
-Natalie Gower led the team for the third time this season in kills with seven in the match
-The .412 hitting clip by Gower marked the 11th time this season and 41st time in her career she has hit above .400
-Gower also led the team in blocking for the ninth time this season along with Anna Walsh with three blocks each
-Sarita Mikals donned the libero jersey for the first time in her career and led the team in digs for the fifth time this season with 14 against Kansas
-Mikals totaled double-digit digs for the 12th time this season and 51st time in her career
-Mikals also led the team in service aces for the fifth time this season with two in the match
-Ashley Smith also finished with double-digit digs for the seventh time this season and 43rd time in her career with 12 in the match
-TCU was out-blocked by its opponent for only the third time this season
-The 1,808 fans in attendance was the largest crowd thus far in 2016 and marked the fifth straight sell-out and seventh overall this season
Up Next
TCU will wrap-up the first half of Big 12 play by traveling to Austin, Texas to face No. 4 Texas on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. The match is the third of four nationally televised matches for the Frogs this season and will air live on FOX Sports Network.
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