KU volleyball sweeps for Jayhawk Invitational title

By Staff Reports     Sep 9, 2012

The Kansas University volleyball team swept Wyoming in three sets to win the Jayhawk Invitational title on Saturday at Horejsi Center.

The 25-13, 25-21, 25-18 victory was the Jayhawks’ seventh straight — the team’s longest winning streak since a 7-0 start to the 2010 season.

Junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc starred once again for KU, finishing with a team-high 13 kills and a .478 hitting percentage and collecting tournament MVP honors. Jarmoc, who also won MVP at last week’s Kansas Volleyball Invitational, totaled 38 kills, 11 blocks and a .541 attack percentage this weekend.

Senior middle blocker Tayler Tolefree (12 kills Saturday) and junior libero Brianne Riley (59 digs on the weekend) were also named to the all-tournament team.

Saturday’s match a marked the end of a nine-day stretch in which the Jayhawks (9-1) played seven games.

“I thought we progressively got better over the weekend, and at this point in the year, that’s what you need,” KU coach Ray Bechard said. “I told the team that’s that was a third of our season already — 10 of 31 matches — they were wowed, it seems like we’re just into it. But when you have so many opportunities this early, you have to take advantage of them, and I thought we did that this weekend. We played very well at times, but very steady, which is harder when we’re playing three matches in two days.”

Kansas overwhelmed Wyoming from the first set Saturday. KU scored nine straight points to build a 10-2 lead and held the Cowgirls off for the remainder of the set, leading by at least six the whole way.

Wyoming bounced back in the second set, forcing seven ties and two lead changes, but seven kills from Tolefree and five from Jarmoc pushed the Jayhawks ahead.

The competitiveness from the third set carried over, resulting in a 11-11 tie, but KU went on a 5-0 run before closing out Wyoming.

Kansas will travel to the Notre Dame Tournament in South Bend, Ind., for a 4 p.m. match Friday against Loyola Marymount.

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