photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas Volleyball is jubilant after scoring a point against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

The Kansas volleyball team began its first homestand in two weeks with a smooth sweep of West Virginia Thursday night, winning 25-17, 25-15, 25-19.

One key to the victory was a teamwide focus on both offense and defense, which the Jayhawks have been implementing all year long.

“This year we’ve been setting our middles much more, so that’s led to a really balanced offense, which helps everyone,” said Ayah Elnady, a junior outside hitter. “When we have this kind of offense, it helps me a lot when I go to swing and I’ll only have maybe one block most of the time, which is helpful.”

London Davis and Elnady started with the first five offensive points of the match for Kansas, before a massive solo block by Reagan Cooper. The Jayhawks built a 10-7 lead after a service ace by Toyosi Onabanjo, as the game began with a back-and-forth fight between the Big 12 Conference foes. Cooper and Elnady kept at it, extending the Jayhawks’ lead to three before a media timeout for the first break of the game. Rotating in to serve, Katie Dalton scored an ace to extend the lead to 17-12, forcing West Virginia’s first called timeout of the set. The Jayhawks then began to run away with the game, pushing the score to 24-16 after Davis’ third kill of the set and her first since tallying back-to-back points to open the match. Kansas won the first set 25-17 after a West Virginia service error.

A long rally a few points into the second set ended with a massive kill by Cooper to make it 5-3 in favor of Kansas as the two teams began to battle once again. A block by Davis and Onabanjo gave the Jayhawks a commanding 9-4 lead, forcing a timeout from the Mountaineers.

Davis snuck a kill just into the corner of the court to take the score to 15-10 as the Jayhawks continued a spread offense through the second set. West Virginia was forced to use another timeout in the second set as the score ballooned to 19-12.

Through this point in the second set, each Kansas starter had at least one kill, and all but Myers and Turner had hitting percentages over .300.

“We have a really deep roster, so I feel like anyone could really go in and have a good game,” Elnady said.

Head coach Ray Bechard added onto this and what the depth of this roster means to the team this year: “Our digs percentage has gone up, so our defense behind the block has improved, and our blocking is organized. So when those two things combine, good things happen,” he said.

The Mountaineers’ timeout did nothing to slow Kansas’ momentum, as the Jayhawks grew the score to 23-13 following an overturned challenge call in favor of the Mountaineers. Set two ended just the same as the first game of the match, with a West Virginia service error that gave the Jayhawks a 25-15 win.

Kansas got out to another lead early on in the third, getting up 6-3 early on a few long rallies. This time the Mountaineers proved more of a challenge, coming back early to make it 8-6 after Hailey Green’s 12th kill of the match. The score remained tight at 12-10 as West Virginia continued to fight to stay in the game. After an ace by Dalton and another WVU service error, Kansas went into a media timeout up 15-11 in the third. The Jayhawks then fought back in hope of playing the minimum three sets, going up 18-13 and forcing another West Virginia timeout.

Close sets are nothing new for the Jayhawks this season, Bechard said, but they’ve been able to stay focused and pull away in many of them.

“When it’s close or there’s a tie, they don’t panic; they’re used to those moments,” Bechard said. “There’s a lot of experience out there that doesn’t get too riled up when things don’t go their way.”

The game stayed close as the Jayhawks inched ahead, and a kill and a successful trip to the service line by Onabanjo got them within a point of winning the match as the Mountaineers called their last timeout of the set. An attack error by West Virginia gave Kansas the win, 25-19, closing out KU’s three-game sweep of the Mountaineers in their first meeting of the season.

Green finished with a game-high 14 kills, while Elnady tallied 12 and Cooper 11 for the Jayhawks. KU setter Camryn Turner posted 34 assists and led all players with 11 digs on the defensive end.

Among the keys to Kansas’ 15-4 record through the first half of Big 12 play is improved communication with the depth players that they’ve added.

“We have some nonnegotiable behaviors in practice where when there’s nobody in here, and that’s that we have to communicate at a high level. And if those are going to be nonnegotiable in practice, they certainly will carry over to a match,” Bechard said. “But it’s a team that enjoys each other too. You can see that they enjoy being around each other and competing with each other.”

Elnady agreed, saying the players have a good level of energy and competitiveness amongst themselves that pushes them to work harder every day and also allows for a positive practice and learning environment.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas juniors Camryn Turner (22) and Toyosi Onabanjo block the ball against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas graduate student Mykayla Myers attempts to block the ball against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior Camryn Turner spikes the ball against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas freshman Raegan Burns bumps the ball against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas Volleyball is jubilant after scoring a point against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior Toyosi Onabanjo blocks a spike against West Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.