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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013
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VOLLEYBALL
BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
The Jayhawks huddle during the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday night against the Kansas State Wildcats. The Jayhawks won their fourth consecutive match against Kansas State for the first time since 1989-1993.
Jarmoc, Kansas win fourth straight Sunflower Showdown
BLAIR SHEADE
bsheade@kansan.com
The last time Kansas beat its in-state rival Kansas State in four consecutive matches was from 1989-1993.
History repeated itself on Saturday night, when the No. 23 Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats 3-1; 19-25, 26-24, 25-14, 25-18 at the sold-out Horesei Family Athletics Center in the final installment of volleyball's 2013 Sunflower Showdown.
After the Jayhawks dropped the first set, where Kansas hit. 111 as a team, redshirt senior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc was dominating in the second set.
"Jarmoc made some big swings," head coach Ray Bechard said.
The 2012 All-American had five kills on 10 attempts with zero errors, and she had the only block for the Jayhawks in the second set. Jarmoc's last kill of the set was the game winner, where there were 22 ties and five different lead changes. Jarmoc's success was due to senior setter Erin McNorton getting everyone involved in the offense, she said.
"Erin (McNorton) distributed the ball very well," Jarmoc said. "I was definitely scoring in that second set by Erin feeding me and me swinging away."
Jarmoc had a tough task going against Kansas State junior middle blocker Kaitlynn Pelger, who broke the top 10 in blocks and second in points among the Big 12 Conference.
"We talked about finding [No.] 17 (Pelger) a little better," Bechard said. "She had it going, so we paid a little bit more attention to her."
The last two sets, Pelger only had two kills.
"We contained No. 17." Bechard said. "She had more errors than kills in the third and fourth set and that is huge."
Going into Saturday's game, Kansas State led the Big 12 Conference by averaging 2.84 blocks per set and the lavahawks were third.
The roles changed on Saturday, when Kansas doubled the Wildcats team blocks. Kansas ended the match with 13 team blocks opposed to Kansas State's six队 blocks.
"Blocking is the skill that goes unnoticed sometimes and takes the most work," Jarmoc said. "I'm always happy when we out-block a team."
Jayhawk freshman middle blocker Tayler Soucie started the day off slow with just one kill and three errors, but ended strong.
"She had a little momentum going into the break and we said 'let's see how she starts in the third set,' Bechard said. "I'm a big believer in Soucie, she has a short memory for a freshman and she made some key plays as it went."
Soucie progressively gained confidence as the match went on. Soucie had one solo block and one block
assist in the first two sets, but ended the match with two solo blocks and a team high seven block assists.
"I wasn't thinking about my mistakes," Soucie said. "I knew I needed to go out and do what I needed to do."
There was talk about playing redshirt freshman Janae Hall, but coach Beachard thought Soucie gave the Jayhawks the best chance to win.
The success of redshirt senior outside hitter Catherine Carmichael stayed on track on Saturday. Carmichael had the team high six kills with zero errors in the second set.
"I'm very proud of kids like Cathy Carmichael, this was an important match for her," Beachard said. "A kid who no one gave a chance and she was out there playing at the highest level. She looked like the best player on the court at times."
Saturday was the last time this group of seniors will play Kansas State, but they are not worried about it.
we get to play K-State and it's always a big rivalry, but knowing that we get to come in and win four times since I've been here; it's a great feeling" Carmichael said.
"I don't get sad about it," larmoc said. "Everything has to end, but I'm really happy we ended on a good note with a win."
CROSS COUNTRY
Carmichael finished the game with 14 kills and a team high .414 hitting percentage.
—Edited by Casey Hutchins
Kansas posts top finishes in men's and women's at regionals
DANIEL HARMSEN
dharmsen@kansan.com
The teams competed at the Iowa State Cross Country Course on Friday, with the men running the 10k and the women running the 6k. Both teams exceeded expectations and brought home fifth place.
Although only junior Reid Buchanan will continue his season into the NCAA Championships as an individual qualifier, the Jayhawks will carry a lot of momentum into the indoor track season and the next cross country season. With his 12th place finish, Buchanan, who will return next season for his senior sendoff, became the first Jayhawk to compete in the NCAA Championships since 2010.
On Friday afternoon, the Kansas Men's and Women's Cross Country teams accomplished something that hasn't been done by a Kansas team in 10 years: both teams posted top-five finishes at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
The squads were idle for the last two weeks after finishing sixth and seventh at the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas, and used the time off to come back strong at the Midwest Regionals in Ames, Iowa.
The men looked to make their first trip to the NCAA Championships since 2006, but came up short. Even though their season ended a
Our front four did a great job; Whittlesey said. "The nestled themselves up in that pack. The move didn't happen until the last mile, but they stayed with it. They ran a tremendous team race up front."
little earlier than they had hoped, coach Michael Whittlesey was very pleased with his team's race.
Whittlesey found Buchanan's race particularly commendable.
"Reid [Buchanan] lost his shoe early in the race and had to run the last 5-plus miles without his shoe. He wouldn't be denied."
"Shoeless" Buchan talked about equipment malfunction.
"About 1k in I had a flat tire and tried to stop and get it back on," Buchanan said. "But I couldn't get it back on, so I just ran without it."
Experiencing equipment difficulties in a race as crucial as this one after a season's worth of preparation would be discouraging, but Buchanan credits his teammates for pulling him, shoeless and all, to the finish line.
When asked about his automatic
"Catching back up with our guys: Evan (Landes), Josh (Munsch) and James (Wilson), made me comfortable. They gave me enough confidence to get through. I know I couldn't have done as well without them."
qualification for the NCAA Championships, Buchan summed up his emotions in one word.
the work pad on
Led by sophomore Hannah Richardson, the Jayhawks concluded the 2013 season with a bang.
"Thrilled," he said. "That was the goal since June, so I am glad that all the work paid off"
"I'm tremendously proud of what you've done this year," Whittlesey said of his young, but improving team. "We were unranked in the region at the beginning of the season, and to see them finish fifth here is a great accomplishment."
Fellow Big 12 members Oklahoma State and Texas were the only representatives from the conference on the men's side, and Iowa State and West Virginia were the two representatives on the women's side.
Reid Buchanan qualified as an individual for Kansas out of the Midwest Region, and Hannah Richardson just missed qualifying by one finish spot and 7 seconds.
In all, 31 teams earned berths to the NCAA Championships, and 13 at-large teams were added on Saturday. Although the Jayhawks missed the cut, next year looks like a great opportunity to accomplish that goal with so much talented experience returning.
Edited by James Ogden
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