Photo courtesy of Kansas AthleticsThe Kansas volleyball team opened the final series of the fall season with a four-set victory (25-21, 25-13, 24-26, 25-20) over Texas Tech on Thursday night at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
Playing for the first time in a while in a mostly empty venue, the Jayhawks brought their own energy and roared out to a two-set lead.
Kansas (4-9) won the opening set 25-21 and rolled in Set No. 2, 25-13.
The Jayhawks nearly pulled off the sweep, but let a late lead in the third set slip away and fell to the Red Raiders 26-24.
KU responded to the hiccup by winning the first five points of the fourth set, paving the way for a 25-20 victory.
As has been the case at different points throughout the pandemic-shortened season, a few freshmen carried the load for the Jayhawks in their latest win.
Outside hitter Ayah Elnady led the team with 15 kills. Setter Elise McGhie recorded 36 assits, 12 digs and five kills. And middle blocker Caroline Crawford added 10 kills and helped KU control the net on defense with another strong blocking effort. Sophomore libero Kennedy Farris led Kansas with 25 digs.
KU’s kills leader, senior Jenny Mosser, added eight kills in the match but did not have her most efficient night of the season, hitting just .097 on the night.
As a team, KU out-hit Tech, .213 to .141, while also having a slight edge in aces (5-3), blocks (10-9) and digs (63-62).
The Jayhawks will close out the 2020 fall season against the Red Raiders (5-10) at 6:30 p.m. Friday night.
KU was supposed to play TCU on the road in two weeks to close the season, but that match has been moved to the spring because of COVID-19.
