By Grant Morrison | Sports Writer
No. 17 Baylor volleyball fell to No. 12 Kansas, 25-22, 26-24, 25-17, on Saturday at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence. The heavy-hitting Jayhawks were too much for Baylor to overcome, as they snapped the Bears’ eight-game winning streak.
Leading the Big 12 in points, kills, assists, blocks, digs and hitting percentage, Kansas (22-3, 13-2) stayed undefeated at home in conference play. Three different Jayhawks recorded double-digit kills, and senior setter Camryn Turner kept the offense in rhythm with 40 assists.
Baylor (18-7, 10-4) started the match with consistent, efficient attacks, taking an early 8-4 lead behind kills from senior outside hitter Elise McGhee and a block from redshirt junior middle blocker Alicia Andrew.
A smattering of errors on both sides of the net (nine for the Jayhawks, six for the Bears) brought the first set to a narrow Kansas lead 23-21, before kills from Jayhawks senior outside hitter Ayah Elnady clinched the first set.
The Jayhawks were plagued with service errors through all three sets, ending with 12 on the day to the Bears’ disciplined four. A pair of them gave Baylor an early second set lead, extended by a service ace from sophomore defensive specialist Tehani Ulufatu to make it 9-6.
Junior opposite hitter Allie Sczech joined Andrew in a pair of strong blocks, and though Andrew led both teams with six overall, the Kansas defense was difficult for the Bears to find success against. Even when the Jayhawk’s blocks weren’t completely successful enough to score immediate points, their height at the middle blocker position often defused the explosiveness of Baylor’s attacks.
Although the Bears out blocked Kansas in the second set, the Jayhawks took it 26-24.
“I like how we camped out to battle in the first two sets. I thought either of them could have gone either way.” head coach Ryan McGuyre said.
Baylor started the third set with a quick 2-0 lead before Kansas scored four unanswered behind the serves of senior outside hitter Caroline Bien. McGhee and Sczech answered with kills to tie the match at four, then exchanged kills with Kansas senior middle blocker Toyosi Onabanjo until the Jayhawks took a 10-9 lead.
From there, Kansas came alive and Baylor could not find an answer. Elnady menaced the court, pairing with an unrelenting Onabanjo to outhit the Bears .421 to .182 in the third set.
After an 8-2 run by the Jayhawks, McGuyre called a timeout to try and stop the bleeding, but it was to no avail. Ruthless dump kills and sturdy defense helped the Jayhawks complete the sweep with a 25-17 third set win.
With the loss, Baylor falls to fourth place in the Big 12 with four games left to play. Their next matchup will be against Texas Tech (13-12, 5-8) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Ferrell Center.
