8B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008
VOLLEYBALL
Weston White/KANSAN
Freshman setter Nicole Tate leaps at the net to touch a ball just over an Iowa State defender for a *point Saturday afternoon*. The Jayhawks came back from two matches down to win 3-2 at the Horeisi Center.
Hawks win in comeback
BY JOSH BOWE
jbowe@kansan.com
Kansas had two choices this weekend: suffer yet another heartbreak or band together and turn its season around.
Coach Ray Bechard's team chose the latter.
Kansas (7-4) prevailed against Iowa State (9-4) Saturday afternoon at the Horejsi Center. In a thrilling comeback victory, the team won in five sets after trailing 0-2 entering the third set.
"It's all about the willingness to want to extend the match and compete" Bechard said, "and that will give us a great deal of confidence."
After enduring a season-changing five-set loss at Colorado last week, Bechard saw his team move on and compete against a strong Cyclone team.
"We said we're not going to go away," Bechard said. "We put pressure on them at key times and played about as well as you can play in game five."
In game five, the layhawks used the momentum from their previous two victories to roll to a 6-1 lead, eventually extending it to 14-7 before senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart ended the game at
15-10 with a kill. She finished with 13.
"We've been down deep in some games, and we've come back," Bechard said of how this match stacked up against some of the other victories in his career. "But just to play that well that long is just a great sign."
"Obviously, Kaiser adds a whole new element to our team," Bechard said. "She'll get better, but it's a good start to a Saturday."
Kaiser started full practice last week. She was given medical clearance Thursday to play. But she said she knew there was still a lot of work to be done.
"I was a little rusty," Kaiser said. "Thankfully, my team's really supportive and they are always there."
Sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington set another career high in kills, this time with 29. The career high highlighted Garlington's value to the team, but she kept a modest
approach about her game.
"Tonight it was just really easy," Garlington said of her career high. "I was just swinging away, trying to play the best I could. The 29 kills just came easy."
What didn't come easily was Kansas' seventh victory of the season. Although every set was competitive, being down 0-2 is not something a team usually comes back from, especially against an Iowa State team coming off a three-set dismantling of Texas A&M.
The Jayhawks showed enough balance and defense to pull it off, containing the Cyclones' two star outside hitters, senior Jen Malcom and sophomore Victoria Henson, who finished with 18 and 15 kills.
Now comes an even greater challenge this week, as Kansas faces off against two of the top three teams in the nation, Nebraska and Texas.
"You need to beat somebody good," Bechard said. "Wins are fine, but until you beat somebody good, I don't think you really gain the competitive confidence you need, and I think this obviously helps us in that direction."
Edited by Adam Mowder
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SOCCER
Team ready for Big 12 play
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kapsa
Consider No. 21 Kansas tuned up and prepared for Big 12 Conference play.
In their final games before Big 12 play begins next Friday, the Jayhawks split two games against ranked opponents in the Sunshine State to conclude the non-conference schedule 6-2.
Mark Francis' team overcame No. 18 Central Florida 3-2 Friday night but fell 2-1 to No. 15 Florida Sunday afternoon in Tallahassee.
photo courtesy of Casey Brooke Lawson / INDEPENDENT FLORIDA ALLIGATOR Jessica Bush, Blue Springs, Mo., senior, left, Shannon McCabe, Tulsa, Oka., junior, center, and Jenny Murtaug, redshirt junior, right, attempt to block a free kick attempt on Sunday. The Gators were victorious against the Jawahlers 2-1.
Despite falling short of two marquee road victories, Francis said he was satisfied with his team's effort. He said both games should give Kansas a hint as to what the rest of the season has in store.
"Especially being on the road. I don't think there is any better preparation for this weekend." Francis said. "I think the team feels very good where we are at right now going into the conference."
LATE CRESSY GOAL
DOWNS KNIGHTS
Cressy expertly brought down a pass over the top of the Knight's defense from sophomore defender Katie Williams and slotted past the goalkeeper in the 82nd minute.
Freshman forward Emily Cressy scored her second game-winning goal this season as Kansas rallied in the final 10 minutes to give UCF its first home loss.
The goal gives Cressy five on the season, one more than second-leading scorer junior midfielder Monica Dolinsky.
"The goal she scored was phenomenal," Francis said.
Williams negated an early UCF lead in the 26th minute, heading home from a corner kick, and freshman forward Kelsey Clifton scored her first career goal to give Kansas a 2-1 lead before halftime.
The Knights pulled one back in the 60th minute when redshirt junior goalkeeper Julie Hanley saved a penalty kick. Unfortunately for Kansas, the rebound fell favorable to the home side and Hanley couldn't the second effort out.
DEFENSIVE LAPSES GIFT FLORIDA LATE VICTORY
Kansas gave up two goals in the final 25 minutes to squander junior forward Shannon McCabe's second tally this season to end their Florida road trip on a low note.
Francis' team outshot the Gators 17-4, but a pair of late defensive mistakes bailed out the home side in Tallahassee.
"We gave up two really bad goals," Francis said. Mistakes on both of them on our part.
McCabe gave Kansas a onegoal advantage 14 minutes after halftime when the junior latched onto a Dolinsky pass, took a touch
and fired past the UCF goalkeeper.
Although Kansas dominated the game from the run of play, Florida tied the game seven minutes later when junior midfielder Ashlee Elliot headed a loose ball past Hanley.
Elliot gave the Gators a lead they wouldn't relinquish in the 83rd minute when she send a bending shot past Hanley from long distance.
Kansas had an opportunity to equalize in the 89th minute, but Dolinsky's free kick was wide from just outside the 18-yard box.
NASCAR
Edited by Arthur Hur
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Greg Biffle's victory takes him one step closer to Spirit Cup
DOVER, Del. — Greg Biffle finished a middling regular season as a driver who just couldn't win.
Now, he's the one who simply can't lose.
Biffle traded a lengthy winless streak for a winning one when it mattered most. He made it a sparkling 2-for-2 in the Chase for the championship Sunday, using another late pass — this time with nine laps to go — to hold off Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards and bolster his bid for the Sprint Cup title.
"I feel like this has been coming for a while." Biffle said. "There's a lot of concentration right now. It doesn't get more important than this."
Up ahead for Bifle is a trip to Kansas City, a track where he won last season before starting a 33-race winless streak. That dismal skid seems as much behind him as his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Kenseth and Edwards were over the final, thrilling laps
at Dover International Speedway
"We've got to beat the 99 car somehow," Biffle said. "We've got to start stretching it out."
That's exactly what he did with the lead once he caught Kenseth and put away Edwards. The trio engaged in a fantastic run over the final 20 laps that had to have tugged at owner Jack Roush's loyalies. Biffle, the winner last week at New Hampshire after passing Johnson with 12 laps left, made another textbook move to the outside past Kenseth to pull away.
While Biffle has been able to drive that No. 16 Ford into Victory Lane, he still can't maneuver into first place in the Chase points standings. Biffle and two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson are both 10 points behind Edwards for the overall lead, but Johnson holds the tiebreaker.
"I thought I might be able to hang on, but I wasn't sure," Kenseth said.
Biffle knows the only way to catch Edwards is to keep winning races.
Kenseth was second, and
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"We're out of the title hunt, that's for sure," Busch said.
Mark Martin was fourth and Chase drivers filled up the next five spots. Johnson was fifth followed by Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton.
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Other Chase driver results saw Tony Stewart in 11th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 24th, and Denny Hamlin was 38th. Hamlin's car also was pushed to the garage, making it a bleak day for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Kyle Busch, the regular-season points winner, had another miserable race and a blown engine knocked him out early. He finished 43rd in the 400-mile race to drop to 12th and last in the Chase field.
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"The championship isn't really on my mind at this moment," Kenseth said.
Edwards third in a wildly successful day for Roush Fenway, Kenseth had a disastrous Chase opener when an accident forced him out of the race and he entered 12th in the standings. He moved to 10th.
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Burton moved up a spot and is fourth in the standings. Harvick made the biggest jump, going from 10th to fifth. The rest of the standings are: Bowyer, Stewart, Gordon, Earnhardt, Kenseth, Hamlin, then Busch.
"it hard to tell (Busch) to keep his head up." Stewart said. "There's nobody who's going to make him feel better right now and rightfully so."
Edwards' crew gambled on his final pit spot and took two tires while the other drivers took four. Kenseth took the lead on lap 377, and then the three teammates drove hard toward a close-and-clean finish.
Edwards said he understood crew chief Bob Osborne's decision to go with two tires.
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