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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012
VOLLEYBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Jayhawks to host Creighton, Metro Sports to televise game
GEOFFREY CALVERT
gcalvert@kansan.com
The Kansas volleyball team will host the Creighton Bluejays Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in their final match before conference play begins.
The Bluejays enter the match, which will be televised on Metro Sports, with a 10-1 record, and they are already 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Their only loss came to then No. 21 Kansas State on Sept. 1. Since then, Creighton has won the past six games.
Coach Ray Bechard compared Creighton to last week's match up against Notre Dame.
"I think they'll be similar in physicality," Bechard said.
Rechard said it will be important
to swing aggressively on target to avoid extending the rally.
While Creighton enters the match with a six-game winning streak, the Jayhawks have been just as impressive recently. Before their loss to Notre Dame last Sunday, the Jayhawks tied the fourth-longest streak in school history with nine straight wins. The streak included a home victory against Tulsa, whom Creighton also defeated during their current winning streak.
The match features two teams near the top of their respective conferences in many major statistical categories. Kansas leads the Big 12 with 14.6 kills per set, 13.8 assists per set and 16 digs per set. Creighton leads the Missouri Valley Conference with three blocks per set. They also rank second in their
conference with a .258 hitting percentage. Individually, Creighton's sophomore middle blocker Kelli Browning leads the conference with 1.8 blocks per set.
Against Notre Dame last Sunday, Kansas senior middle blocker Tayler Toolefree said the Fighting Irish did a good job around the net taking away the shots Kansas wanted to make. She said that will probably be another key in the match versus the Bluejays.
"They take away what we want to do, and we're trying to take away what they want to do." Tolefree said. "It's just who can find a different way to score and put points up."
Bechard said his team scheduled a tough non-conference season to help them prepare for conference play, and this match will be one of those tough tests. Besides Tulsa, which has received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association Top-25 Poll, Creighton also defeated Syracuse, Missouri State and Wichita State.
Freshman outside hitter Tiana Dockery said the Jayhawks didn't come out with the proper mindset against Notre Dame. That is something they'll have fixed for Creighton, she said.
"Going out in the first game knowing that 'OK, we are going to win this game.'" Dockery said. "Just starting the game off good and finishing the game off good and not letting down in between."
— Edited by Luke Ranker
Senior defensive specialist Morgan Boub prepares for the serve during the match against the Wyoming Cowgirls Saturday night, Sept. 8. Kansas defeated the Wyoming Cowgirls 3-0 sets, scoring 15-3, 25-21 and 25-18.
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
BASEBALL
Reds manager has 3,000th game
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Dusty Baker reached another milestone in his long major league career Tuesday night when he managed his 3,000th game, guiding the Cincinnati Reds against one of his former teams, the Chicago Cubs.
"I'm just glad that out of the 3,000 games, I won more than we've lost," said the 63-year-old Baker, who had a 1,572-1,426 record before Tuesday's game and also managed one tie game in 2002.
"That's a lot of games. That's not as many as some, but I still got quite a few games left in me," he said.
Baker began his managerial career in 1993 with the San Francisco Giants and led them to
At 19th on the career list, Baker isn't even halfway to Connie Mack. Mack is tops at 7,755 games managed.
the World Series in his final season there in 2002.
He took over the Cubs in 2003 and got them within five outs of the World Series before a monumental collapse against the Florida Marlins in the NL championship series. Following a 66-win season in 2006, Chicago did not renew his contract. But Baker did have more managing in him. Since 2008, he's been running the Reds and has Cincinnati in position to win its second NL Central title in three years.
The 63-year-old Baker began his playing career in 1968 with Atlanta when he was 19 years old and finished up in 1986. He played in 2,039 games and 40 more in the playoffs.
"Things have gone fairly well. I played a long time, I've managed probably equal or longer than I played and I didn't have any idea I was going to be doing this after my
playing days," said Baker, adding that he'd done some stock brokering before joining the Giants.
Baker was a hailed as a savior when he first came to Chicago as the Cubs were poised to end a World Series championship drought that has now reached 104 years. But his final season was anything but pleasant and he's often been booed on his return to Wrigley Field, some fans forging perhaps that he got the Cubs as close to the World Series as any manager has since their last appearance in 1945.
The Reds' magic number over the St. Louis Cardinals for winning the division was five before Tuesday night.
Asked if it could be extra satisfying to clinch at Wrigley, Baker said not really.
"I thought of it a few days ago," he said. "Our goal is just win. I don't care where we clinch it at really. I just want to clinch it."
TH
QUO
"Ch loyalty same through what I