8B SPORTS
O
VOLLEYBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30.2009
Jayhawks miss postseason after final weekend loss
Seniors reflect on their college careers after sweeping Texas Tech but being swept by Texas
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
Kansas had a bittersweet end to the season over the weekend. first sweeping Texas Tech 3-0 at home during its most decisive victory of the season, then being swept by No. 2 Texas in Austin Saturday. Kansas finished the season 16-14 (8-12), its best record since 2004.
Kansas tell just short of making the post-season.
Kansas' fell just
Six Big 12 Conference teams will continue their seasons in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament as Texas, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas
A&M and Baylor all made the tournament.
Senior libero Melissa Grieb said she enjoyed her time at Kansas.
"It's unreal to think I'll never play another volleyball game," Grieb said.
"It's unreal to think I'll never play another volleyball game."
Coach Ray Bechard said he was happy for the seniors and said they had been a big part of what Kansas had been in the past four years. Seniors graduating with Grieh this year are setter Katie Martinicch and middle blockers Paige Mazour and Brittany Williams.
MELISSA GRIEB
Senior libero
"Katie in her fifth year probably
Kansas went out on top at home
as Kansas swept the Tech 3-0.
represents a student athlete as well as anybody," Bechard said. "Not a lot of people thought Paige could be a Division 1 volleyball player. She sure looked like a good one tonight. Brittany trusted us coming a long way from home and Grieb proved that local talent can have a really, really good career in a Jayhawk uniform."
Kansas had twice as many digs and kills as Texas Tech at 42-to-21 on both accounts. Kansas also had a .468 hitting percentage and six slayhawks hit better than .400 for the match. It was the best hitting percentage by Kansas
since August 2006.
Beachard called the performance by Kansas exciting.
"We came back Sunday in practice after the Nebraska game and got pretty serious with the game plan early, and I thought it showed tonight," Bechard said.
Kansas started out strong in the first set, taking an 11-1 lead. Kansas kept stretching its lead out and Texas Tech never recovered as Kansas won the set 25-8. Kansas hit an impressive .500 in the set and had only one error with 16 kills.
WEEKEND SCORES
Kansas 25 25 25
Texas Tech 8 15 10
Kansas 20 15 19
Texas 25 25 25
Texas Tech hung around the second set, but could never seem to gain any momentum. At 12-10, Kansas finally started to pull ahead and used a 10-3 run to help propel itself over Texas Tech, winning the set 25-15.
Texas Tech came out and took a quick 5-3 lead, but it was short lived as Kansas scored the next six in a row to take a 9-5 lead and continued on a 22-5 run to finish the set 25-10.
After the match, the seniors gave speeches to the crowd without shedding a tear, but Mayfield said there were tears before the match.
"When you play volleyball for 12 years, there have been times seasons that seem to drag on," she said. "But this season went by so fast. It just flew by, and it's really weird to think about we won't be playing here again."
Martinicch said it hadn't sunk in that her career was over yet.
Kansas couldn't get the marquee
victory at No. 2 Texas that may have sealed the deal on a postseason berth. Texas was too athletic and its offensive power was in full force, Bechard said.
Texas' possible player of the year candidate Desteine Hooker had a match high 14 kills on a .522 hitting percentage, and six Long-horns hit for .333 or better.
Williams led Kansas' offense with 11 kills while Mayfield had eight. Kansas' defense only racked up 20 digs with no player getting more than five.
Texas came out and quickly took a 4-10 lead in the first set, but Kansas battled back and tied the set at 15-15. Texas then went on a 5-1 run to take a solid lead that it would use to win the set 25-20.
Kansas and Texas traded points for the beginning of the second set, but after Kansas trailed 8-10, Texas rattled off seven points in a row to take a nine-point lead. Kansas could never recover and lost the set, 15-25.
Texas took a 7-2 lead to start off the third set and Texas' offensive prowess kept Kansas at bay for the rest of the set, and Texas won the set 25-19.
Follow Zach Getz at http://twitter.com/zgetz.
— Edited by Abbey Strusz
Senior middle blocker Brittany Williams goes for a kill against Texas Tech. The Jayhawks defeated texas Tech 3-0 in the last tome game of the season tuesday.
Howard Ting/KANSAN
INTRAMURALS
Teams with experience win at volleyball championships
BY PAT ELAND
peland@kansan.com
The basketball courts of the Student Recreation Fitness Center are traditionally home to epic pick-up and intramural basketball battles, but on Tuesday they received a bit of a makeover to accommodate the intramural indoor volleyball championships.
The first matchup of the night was between the Mathletes and Rough Sets for the co-rec championship. Rough Sets featured a partial squab of last year's co-rec indoor volleyball championship team. The Rough Sets players, looking for a back-to-back championship, came in with a tremendous amount of confidence, but the Mathletes brought quite a
"We practice a lot together," said Kendall Harris, Lawrence sophomore. "We run an organized system, and we all have our positions."
bit of swagger themselves. The Mathletes had not lost a single set throughout the entire intramural season.
The Mathletes continued their tremendous winning streak, using their team chemistry to crush the hopes and dreams of back-to-back intramural championship titles for the Rough Sets. They won in straight sets 25-18, 25-23.
The second championship game of the night was supposed to be between Pi Beta 2 and Notorious D.I.G. for the women's volleyball championship. But, as in many of the brackets on the schedule for the nights, there was a forfeit —
CHAMPIONSHIP
SCORES
Co-Rec: Mathletes defeat Rough Sets (25-18, 25-23)
**Women's:** Notorious D.I.G. defeat PI Beta 2 (winner by forfeit)
Men's: Afternoon Delight defeats Dominating the Hardwood (25-14, 25-21)
probably because Thanksgiving break had already begun. Pi Beta 2 was a no-show, giving Notorious
**Greek:** Phi Kappa Psi defeat Triangle (25-19,16-25, 17-15)
D. I.G., which consisted of merely four girls, the championship.
Next on the agenda was the men's championship bout. This game featured Dominating the Hardwood against Afternoon Delight. Dominating the Hardwood came into the game with two players who had already captured that illustrious intramural champion T-shirt earlier in the night playing with the co-rec champion Matheletes: Harris and Drew Schelar, Lawrence junior.
Afternoon Delight had a few ringers of their own, however, as they came in with two players who were seeking their fourthstraight men's indoor volleyball championship playing with the squad: Brad Jones, Topeka graduate student, and Michael Calvin, Topeka senior.
The intramural volleyball dynasty of Afternoon Delight appeared to be just a little too much for Dominating the Hardwood to handle, as Afternoon Delight came away with the victory in straight sets, winning 25-14, 25-21.
Burtin said that his teammates all had some experience playing sand volleyball and pick-up games in high school, and said he thought that they were really able to use that experience to their advantage.
The final championship game was for the greek championship. This matchup boasted Phi Kappa Psi vs. Triangle. The greek championships sometimes have just a
little bit more edge to them and this was no different. Players from both sides spent quite a bit of their time on the floor diving after the ball. Players also spent a large portion of their time making sure that the referees were doing their jobs — players disputed a majority of the calls. This was the closest battle of the night — it was apparent that both teams wanted the championship. It was the only championship to be forced into a third set, with Phi Kappa Psi finally capturing the victory.
Follow Pat Eland at twitter.com/
peland.udk
Edited by Brenna M.T. Daldorph
San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson heads through a hole for a six-yard gain during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday in San Diego.
San Diego
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chargers capitalize on turnovers to beat Chiefs
BY BERNIE WILSON Associated Press
The San Diego Chargers turned four turnovers into touchdowns, including a 40-yard tumble return for a score by safety Paul Oliver, to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 43-14
SAN DIEGO — This was too easy.
LaDainian Tomlinson scored two touchdowns and moved into 10th on the NFIs all-time rushing list. Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes to Antonio Gates as the Chargers improved to 8-3.
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on Sunday and run their winning streak to six games.
The Chiefs (3-8) lost a week after stunning the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime.
Tomlinson had 39 yards on 13 carries, giving him 12,257 for his career. Up next is Marshall Faulk in ninth with 12,279 yards.
Tommilson began the day 12th on the all-time list with 12,218 yards. He passed Marcus Allen (12,243) on a 5-yard carry in the first quarter and Edgerrin James (12,246) on an 8-yard run in the second.
The most spectacular play was Oliver's. Matt Cassel dropped back and cocked his arm to throw late in the second quarter and the ball slipped out of his hand. Oliver grabbed it in the air, bobbled it, gained control, turned and ran 40 yards into the end zone to give the Bolts a 28-7 lead
A defense that lost outside linebacker Shawne Merriman to a foot injury in the second quarter still came up big. Cornerback Quentin Jammer had an interception and forced a fumble, and Brandon Siler and rookie Larry English also recovered fumbles.
Rivers was 21 of 28 for 317 yards.
with no interceptions, for a rating of 135.6. He wasn't sacked.
It was San Diego's second touchdown in a span of 20 seconds. Rivers had just thrown a 15-yard scoring pass to Gates to cap a drive set
The only San Diego touchdown that didn't come after a turnover was Tomlinson's 1-yard run early in the second quarter. That one was set up when Malcom Floyd hauled in a 53-yard pass from Rivers. Although he appeared to tumble into the end zone with the ball, Floyd was ruled down at the 1.
up when lammer forced a fumble by Jamaal Charles, which Siler recovered at the San Diego 39.
KC's fourth turnover came early in the third quarter when a shotgun snap went over Cassel's head on third-and-1 from the Chiefs 31 and was recovered by English at the 10. Tornilson scored on a 3-yard run two plays later to make it 35-7.
San Diego's first touchdown, a 19-yard pass from Rivers to Gates, was set up by Jammer's interception. Gates had seven catches for 118 yards.
Chris Chambers, released by the Chargers a month ago and quickly signed by KC, caught a 7-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7 in the second quarter. Jamaal Charles scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter.
Backup QBs Billy Volek of San Diego and Brodie Croyle of KC came in late in the game.
San Diego's Nate Kaeding kicked a 55-yard field goal in the third quarter, second-longest in club history to his 57-yarder last year at Tampa Bay. He added a 23-yarder in the fourth.
Cassel was 19 of 31 for 178 yards.
He was sacked once.