PAGE 12
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOLLEYBALL
Jayhawks defeat Red Raiders on an emotional Senior Day
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
Junior libero Brianne Riley dives for a dig in Wednesday's match against St. Louis. Riley broke Kansas' record for number of career digs in Saturday's match against Texas Tech. She finished the match with 11 digs to give her 1,459 for her college career.
Libero Brianne Riley dug a Texas Tech attack to junior setter Erin McNorton, who then set it to senior middle blocker Tayler Tolefree. She slammed the ball to the floor for her eight kill of the night.
Although it seemed like another point, it was much more than that for Riley. It was her 1,458th career dig, breaking Kansas' all-time career digs record as a junior.
"It was something that was always in the back of my head," Riley said. "I think it shows every day at practice I come ready to work. I could not do it without my teammates and my coaches because when I fist got freshman year, I was a mess."
The play epitomized Kansas' match against Texas Tech. Riley helped get Kansas' offense in-system with 11 digits, giving her 1,459 digits for her career. For the offense, Tolefree recorded nine kills in the Jayhawks three-set win on Senior Day. Tolefree, defensive specialist Morgan Boub and outside hitter Sylvia Bullock were honored before and after the match.
Tolefire opened her final match at the Horeksi Family Athletics Center with two straight kills, and she started the second set with one of her six blocks of the night. The Red Raiders took only brief leads in the second and third sets after Kansas won 25-11 in the first set.
However, Kansas' depth and talent overwhelmed Texas Tech, as the Jayhawks took the final two sets each 25-19. Kansas outhit, outdug and outblocked the Red Raiders as it finished the year 25-6 and 12-4 in the Big 12. The Jayhawks also finished with a winning percentage, 806, the highest in program history. Coach Ray Bechard said the Jayhawks lost focus during its final two sets because of Senior Day and its first set romp. Although he couldn't play Bullock as much as he wanted, he was still happy
she recorded a kill in the third set.
"First and foremost, we need to win the match," Bechard said. "But you also want to appreciate all those things the kids have done for you. So you see Bohu get a service ace or see Tolefire get a block or see Sylk get a kill, you're proud of them."
Boub recorded seven digs, including one that flew over the net and landed on Texas Tech's side of the floor for a rare kill for the defensive specialist. When giving her speech, Boub became choked up when mentioning her teammates.
"Past and present teammates," Boub said. Looking over at them, she broke down, an accurate reflection of the chemistry this team built during the season.
"I knew I had to speak at the end, so I was a little nervous for that," Boub said. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry, and then I saw one of my teammates crying before we even started talking."
Like Boub, the toughest part of the day for Tolefree may not have been
playing the Red Raiders. Rather, it was giving her senior speech.
During her speech, she turned to redshirt junior outside hitter Catherine Carmichael and redshirt junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc, who sat side-by-side with their heads buried in a towel. Both entered the program with Tolefree four years ago.
"To Catherine and Caroline," Toleflere said. She had to stop, overcome with emotion.
Tolefie said despite all the emotion, it would still take a while for her to fully realize she's done playing with one of her best friends, Jarmoc, at Horeisi.
Edited by Christy Khamphilay
"I knew going in that this was going to be my last year. She knew going in that it wasn't," Tolefree said. "It won't hit us yet until the spring when she's going to practice, and I'm still in bed."
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
Senior guard Angel Goodrich attempts a basket in Friday's game against Alabama A&M. Goodrich played 33 minutes and scored 15 points in the Kansas victory.
Henrickson, Davis reach milestones this season
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
This weekend, women's basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson reached a milestone, winning her 300th game as head coach of the lavahawks.
Henrickson was given the game ball after Kansas' 76-59 victory over Alabaan a &M at Allen Fieldhouse on Friday.
"I've been really really blessed in my career to coach really really talented players," Henrickson said. "I think back to all the great players and people I have had the opportunity to work with every day."
"It's fun to be able to share it with all the people that have just dug in with you," Henrickson said.
Seniors Carolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich are some of the people that have "dug in" with Henrickson over her career. They were both there for Henrickson's 200th win as the Jayhawk's coach as well as the most recent win, which gave her 300 for her career.
The landmark victory comes in Henrickson's ninth season as the coach of the Jayhaws.
"To be a part of that and to be
a player that helped her get those wins feels awesome," Davis said.
Henrickson said she would have liked to have had the win be a prettier one, but she was happy about the accomplishment otherwise. Angel Goodrich said her coach joked about the ugliness of the game afterwards.
"I know this game wasn't something that she liked," Goodrich said. "It was a little ugly game for us as a team."
Forward Carolyn Davis achieved a milestone mark of her own in the victory over Creighton. Davis scored 12 points against the Blue Jays, which gave her 1,400 points scored in her career at Kansas.
After the milestone, there was little time for Henrickson to move on and add win No. 301. Less than 48 hours later, Kansas defeated Creighton 58-48 in Omaha, Neb. for the team's first road game of the season.
The Jayhawks seemed to have learned from issues they had with their defense in the Alabama A&M game when they played Creighton. The Jayhawks held Creighton, a better team than Alabama A&M, to 11 fewer points.
On offense, Kansas scored efficiently, shooting 53.3 percent from the field against Creighton. This was a much prettier win for the Jayhawks as Henrickson indicated after the game.
"This was a solid team effort, and we got great offensive support from both Monica and CeCe," Henrickson said of senior guard Monica Engleman and junior guard Cce Harper. "It was a good win."
Angel Goodrich facilitated the offense with nine assists in the game, a season high for her. She also had five steals, yet another season high for her. Sophomore guard Natalie Knight had five steals as well.
The No. 22 ranked Kansas Jayhawks will return to Lawrence and play Grambling State on Wednesday in Allen Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The Jayhawks hold a 5-0 record on the season heading into the match up.
— Edited by Andrew Ruszczyk