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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL | 5B
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010
Young players bring excitement
A young but experienced women's team is ready to take to the court in a competitive Big 12 conference. The first game is Oct. 31 against Fort Hays State at Allen Fieldhouse.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
HAWK HEARTBREAK
Jayhawks lose 3-0 in second straight defeat
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Mike Gunnoe/KANSMA
Senior libero Melissa Manda bumps the ball Wednesday against No. 10 Texas. The Jayhawks played the Longhorns close in the first two sets but lost the match 3-0.
Texas hitters pummeled defenders with exceptional hitting efficiency
Junior middle blocker Allison Mayfield hits the ball over the net against Texas Wednesday. Mavfield led the Javhawks with 12 kills in the match.
BY IAN CUMMINGS icummings@kansan.com
Junior outside hitter Allison Mayfield led the Jayhawks with 12 kills in Wednesday night's 0-3 loss to Texas in Lawrence. The match was, in many ways, reminiscent of Kansas' sweep at the hands of Oklahoma on Saturday night.
Sophomore middle blocker Taylor Telfire told the team succeeded in serving — an area that has been a focus for the team in recent weeks.
"We definitely served a couple that we were targeting," she said.
Mike Gunnøe/KANSAN
But in other areas, the Jayhawks weren't able to counter the Texas offense.
"They have hard hitters. They have hitters that can mix things up," Tolefree said. "They're not going to keep hammering at a shot that didn't work. They're smart players, I guess."
Kansas started strong in the first set. Senior outside hitters Karina
and Jenna Kaiser led the Jayhawk offense with 8 and 5 kills, respectively, helping the team to an early 8-3 lead. But Texas forced the
As in each set on Wednesday, the Jayhawks seemed to get a little rattled toward the end. Senior libero Melissa Manda dug a ball out from in front of freshman defensive specialist Brianne Riley, and Mayfield misfired into the net. A hard Texas shot knocked Riley backward, after which the Longhorns stayed within one point of Kansas. Garlington led an impressive late offensive effort, scoring four more kills before the set was over and helped by kills from Tolefree, Mayfield and
"They have hard hitters. They have hitters that can mix things up."
TAYLER TOLEFREE
Sophomore middle blocker
game into a one-point shoot-out in the end, taking a 29-27 victory. Kansas had difficulty with block attempts that sent the ball out of bounds for a Texas point or let the ball drop straight down on the Kansas side of the net.
Kaiser. But after a tie at 27-27, a successful Texas block followed by a Kansas block that went out of bounds ended the set 29-27.
The Jayhawks scored the first point of the next
set, but the Longhorns answered right back. That set a pattern the teams repeated for the first half of the game, until Texas broke the deadlock by taking a slender lead and holding it until the end of the match.
From one game to the next, Texas' numbers improved as the Jayhawks declined. The Longhorns hit for an efficiency of .400 in the first set, which was already more than twice as good as the average Kansas opponent. But they improved that to .441 and .444 in the second and third sets. Meanwhile, Kansas shot a respectable .333 in the first set, which dropped to .237 and .100 over the next two sets. The Longhorns out-blocked the Jayhawks more than nine to three and achieved an unusual side out percentage of 77 at the end of the third set.
Kansas fell behind Texas 2-7 early in the third game and never caught up. Texas senior outside
hitter Amber Roberson had 19 kills by the end of the match. At 21-15, Jayhawks showed the pressure they were under. A mistimed serve hit Toleflea in the back of the head. Riley caved in under a Texas shot and even Garlington tripped and fell in the course of sending a hit over the net. The game ended with Riley and freshman defensive
specialist Jaime Mathieu tumbling to the floor in the back court while chasing a Texas hit that landed just in bounds and ended the set 25-17. Through it all, junior setter Nicole Tate showed a determined attitude, contributing seven digs and six kills as well as assisting in
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 3B
FOOTBALL
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Junior tight end Tim Biere streches out in an attempt to catch an overthrown pass Thursday against Kansas State. Kansas players say they, not the coaches, are to blame for missed offensive opportunities.
Offense picking up yards, but penalties still hurting
Players take the blame for the momentum-killing mistakes
BY MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
It happens again. The whole crowd groans. The Kansas offense then moves five, 10 or 15 yards in the wrong direction. The Jayhawks have shot themselves in the foot once again.
Six games into the season, Kansas has been penalized 38 times for a total of 336 yards. Last Saturday against Kansas State, the Jayhawks were penalized seven times for 76 yards.
"Our first drive we were on a roll, we had a couple of penalties that set us back," senior Johnathan Wilson said about the Kansas State game.
Two of the first three possessions for the Jayhawks last Saturday had drive-killing penalties. The players emphatically state that these recurring blunders are the fault of themselves as opposed
Some of these penalties have come when the Jayhawks were gaining some offensive momentum.
The offense has shown flashes of good play, but it has not had the ability to consistently put drives together. Kansas had 331 yards of offense against Kansas State. The Jayhawks only scored 7 points. Against Baylor they put up 270 yards of total offense, but only crossed into the opponents
"You should know as a player, no one needs to yell at you, or scream," senior Angus Quigley said.
to the coaching staff.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 3B
Thus, being an emotionally fragile young soccer/tennis/baseball player, I had to figure out a way to ease the pain of being dominated by a superior athlete (on the rare occasion that it would happen, of course). My solution: every time I realized I was going to be utterly outplayed in any sport, I'd simply spend the rest of the game or match listing off, in my head, all the things that I was most likely better at than my opponent.
Getting embarrassed on a sports field is no fun, obviously. It's usually painful, demoralizing, and if parents are in attendance, they might just yank funding for their kids' athletic endeavors.
Take heart, Jayhawk fans: Kansas still has plenty going in its favor
If some arrogant forward dribbled through my legs on the soccer field, I'd simply tell myself I could probably destroy the kid in tennis. If some future Division I tennis player was blistering shots past me on the tennis court, I was comforted by the fact that there was no way he had the grades
COMMENTARY
BY JOEL PETTERSON
matterson@kaeson.com
When I was in high school, I like to think I qualified as a half-
But just like nearly every young athlete who ever picks up a ball, racket, club, or puck, I had to suffer through being on the wrong end of a few blowouts.
planned as a half-decent athlete. I probably couldn't boast too much, but let's just say I had a few trophies up on the wall. Most of them were from grade school soccer leagues where kids receive awards for stepping on the field, but they still look impressive.
that I did because he spent all his time playing tennis.
Mature? Probably not.
Effective? Definitely. It takes some of the sting away to remember that, although your opponent absolutely picked apart every facet of your game, if you just got the chance to play him in Trivial Pursuit or Boggle, he or she would know the true meaning of humiliation.
But if Texas A&M starts running away with Saturday's game like Baylor and Kansas State did, it's not necessary to drown in sorrow immediately. Rather, constantly remind yourself of these few ways that Kansas is still superior to Texas A&M:
This method of maintaining self-dignity could be extremely useful at Kansas for the remainder of the football season. Judging by the past two games, there may be a few more opportunities for moping and self-pity while other schools light up the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.
1. BASKETBALL
This is the obvious go-to in embarrassing football situations. It's easy, but very overused, so go
Texas A&M is on Princeton Review's list of "Class Discussion Rare" schools where lecture is apparently more common than discussions, unlike Kansas. So take that, Aggies! Kansas may not be scoring many touchdowns, but at least we know how to participate in class!
4. COLLEGETOWN
3. CLASS DISCUSSION
for some more creative forms of self-reassurance.
2. JOCK ATMOSPHERE
The University of Kansas ranks No. 5 on Princeton Review's list of top "Jock Schools" while Texas A&M isn't on the list. This list takes into account all varsity sports, intramural participation, and Greek system popularity. So all self-proclaimed jocks can take comfort knowing they have a much better home in Lawrence than College Station.
Lawrence was dubbed the ninth best college in America by the American Institute for Economic Research, three spots above College Station. It's not a huge edge, but still probably deserving of a few crowd signs like "At least our town is slightly more interesting!"
It's possible that this coping mechanism won't be necessary on Saturday. But if the game does turn into a blowout, remember this list.
Edited by Tim Dwyer
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