The Big 12 Conference schedule seems to keep kicking the Kansas University volleyball team when it’s down.
A month after losing junior Jana Correa for the season because of a knee injury, the Jayhawks faced their fifth ranked opponent in the last seven outings Saturday: the 14th-ranked Texas Longhorns.
Though KU led early in each game, it couldn’t keep up with Texas’ scoring runs in a 30-22, 30-20, 30-21 defeat at Horejsi Center.
The loss is the Jayhawks’ seventh in a row, their longest streak since dropping 10 straight in 1997.
“Nobody wants a losing streak – it’s one of the worst feelings in the world,” sophomore Emily Brown said. “We’re all pretty hopeful and pretty confident we can get it turned around.”
Kansas showed signs of turning the corner Saturday but could not get crucial sideouts to stop the Texas momentum.
The Jayhawks led 5-1 in Game One, forcing a UT timeout before watching the Longhorns run off eight straight points to take a commanding lead.
Kansas came out hot again in Game Three, taking a 10-8 advantage before Texas rallied for seven unanswered points.
“You can’t survive more than a couple of those a game,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. “It seemed like there were three or four of those each game where they had three-, four-, maybe five-point runs.”
All of which allowed the Longhorns to coast in the match without ever feeling pressured.
“I was a little more hopeful we could get games to 25-all,” Bechard said. “If you make that group anxious, their efficiency goes down like anybody else. But we could never get it to 25-all.”
Without Correa, Kansas found itself short-handed against Texas’ powerful slams. Dariam Acevado notched 14 kills to lead the Longhorns.
Meanwhile, KU had to be more creative with its attack. Brown led the team with 10 kills, and setter Andi Rozum added seven on surprise attacks at the net.
KU fell to 12-10 overall and 4-9 in the Big 12.
