The Kansas volleyball team came up completely empty on its road trip to Utah as it suffered a second consecutive loss in straight sets on Friday night, falling 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-20) to BYU at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.
The Jayhawks, who had previously been swept just once on the season (Sept. 21 at Creighton) and not at all in conference play, suffered in recent days a pair of resounding losses at the hands of Big 12 foes, dropping to 20-10 on the season and 11-5 in league matches. Their chances of hosting NCAA Tournament action took another significant hit with two regular-season dates to go.
Typically an excellent blocking and overall defense team, KU allowed .416 hitting with just three blocks on the day. BYU’s Suli Little led all players with 15 kills that came on .462 hitting, while Claire Little Chambers added 13 at a .522 clip. They accounted for most of the Cougars’ offense in three brisk sets. No KU player had more than five digs.
The Jayhawks hit reasonably well, especially through outside hitter Rhian Swanson and middle blocker Reese Ptacek, but struggled at the service line, with just one ace and 11 service errors in the three-set match. Setter Katie Dalton recorded 27 assists but was replaced late by Cristin Cline as one of several substitutions.
KU was playing from behind essentially from the opening few points of the first set, and then while trailing 10-8 allowed a 5-1 run that included three straight blocks. Swanson put the Jayhawks back in contention with a series of kills to force a timeout by BYU at 19-16, at which point the Cougars scored seven of the final eight points. Davis’ back-to-back kills clinched the set.
The second game had KU ahead 7-6 before five straight for BYU, with two kills from Alex Bower and a service ace by Elli Mortensen. Once again, the Jayhawks drew near, this time through Ptacek and Grace Nelson and an attack error by Davis, but allowed a run late in the set that sealed the result.
The Jayhawks never fell out of contention in the decisive third game, and trailed just 20-18 after a kill by Selena Leban, who played two of the three sets. Leban also brought KU to 23-20 after BYU fought back. But Cline committed a service error to put the Cougars at match point, and Little Chambers finished off the sweep.
KU will conclude a series of four matches on the road when it takes on Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
