PAGE 12A
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014
Kansas volleyball loses to TCU in five-set match
MATT CORTE
@Corte_UDK
Both Kansas and TCU volleyball came into Saturday with impressive wins in the teams' previous matches, but only TCU was able to see its winning streak last another day.
The Jayhawks (16-7, 4-5) swept and handled TCU with ease two weeks ago in Lawrence, but lost Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas, losing 25-19, 25-18, 20-25, 23-25, 16-18. Kansas is now 0-5 in five-set matches this season.
The win for the Horned Frogs (14-10, 4-6) was the team's second in a row after losing four straight from Oct. 11-22.
For Kansas, the loss meant falling below .500 in conference play again this season. The loss was also the team's second in its last three Big 12 matches.
"There were different blocking formations and different things, but we were just making unforced errors," coach Ray Bechard said. "So
disappointing to play at that level in the first two sets, and then not able to sustain it."
Albeit in a loss, one of the best aspects about this Kansas team is that all 14 players can make a difference.
Sophomore middle Janae Hall hadn't played in a match since Oct. 10 against Baylor, but took advantage of a starting opportunity by finishing with 13 kills on 23 attacks, good for a .391 hitting percentage.
"Janae was great offensively," Bechard said. "Obviously, we could have done more defensively, but she held up her end of the deal offensively."
Kansas breezed to win both the first and second sets behind a strong .433 hitting percentage. However, the team finally found a worthy opponent in TCU during set three.
Down 2-9 and 9-16, the Jayhawks kept chipping away at TCU's early lead until closing within three points at 19-22.
Unfortunately, the early deficit proved to be too much
to overcome, as TCU closed out the set winning three of the last four points.
Set four featured what any volleyball fan hopes for and what the match had lacked: a back and forth, point-for-point battle.
Once again, TCU was able to build just enough of a lead at 24-20 to secure a win, though not before a Jayhawk comeback pushed it to 23-24.
Fifth sets have not been kind to Kansas so far this season, with the team losing all four of its chances to date, and TCU was no exception.
The Jayhawks had the match within grasp twice at 15-14 and 16-15, but were unable to hold on after a service error by Addison Barry tied it at 15, and a TCU kill tied it up at 16.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
After Chelsea Albers' attacking error put TCU up 17-16, the Horned Frogs closed out the set and match 18-16 with a block on Kansas sophomore middle Tayler Soucie.
- Edited by Emily Brown
Swimming and diving wins first Big 12 dual since 2012
Five different Jayhawks took home the gold in at least two events Saturday to put the Kansas swimming and diving team over Texas Christian University (172-124) and North Dakota (217-79).
AMIE JUST
@Amie_Just
The win against TCU was the first time Kansas has defeated a Big 12 opponent in a dual meet since 2012. The last time it happened was when Kansas beat TCU in the Horned Frogs' inaugural Big 12 season. Chances to beat conference opponents are rare, since Kansas doesn't face every conference team each year, except TCU and Iowa State.
Junior Chelsie Miller set the pace by winning three individual races: 200-yard butterfly, 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM.
"We haven't had a Big 12 win in a long time, so it was really
Hinde touched the wall first in 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. Jones won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Kuchkarova finished first in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke. Molden took home wins in both the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle.
Junior Bryce Hinde, sophomore Graylyn Jones, sophomore Yulya Kuchkarova and junior Haley Molden all won two individual events Saturday.
nice to beat TCU," Miller said. "I was really happy. My 200 fly was a second slower, but for this time of the season that time is pretty good. I was really impressed with my 500 free. I don't think I've ever broken five minutes during the season, especially this early in the season."
"We wanted to make an improvement from last week to this week in a couple of areas and I feel like we were
able to do that across the board." Campbell said. "We had a lot of people swim well above where they were last week, which is good and the improvement we wanted to see."
The Jayhawks won all but three events Saturday.
TCU's sophomore Julia-Grace Sanders cruised to victory in the 50-yard freestyle. TCU's freshman Emily Gibson outtouched Kansas' senior Deanna Marks in the 100-yard butterfly. TCU's 400-yard freestyle relay of senior Ashley Alspaugh, junior Carley Stevens, junior Sara Brrozowski and sophomore Ashley Dyke took home the gold.
Next up for Kansas is its dual against Illinois. The Illini come to the Robinson Natatorium on Saturday with the first event set to take place at 1 p.m.
Edited by Ben Carroll
TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
D. C. United defender Jeff Parke (2), left, and Sporting KC forward Dom Dwyer (14) play a Sporting KC free kick in the first half at RFK Stadium in Washington onMay 31, 2014.
Sporting KC wraps up season with playoff loss to New York
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@HardyNFL
When Sporting Kansas City began its 2014 playoff run, it wanted to start an entirely new season. For the first 77 minutes of soccer against the New York Red Bulls, it looked like the team had done just that, with a 1-0 lead at that time.
Then the team was reminded of its depleted nature: injuries, bruises and fatigue from a packed late-season schedule. Those things, along with New York striker Bradley Wright-Phillips, sent Kansas City winding in the last 12 minutes of play.
The 29-year-old Golden Boot winner netted two goals in the closing minutes of the Eastern Conference play-in round to give him 29 goals on the season. When the final whistle blew, New York had punched its ticket to the Eastern Conference semifinals to face D.C. United with a 2-1 win against Sporting KC, while the Blues' hopes of a repeat title were diminished.
For Kansas City, it was a rocky, drawn-out season marred with injuries, a packed schedule of games and international duty, which forced players to start at nonsensical positions through the duration. But it was a season that also saw Dom Dwyer emerge as an elite goal-scorer in the MLS. Here's 10 things we learned from the season, including a glimpse into next season.
SEASON-ENDING INJURIES:
The injury problem for manager Peter Vermes took its toll before the season even got into full swing. Center back Ike Opara was diagnosed with a chondral defect in his right ankle in April, a month before starting wing back Chance Myers ruptured his Achilles tendon both defenders missed the remainder of the season. Homegrown Kevin Ellis and Brazilian transfer Igor Julião were more heavily relied upon with Opara and Myers out of the mix.
INCONSISTENT GOALKEEPING:
INCONSISTENT GOALKEEPING:
After winning the MLS
Cup in 2013, Jimmy Nielsen
retired, leaving a big gap
between the pipes for Sporting
KC. Eric Kronberg, Andy
Gruenebaum and Jon Kempin
all got shuffled around
THE DECLINE OF
THE BACK LINE:
in the goal this season. Kronberg started the season in goal, and at the halfway mark of 2014, led the league in shutouts and goals against before breaking his finger in training in July. His return was shaky as he allowed two goals in each of the final four contests while Gruenebaum was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
At one point this year, Matt Besler and Aurelien Collin were considered the best pair of center backs in MLS. But over the final stretch of the season, they struggled mightily, especially against Wright-Phillips, who notched four goals in the last two games against Sporting KC. Part of that could be due to Besler's thigh injury and Collin's ankle injury, which had both missing time in early October, or the fact that the full back line only played four games together this season. But, regardless, their play was, without a doubt, subpar late in the season, where the team didn't record a clean sheet in any of its last three games.
PLAYERS ON
INTERNATIONAL DUTY:
Besler's aforementioned thigh injury was picked up in international duty with the United States team against Honduras in October, and he played with the team during the World Cup in the summer. Midfielder Graham Zusi also played with Besler on the national team. The team was 2-3-2 while Zusi and Besler were on international duty.
BESLER AND ZUSI SIGNED EXTENSIONS WITH THE CLUB:
EXTENSIONS WITH THE CLUB:
This news came right after solid World Cup performances from both of the Sporting Kansas City centerpieces. Each of them were receiving plenty of international attention before Sporting KC signed them to deals through 2018. Each are due $650,000 next season — a major discount for Kansas City.
THERE WAS NO LATE-SEASON MOMENTUM THIS YEAR.
MOMENTUM Sporting Kansas City went into last year's playoff run without a single loss in October. That led to the team hoisting the MLS Cup. This
season, the blues were 1-1-4 across all competitions in their last seven games. That led to a late season collapse which saw the team fall from the No.2 seed to the No.5 in just over two weeks.
THIS TEAM PLAYED A LOT OF GAMES THIS SEASON:
Sporting KC played 44 games this year from March to October, two more than in 2013. That might not sound significant, but it mattered down the stretch. The team played five games in the final 20 days of the season for an average of a match every four days. Couple that with the injuries to Benny Feilhaber, Juliaao and Gruenebaum late in the season, and the team had little chance for success with the amount of fatigue on its shoulders.
SPORTING KC WAS REALLY GOOD ON THE ROAD IN 2014:
It was the second straight year that Sporting KC really showed out on the road, posting the only positive goal difference on the road in the entire Eastern Conference in both seasons. The team was 8-1-8 in MLS away games, but only 6-6-5 when coming back home. The team notched more points for standings on the road (25) than it did at Sporting Park (24).
DOM DWYER IS IN AN ELITE TIER OF MLS GOAL SCORER:
Some could have seen Dwyer coming on at the end of last season, but it's unlikely that anyone saw this explosion coming from Dwyer. The 24-year-old notched 22 goals in regular-season MLS play, second behind only Wright-Phillips in the Golden Boot chase. He set new team records for goals in an MLS season and in goals across all competitions (24).
MOVING BACK TO THE WEST FOR 2015:
The expansion of the MLS sent Sporting KC and Dallas FC packing for the West. It means a tough schedule against three of MLS' elite: the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles Galaxy, and Real Salt Lake. For fans, it may mean later nights, as many games will be starting at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., an hour or two later than the regular 7 p.m. starts in the East.
— Edited by Brian Hillix