Kansas volleyball falls at ISU

By Staff Reports     Oct 23, 2014

? Kansas University suffered a five-set volleyball setback to Iowa State on Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.

Trying for back-to-back wins at ISU for the first time since 2003-04, the Jayhawks instead fell, 25-18, 16-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-12.

ISU (11-7 overall, 3-4 Big 12) has only lost twice at home this season — to then-No. 3 Stanford and then-No. 13 Florida State — and not since August.

“They’ve had success at home, but there was opportunity there for us,” KU coach Ray Bechard said after the Jayhawks fell to 15-6, 3-4.

“I guess to a neutral observer, it was a pretty competitive match. We’ve got to figure out some things as far as who we are when it comes to our competitive personality. This is not going to define who we are, but certainly it should determine how we prepare for our next match.”

Freshman middle blocker Kelsie Payne led the Jayhawks with a career-high 13 kills and a match-high .357 attack percentage. She and sophomore middle blocker Tayler Soucie held down the net with six blocks apiece as KU out-blocked the home team, 13.0-10.0.

Junior outside hitter Tiana Dockery had her second double-double of the year, with 12 kills and 10 digs. Senior Chelsea Albers put up season-high numbers in digs (21), assists (4) and blocks (5) in addition to her eight blocks. Spreading the offense around in an environment that proved constantly challenging, freshman setter Ainise Havili dished 45 assists to combine with 11 digs for the 11th double-double of her career. Behind them, sophomore libero Cassie Wait posted her fifth-straight 20-dig performance with an even 20 saves on the night.

Kansas will host Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday in an alumni-weekend game at Horejsi Center.

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