KU volleyball wins; Bechard becomes winningest coach

? Ray Bechard became the winningest coach in Kansas University volleyball history Saturday night following a 3-1 victory over Missouri State at the Michigan State Invitational.

KU prevailed 30-22, 30-21, 22-30, 32-30.

Bechard surpassed former KU coach Frankie Albitz with 151 career victories.

KU, which fell to Florida State, 3-1 earlier in the day, improved to 3-3.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation where a team has gone through so much adversity in one weekend,” Bechard said. “We were really disappointed this morning after our loss, but we fought hard to come back and beat a quality team at the end.”

Jenna Kaiser led KU with 13 kills, followed by Flavia Lino and Savannah Noyes who posted 12 and 11.

Sophomore Katie Martincich had 23 assists and 15 digs. Freshman libero Melissa Manda tallied a game-high 16 digs. Senior Caitlin Mahoney contributed six block assists.

In an afternoon match, KU fell to Florida State, 30-22, 20-30, 27-30 and 16-30. Emily Brown, Noyes and Lino had eight kills apiece. Brown also contributed a team-high 19 assists.

For KU, Brown and Brittany Williams were named to the all-tournament team.

Brown, a senior from Baldwin, led the team with 5.46 sets per game, while also chipping in 1.85 kills, 1.38 digs and 0.92 blocks per game. New Orleans native Williams paced KU’s offense with 2.08 kills per game in three starts.

Kansas will meet UMKC at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Horejsi Center.