Kansas volleyball loses first Big 12 match, at Texas

? Texas ran its homecourt volleyball conference winning streak to 37 with a three-set sweep of Kansas University on Friday at Gregory Gymnasium.

The No. 9-ranked Longhorns beat No. 21 KU, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24.

“Our goal was to get it to 20-20 games and put some pressure on them,” KU coach Ray Bechard said. “As an undefeated Big 12 team playing at home, we felt like we might get the type of response we wanted. As it turned out, they made more plays than us. It was unfortunate that we got off to a slow start in the first set, but sets two and three were very competitive. We found some things that we need to do the next time we see them. Overall, there were some good things out there tonight.”

Kansas fell to 17-3 overall, 5-1 in the Big 12. Texas improved to 15-3 and 7-0.

Catherine Carmichael tied with UT sophomore Haley Eckerman for the match lead with 16 kills apiece. Fourth-year junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc had nine kills and a team-high three blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Sara McClinton rounded out the leaders with seven kills.

On the defensive side, junior libero Brianne Riley led the floor with 15 digs — making her the only player in Jayhawk history to record 400-plus digs in three different seasons. The Naperville, Ill., native now has 409 digs on the year and needs only 31 more to move into third all-time on KU’s career list.

Kansas will host No. 17 Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. That match will be televised live on Metro Sports.