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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOLLEYBALL
Featuring Dole Fellows Susan Bryant & Tom Baxter, noted campaign ethics lawyer, Jan Baran KU professor, Jonathan Earle and KU student, Evan Gates.
KU faculty and students will mix it up with national political strategists and journalists on current events. Hot topics, cool discussions, and, of course, a lightning round. Depth, debate, civility...Not your average talking heads show!
WED. Novmeber
2nd
2011
7:30 PM
Kansas looks to defense for win against Missouri
MATT GALLWAY
ASHLEE LEE/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc hits the ball over the net during last Saturday night's game against Texas Tech at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The Jayhawks will play the Missouri Tigers today at 6 p.m.
mgalloway@kansan.com
twitter.com/UDK_vball
On the heels of a rare Sunday game, the Kansas volleyball team will take the court Wednesday with only two days off between contests. That is the shortest layover of the year in conference play for the Jayhawks.
And for junior middle blocker Tayler Tolefree, that short time span between games is actually a blessing.
"It's one of those times where you play and things don't go as you want, and you want to get back out there and make a different result happen," Tolefree said. "It's kind of an impatient period, but we have to get through it."
The Jayhawks (13-10, 1-9) will face the Missouri Tigers (18-9, 4-6) in the final Border Showdown of the year at 6 p.m., in the Horeisi Family Athletics Center. It will be the first home game for the Jayhawks since
they defeated Texas Tech on Oct. 21.
Tolefrey was one of the few bright spots for the Jayhawks in their loss to Texas A&M on Sunday. The Lawrence native recorded three solo blocks against the Aggies, falling two shy of the school's single-match record in a four-set contest.
"Tayler has matured from a pretty raw blocker to where she's at now as a junior." Bechard said. "I think she has a lot more confidence, and the speed of the game is slowing down for her."
Coach Ray Bechard praised Tolefree's reaction time and said her defensive play has been growing since she joined the Ivahawks.
As a middle blocker, Tolefree said she only has two jobs: blocking and swinging. If the offense struggles in the rematch against the Tigers, the team will look to blocking from Tolefree and sophomore middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc to get them through the funk.
"When things aren't flowing like
we hope offensively, defense is how we keep ourselves in games," Tole-free said. "Blocking is a big part of that."
Both Tolefle and Jarmoc have received Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. Jarmoc, who has also stood out offensively, said the team needs to handle the short wait between contests efficiently.
"We're trying to find a balance between scouting them correctly, working on what we need to work on, without overdoing it and tiring us out more," Jarmoc said.
Despite the rough month in Big 12 play, the Jayhawks are still three games over .500. They are on pace to equal last season's record. But Bechard said sometimes the team loses sight of that accomplishment.
"They are a winning team, but when you go through an October like we did, it's hard to remember that," he said.
— Edited by Mandy Matnev
SOCCER
NICK TRE. SMITH/KANSANFILE PHOTO
Sophomore defender Sannon Renner dribble the ball downfield against Oklahoma on Oct. 28, 2011. Kansas will face Texas &M today at 8 p.m. in San Antonio.
Jayhawks to face Aggies in Texas
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
It's win or go home for the Kansas women's soccer team.
The Jayhawks will face off against a familiar opponent in the Big 12 Championship today as they play the Texas A&M Aggies in a quarterfinal match at 8 p.m. in San Antonio. The Aggies come into the game with one of the most potent offenses in the NCAA, scoring 64 goals in their 19 contests so far this season.
Stopping the Aggies begins with reestablishing Kansas' level of effort. The team lost a 3-0 game to Oklahoma on Friday.
"I think everyone was upset with the effort that was put forward," said sophomore defender Shannon Renner. "Now we're trying to move past it and get back to where we were."
The Kansas coaches discussed Friday's problems over the weekend, but now the team has put that game in the rear-view mirror and is focused on the Aggies.
One of the keys for the layhawks will be picking up the speed of play.
Junior midfielder Whitney Berry said that the speed of play was the major obstacle that held the team back from being successful against Oklahoma.
The other aspect that Kansas has been working on is making sure they win the possession battle.
Junior midfielder Shelby Williamson said the midfielders need to posses the ball and keep it on the ground throughout the game.
An aspect that's been a positive for the jayhawks is their road record. The jayhawks boast a 7-3 record away from Lawrence.
Berry said she doesn't know why
they are better on the road but said it fires them up to play in an away environment. The Jayhawks must win this away game to advance to the next round of the Big 12 Championship tournament.
"The only thing you cat do is put it all out there," Berry sail. "You've got nothing to lose."
THREE PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-BIG 12 TEAMS
Kansas forward Ingid Vidal was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, while teammates Whitney Berry and Liana Salazar were both selected as members of the All-Big 12 Second Team, according to a Kansas athletics news release. It is the third consecutive year that Berry has been picked for All-Big 12 second team.
Vidal and Salazar were also named to the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. Vidal leads the Jayhawks this year with 27 points, which ties for the best mark by a Jayhawk freshman.
SEVEN LAND ON ACA DEMIC ALL-BIG 12
Senior midfielder Jordyn Perdue was named to the Academic AllBig 12 First Team for the third time in her career, while Berry and sophomore midfielder Amy Grow, sophomore defender Madi Hillis and sophomore forward Caroline Kastor also received first team accolades.
Senior forward Kortney Clifton and junior defender Shelby Williamson made the Academic All-Big 12 second team. This marks the seventh consecutive season Kansas has had at least six student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Team.
Edited by Jason Bennett
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NFL
Chargers lose to Chiefs with field goal in overtime
Philip Rivers put his hands under center and called for the snap, one that would have moved the San Diego Chargers to the brink of victory.
Then everything went wrong.
They had trailed Kansas City the whole game, but with the ball at the Chiefs 15-yard line and Nick Novak's right leg warmed up, they were poised to escape with a win on the road.
Kansas City (4-3) became the first team in NFL history to lose its first three games and share at least part of a division
The game headed for overtime, and Ryan Succop eventually knocked through a 30-yard field goal to give Kansas City a dramatic 23-20 victory Monday night.
"It looked to me like Philip got a little anxious and came out early." Chargers coach Norv Turner said gloomily. "That's a very unusual way to not win a game."
Rivers could have prevented all of it from happening.
lead after four more. The Chiefs are also the first team since the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2000 to win four straight games after losing their first three.
"I haven't had one in years," he said of the fumbled snap. "It's不fortunate. I dropped it. This one is rough. You blow it on a play that never should have happened."
Kansas City had its own chance to win in regulation, but Matt Casel overthrew his wide receiver in Chargers territory and Eric Weddle's second interception sent the game to overtime.
San Diego won the toss but failed to pick up a first down, and Cassel calmly led Kansas City down field. Sucpo's field goal with 5:16 remaining gave the Chiefs their fourth straight win and moved them into a tie with San Diego (4-3) and the idle Oakland Raiders (4-3) in the division.
"We were saying, 'Don't quit,'" Studebaker said. "You never quit, even if it looks ugly. If you quit every time something looks ugly, you miss an opportunity to do something special."
The teams combined for eight turnovers, matching the most in an NFL game this season.
Associated Press
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