Volleyball: #22 Kansas 3, Marquette 0

The #22 ranked Kansas Jayhawks made quick work of Marquette's volleyball team on Saturday afternoon, dispatching the Golden Eagles in just three sets, 25-23, 25-21, and 25-16.

The story of the day was Kansas constantly pulling away from Marquette.  In the first set, Marquette actually led 12-8 after a Jenna Rosenthal kill, but the Jayhawks dominated with an 11-2 run to seize control and win from there.  MU took a 10-7 lead in the second on a solo block from Rosenthal, but yet again, Kansas went to town, going on a 5-0 run to take the lead, and a quick 3-0 spurt a little later to gain the edge needed for the win.  The third set was tightly contested up until 14-13 favoring the Jayhawks.  They then went on a 6-1 run, and that was pretty much it for the day.

Kelsie Payne led three Jayhawks in double digits in the kills category, while Marquette didn't even get one player there.  While that's just a fact of the matter, there is a slight caveat to that statement.  Thanks to some handy dandy reporting from MU Wire's Andrew Goldstein, we learned that Taylor Louis tweaked her ankle in the second set, and sat out the rest of the frame before returning to end up tied with Joy Miley for a team high in kills with nine.

It doesn't really have much to do with this match, but Goldstein dragged out another piece of information while asking questions after the match.  As it turns out, Sara Blasier didn't sit out Saturday's win over Northern Colorado for rest purposes or just to get Mary Nilles into a game.  Blasier suffered an unspecified injury during the match against Wyoming, and she's now sidelined until further notice.  Seeing as Blasier finished the match against the Cowgirls, I'm inclined to guess that it's a foot and/or ankle injury.  Anything else would have been unbraced during the match, and it's possible that Blasier's footwear was able to get her through the rest of the match.  All speculation, of course, and we'll have to see what happens going forward.  Nilles proved to be a capable replacement against Northern Colorado, so MU's offense shouldn't suffer too much until Blasier can return.

Up Next: FINALLY it's time for Marquette's home opener!  The Golden Eagles will host the Marquette Invitational this coming weekend.  They'll open their home slate on Friday against Wichita State (7-4), and follow that up with a double dip against Albany (5-4) and IUPUI (7-4) on Saturday.