KU ‘really good’ in win over Texas A&M

By Andy Samuelson     Nov 23, 2003

Jared Soares/Journal-World Photo
Kansas University sophomore middle blocker Josi Lima, right, and junior libero Jill Dorsey go after a ball against Texas A&M. The Jayhawks swept the Aggies, 3-0, Saturday at Horejsi Center.

Snubbed from last year’s NCAA Tournament, Kansas University’s volleyball squad is doing everything within its power to qualify this season.

So far, so good.

With just a week left in the regular season, the Jayhawks stunned No. 21 Texas A&M, 3-0 (30-21, 32-30, 30-21), Saturday at Horejsi Center.

“That’s Jayhawk volleyball in one of its finest hours right there,” KU coach Ray Bechard said of the Jayhawks, who never had toppled Texas A&M in 16 tries before Saturday. “I don’t know if I’ve seen a more consistent 90 minutes. Boy, we were just really good.”

The 19-10 Jayhawks set a KU record for Big 12 Conference wins, improving their league mark to 11-7.

KU did have to rally in the second game, however.

The Jayhawks trailed 20-15, but middle blocker Ashley Michaels connected on three kills and a crucial block to fuel a Jayhawk run that tied the game at 21 on a kill by setter Andi Rozum.

The teams exchanged leads the rest of regulation before KU senior Sarah Rome emphatically slammed home the winner for a 32-30 victory.

“The thing about this team is, when we’re on, we’re on — and we can beat anyone,” said Rome, who, like Michaels, had 13 kills.

Josi Lima led the Jayhawks with 14 kills, while Rozum handed out a whopping 50 assists. Kansas had 29 more kills than A&M and outdug the defensive-oriented Aggies.

Yet the key to Kansas’ attack might have been senior Jordan Garrison, who had a career-high 11 kills and no errors in 13 attack opportunities.

“I don’t know, sometimes you just get that feeling that it was there tonight,” Garrison said.

Kansas has let two-game leads evaporate this season, but the Jayhawks cruised with a dominant 30-21 victory in Game Three. It erased bad memories of a match Oct. 29 against Kansas State, when KU took a 2-0 lead, but the Wildcats rallied to win the next three.

“I think that was on everybody’s mind heading into the locker room after the first two games,” Michaels said. “We thought this could happen again, so we’re not going to let it happen again.”

Not Saturday, anyway, and with the win the Jayhawks might have gained the attention of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

“A week before they’re going to select teams, and you see somebody knocking off a ranked team, 3-0 … I think that’s going to have some impact,” Bechard said. “Now we can’t fall on our face next week. We still feel like we’d like to get to 13-7, and that could be as good as fourth or third in the league.

“We still got a lot of goals ahead of us, but we reached a lot of them tonight. To never beat this program before, and to beat them 3-0, it’s huge.”

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