Welcome home, Jaunelle.
Auburn junior Jaunelle Hamilton, a 1996 Lawrence High graduate, was named most valuable player of the Jayhawk Classic Saturday, following the Tigers' 7-15, 16-14, 15-13, 16-14 volleyball victory over the host Jayhawks at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
"It was real nice," Hamilton said of the award. "It was nice to have people come watch me play. We had a crowd, KU had a crowd. It was loud the whole time."
Hamilton, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, unleashed 21 kills and had team highs in digs (11) and aces (four).
Auburn (7-1) went 3-0 to place first in the round-robin tournament. Meanwhile, Kansas (5-2) went 1-2 and finished third.
"We knew coming in we were going to play some good teams and we did," Hamilton said. "We came out with the win and that's great. It'll help us in the long run."
The Jayhawks had plenty of chances to knock off Auburn. If KU had won 3-0 or 3-1, the Jayhawks would have clinched the tournament title.
Instead, Kansas squandered big leads in the final three games. The Jayhawks led the Tigers 9-0 in the second game, 10-4 in the third game and 14-8 in the fourth game before succumbing.
KU was searching for answers in the locker room following the 2-hour, 27-minute match.
"We were trying to discover what it is that we're doing that won't allow us to finish games," KU coach Ray Bechard said. "I don't know if we're getting a little tentative. I'm disappointed because we were in position to win some of those games and it didn't happen. If you get blown out, that's one thing. Here you are serving game after game and can't finish it off."
Unforced errors -- particularly 22 service miscues -- shackled the Jayhawks.
"That's become mental," Bechard said of the lackluster serving. "Everybody is so cautious now and we're not getting much done there."
Before the KU-Auburn match, Hamilton received the loudest ovation during the introduction of players. Family, friends, former teammates and her high school coaches were among the 644 in attendance.
Kris Grunwald, in his second season as Auburn's head coach, continues to be impressed with Hamilton.
"She's a junior but by far the leader on this team," Grunwald said of the two-time Southeastern Conference selection. "We had three freshmen on the floor the entire match. Where we pull out those comebacks with such a young team I don't know. It's very exciting. Jaunelle is a solidifying factor for us."
While an assistant at Auburn, Grunwald was involved in the recruiting of Hamilton.
"The first time we saw her was the Junior Olympics championship at the end of her junior year," Grunwald said. "There were a lot of raw skills there. We saw the elbows come up over the net with the big hands. We knew two or three years down the road that'd be fun to work with.
"It just happened her parents were from Alabama. Her dad (Theo) was recruited by Auburn for track, her mother (Cheryl) is from the area and her grandparents are still there. We felt like we had an in there."
Senior Amanda Reves and junior Amy Myatt represented the Jayhawks on the all-tournament team. Myatt had 30 kills to pace KU against Auburn.
-- Steve Rottinghaus' phone message number is 832-7152. His e-mail address is srottinghaus@ljworld.com
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