THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5.2012
VOLLEYBALL
PAGE 38
BRANDON SMITH/ KANSAN
Senior middle blocker Tayler Tolefree and junior setter Erin McNorton attempt to block a spike during last Monday's game against West Virginia. The Jayhawks lost 3-1 to the Baylor Bears on Saturday.
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
The Kansas volleyball team knew Baylor would run an unorthodox
offense, but the Jayhawks couldn't adjust quickly enough in its 3-1 loss to the Bears on Saturday. Baylor emphasized its middle blockers and attacked away from the net to cinch the victory.
"They really forced their middles when they're out of system, which is some
thing we're not really used to," said junior setter Erin McNorton. "I think it came down to errors."
Jarmoc
While Baylor fed the ball to its middle blockers when they got
Unlike most big offenses, the Bears' middle blockers and out-
out of system, the Jayhawks never established a consistent attack when Baylor's forced Kansas out of its own system.
side hitters don't always crowd the net, instead electing to attack closer to the attack line. This let the Bears hit the ball at different angles from the Jayhawk defense is used to.
"I think they did a good job of getting us out of system, so that I
could have made better choices",
McNorton said. "Making better
choices or a better pass, a better
spot to hit it at. Just everything
needed to click better, and it didn't
happen."
The Bears scored the first four points, and the Jayhawks couldn't match their performance. Baylor's lead stretched to 10-2, then 15-5 and then 22-6. Kansas committed eight attack
Kansas opened the match by playing its worst set of the year.
errors in the first set and recorded only six kills, helping Baylor win the set 25-10.
"We weren't as disciplined and focused as we usually are and have been,and that showed."
"We definitely weren't passing the ball, so we weren't able to run our typical offense," said junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc. "We didn't seem prepared. They came at us quick and aggressive,
and by the time we reacted, it was already at the end of the set."
The second set more closely
CAROLINE JARMOC Middle Blocker
more closely resembled a typical Kansas-Baylor match, as it was the eighth time in nine years the two schools split the season series. The teams traded
the lead back and forth, with neither leading by more than four points. But Kansas couldn't hold a 23-20 lead, falling in an extended set 27-25.
Baylor nearly swept the Jayhawks, holding a 24-23 lead in the third set. But Kansas responded by scoring the next three points,
giving them the set and some positive signs of life.
Coach Ray Bechard said Kansas didn't let the opening set affect its play the rest of the evening.
"We had a 21-18 lead in the second set, and regardless of the score of the first set, we could have been 1-1 at the break," Bechard said. "We fought hard in set three to make it 2-1, but then you need to get to set five."
For much of the fourth set, Kansas looked like it would force that fifth set, which would have boded well for the Jayhawks. They are 4-0 in five-set matches this season. A Baylor block gave them an 11-7 lead, but Kansas went on a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead, capped by an ace by junior libero Brianne Riley.
But Baylor settled down and tied the match at 18, squashing the Jayhawks' momentum. The teams traded the lead, but Kansas wouldn't score again after sophomore outside hitter Sara McClinton knotted the match at 23. Baylor won the set 25-23, and the match 3-1. It is the Jayhawks first loss of the season to an opponent outside of the Top 40 in the RPI.
"We weren't as disciplined and focused as we usually are and have been, and that showed," Jarmoc said. "It was sloppy errors. We would get a run, and we would get ahead, and then there would be two or three errors, and they're back in it."
—Edited by Joanna Hlavacek