Lima helps Kansas volleyball sweep Texas Tech
Kansas University’s volleyball team won again, and that usually means one thing.
Lima time.
Josiane Lima, a freshman middle blocker from Brazil, had a team-high 18 kills on Saturday, leading KU to a 3-0 (30-19, 30-27, 30-28) victory against Texas Tech. An electric crowd of 1,017 left the Horejsi Center happy once again, as KU successfully set out to prove Wednesday’s victory against No. 23 Colorado was no fluke.
“I think the crowd helped a lot,” Lima said. “They bring a lot of energy.”
Lima now has 151 kills on the season, easily tops on the team. But on this night, it may not have been the attacking that led KU to its third straight conference victory.
“Texas Tech is known for how scrappy and aggressive they play,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. “But we had 60 digs to their 39.
“If you would’ve told me that before the match, I would’ve been surprised.”
KU (11-1 overall, 3-1 Big 12) is off to its best conference start in history. The Jayhawks have won all five of their home matches by a 3-0 count.
“I knew Tech would not give up,” Bechard said. “We’ve been winning some close games, and that’s exciting.”
Saturday’s match provided even more thrills. The Jayhawks trailed by as many as four in the second game, and even fell behind in the middle of game three, but both times came back to put the Red Raiders away.
“When we knew we needed to make a run, we did.” Bechard said. “We had a couple of opportunities where we had them on their heels and we let them off the hook. I don’t want that to become a habit.”
Four Jayhawks senior Jennifer Kraft, juniors Sarah Rome and Abbie Jacobson, and freshman Andi Rozum had more than 10 digs during Saturday’s match.
Besides Lima’s splendid night at the net, sophomore Ashley Michaels contributed 13 kills for the surging Jayhawks.
KU’s conference schedule will be put on hold until next weekend. The Jayhawks play host to UMKC on Tuesday night, before traveling to play at Texas next Saturday.
The way they’re playing, though, they might prefer to keep the conference foes coming.
“The last two wins have been against really good teams,” Bechard said. “That’s what makes it really worthwhile.”
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