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PAGE 8B
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Kansas volleyball optimistic despite rough start
KYLE PAPPAS
@KylePap
Kansas celebrates after winning a point against the University of Texas on Oct. 5. The Jayhawks lost 1-3 against the Longhorns, but are looking to bounce back after a rocky start to conference play. The team will play Baylor Friday night at 7 p.m. in Waco, Texas.
After winning 12 of its first 14 games in nonconference play, the Kansas volleyball team has experienced a rough start to the Big 12 season, dropping to 0-3 in conference play with Sunday afternoon's loss to No. 2 Texas.
"It's not the start we envisioned for the Big 12," coach Ray Bechard said after the loss. "But, I think we saw moments today that we can build on."
BEN LIPOWITZ/KANSAN
It's the first time the Jayhawks have started conference play 0-3 since 2011, but the situation may not be quite as dire as it seems — all three losses have come at the hands of arguably the top three teams in the league. Texas looks to be a mainstay among the top five all year. No.19 Kansas State is 15-2, and Oklahoma is on the top-25 bubble while undefeated on its home court.
Yes, Kansas has struggled finishing matches — it was up 2-0 on Oklahoma and 2-1 on Kansas State before eventually dropping both games. But senior outside hitter Chelsea Albers said that maintaining momentum and limiting errors can fix that.
"I think we need to keep our momentum high, keep our energy high, and focus on not making as many errors," Albers said. "Especially at crucial points, not letting other teams
get strings [of points], I think that's a really big piece of why we're not finishing at the end."
Though it lost seven seniors from last season's squad that reached the Sweet 16, lack of talent isn't the issue for this Kansas team. Several new-comers have become instant contributors, helping ease the loss of the seven that it lost to graduation.
Freshman setter Ainise Havili and freshman outside hitter Madison Rigdon have been the two biggest contributors among first-year players. Havili is currently third in the conference with 11 assists per set, accumulating eight double-doubles so far this season. Rigdon was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the week of Sep. 14, and sits third on the team with 146 kills. Additionally, freshman middle blocker Kayla Cheadle leads the Big 12 in kill percentage at .369.
"I wouldn't say we're inexperienced, but we have definitely a lot of youth on the team," Havili said. "So it's different going against these bigger, more physical teams. But I think we do really well for how young we all are."
In addition to a strong group of newcomers, Albers has provided veteran leadership and is currently sixth in the Big 12 in both points (3.67 per set) and kills (3.22 per set). But even with a better-than-advertised freshman class and natural leader like Albers, the Jayhawks simply haven't been able to put it together in conference play.
Bechard said part of the problem is not getting enough balls to the Jayhawk's middle blockers.
"Our percentage of the balls that are hit to the middle are not high enough," he said.
"Our goal is to get 30 percent of the balls to people like [Tayler] Soucie, [Kelsie] Payne, Janae Hall, whoever's in there. We're in the low 20s now."
Bechard said that it's his team's deficiency in this area that allows the opposition to gameplan and better defend specific tendencies. It's an issue that can be fixed by better passing, which is something he
said the team will work on in practice this week.
Though its Big 12 schedule has had a less-than-desirable start, the team still believes it has what it takes to shake its early-conference woes and compete among the top teams. Finding itself at the bottom of the league standings, the Jayhawks will need to begin improving this Friday at Baylor,
a team that Kansas swept last season.
"I think we're all there right now. I think we just need to keep our energy high. That's the number one thing we need to focus on," Albers said. "If we do that, things will turn around in time."
Edited by Jennifer Salva
Baylor awaits KU volleyball
MATT CORTE
@Corte_UDK
Predicted to finish second in the Big 12, and now standing at 0-3, Kansas volleyball's start in the conference hasn't exactly gone according to plan.
However, if there's an opponent that can help kick-start this team back into pre-conference form, it would be the Bavlor Bears.
At 1-3, Baylor's conference record is the worst besides Kansas, and the Bears' overall win percentage of .556 is the worst among Big 12 teams.
Putting it mildly, if there was ever a time for Kansas to get its first conference win, it's against Baylor on Friday night.
All the Jayhawks have to do now is finish matches, which is a lot easier said than done.
So far, Kansas has held set leads of 2-0 against Oklahoma and 2-1 against Kansas State, only to lose both matches in the fifth set by a combined score of 30-17.
It's not just finishing matches that's plaguing the Jayhawks. As coach Ray Bechard pointed
out, many others factors that can make the team more successful.
"Obviously there's technical things we can do better," Bechard said. "But what kind of a teammate are we being, how hard are we competing? Are we making our teammates job a little easier or tougher?"
In order to get a win Friday night, the Jayhawks should follow their coach's words closely.
They'll have to compete harder than they have all season and make each other's jobs easier than in any previous match.
It's not that Baylor suddenly turned into Texas or Penn State overnight. Rather, the Jayhawks can't afford to play any match less than perfect from here on out.
Also consider this: Baylor's lone conference win came against Kansas State, who happened to stun Kansas on its home court just over a week ago.
Although that win at Kansas State was Baylor's only one in the last seven matches, it's still significant that they were able
to defeat a team Kansas lost to. If the Bears are to defeat Kansas, it will most likely be through the team's top two hitters, Andie Malloy and Katie Staiger.
Malloy, a junior outside hitter, is ranked second in the Big 12 with 3.94 kills per set, which has resulted in 256 kills on the season.
Her outside counterpart, Staiger, has performed very well as a redshirt freshman, collecting 212 kills on the season with 3.16 kills per set.
If the Jayhawks are able to hold Malloy and Staiger to subpar performances while consistently putting their own hits in play, then Kansas will have a great chance at winning the match.
Baylor is currently ranked last in the Big 12 with an overall team hitting percentage of .210, while second to last in opponents hitting percentage.
Edited by Alyssa Scott
The University of Kansas School of Business
and Department of Psychology
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