Henry Edgeller | @henryedge15
Kansas volleyball continued its undefeated campaign after a 3-0 sweep over the Tulsa Hurricane at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on Friday night, as part of the 2024 Jayhawk Classic.
Freshman middle blocker Zoey Burgess had a great game with a .778 hitting percentage and seven kills on the night. Senior setter Camryn Turner shined as always, putting up 30 assists and 11 digs, one night removed from her milestone game where she collected her 3,000th career assist. Senior outside hitter Ayah Elnady was also huge for the Jayhawks with 10 kills on 24 attacks.
“[Elnady] wants to practice an extra hour every day, wants to be in the gym, wants to watch video, and wants to be at the top of her game all the time. There’s never a time she’s not locked in, focused and ready to go,” head coach Ray Bechard said.
Elnady was strong right out of the gate with a block to put Kansas out in front, 3-1, in the first set. As the Jayhawks held a 14-7 lead, Elnady had three straight kills, as part of her five kills in the set, growing the lead to 17-7. Senior middle blocker Toyosi Onabanjo had two blocks that helped Kansas to the first-set win by a score of 25-13.
Tulsa came into the second set aggressively. Burgess opened the scoring with a kill to make it 1-0 Jayhawks before Tulsa got ahead with an ace from freshman libero Tally Grissom. Kansas got back in front later with an ace from senior libero Caroline Bien, to make it 8-7 Jayhawks.
It was not until Tulsa pulled ahead 10-8 that either team had a lead bigger than one point in the second set. Kansas went into a media timeout with a 15-13 lead. Tulsa tied the game up at 18 a piece before Kansas senior opposite London Davis struck back-to-back kills to make it 20-18.
The Jayhawks won the second set by a 25-22 score, going into the third set with a 2-0 lead. Burgess opened the scoring with a kill once again in the third set. Kansas continued to go on a 5- 0 run before a timeout by Tulsa, stalling the run, before the Jayhawks picked right back up and made it 9-1. Tulsa began to gain more ground, but Kansas kept pulling away.
Another run of four unanswered points for Kansas made it 19-7, highlighted by back-to-back blocks by sophomore middle blocker Aisha Aiono. Kansas continued their supremacy as they took the third set by a score of 25-10. “The combination of the energy in the building and the Jayhawks playing pretty well kind of builds this wave of momentum… it gets us on some pretty good runs,” Bechard said.
No. 10 Kansas will play Central Florida on Wednesday evening, in its Big 12 opener. They’ll square off at 6:30 p.m. at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. The game will be broadcast on 90.7 FM KJHK and streamed on ESPN+.
Photo: Eric Lucio, KJHK Sports Photography