MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (November 25, 2014) – Starting its final two-game road swing of the season, the West Virginia University volleyball team will head Kansas to face off with the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday evening at the Horejsi Family Events Center in Lawrence. The match is set for a 7 p.m. ET start and will be broadcast on ESPN.
“We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving week in Kansas and closing out the 2014 Big 12 season there,” said Mountaineer coach Jill Kramer. “We have always enjoyed traveling to Lawrence and Manhattan - both have a great volleyball match environment and applaud not only their own team, but good volleyball in general. It’s always nice to travel to places that have knowledgeable, welcoming fans. We still have a lot to be playing for in these last two matches of the regular conference season and welcome the competition.”
Wednesday marks the eighth all time meeting between West Virginia (15-13, 5-9) and Kansas, who first met as nonconference opponents in 1999. The Jayhawks are 7-0 in the series, including a 5-0 record in league play. This season, Kansas boasts a 20-8 overall record that saw Ray Bechard earn his 1,000 career win as a head coach earlier this season. The Jayhawks are 8-6 in Big 12 action.
The Jayhawks came to Morgantown on in mid-October and left with a 3-1 victory. Jordan Anderson had a team-best 15 kills in the loss, while Hannah Sackett contributed 12 while hitting .360. Hannah Shreve led the blocking with eight total blocks, and Brittany Sample and Gianna Gotterba each registered 14 digs. The Mountaineers hit .149 with 12 team blocks and an ace in the match.
The Mountaineers are coming of their first-ever Big 12 win streak, defeating Texas Tech (3-0) last weekend before sweeping Baylor at home on Saturday. It was also the first time WVU has defeated the Bears at home, and marked the first time in four years the team has won on Senior Day. Senior middle blocker Evyn McCoy was honored following the win. The victory tied the Mountaineers’ Big 12 win total from last season.
West Virginia used a season-high 18 blocks to best the Baylor Bears on Saturday, holding Baylor to just a .058 attacking percentage. Hannah Shreve led the blocking effort with a career-best 10 blocks in the match, while McCoy contributed a season-high nine. Lamprini Konstantinidou recorded a career-best five blocks as well.
With their performances in WVU’s 3-0 win over Baylor, Jordan Anderson and Hannah Shreve were named the Big 12 Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. Anderson hit .308 to lead the Mountaineers with 17 kills, finishing in the top-10 of the Big 12 in kills, points, aces and blocks. Shreve posted a league-best 3.33 blocks per set with a total of 10 in the match to lead WVU. It marks the second honor this season for Anderson, who was also named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team and the first for Shreve, who missed the first half of the season with an injury.
For the second consecutive season, the WVU volleyball team has been regionally ranked by the NCAA. One of the strongest conferences in the NCAA, seven teams in the Big 12 are ranked in their respective regions (Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas). In addition, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas are all nationally ranked top-50 teams. In nonconference play, the Mountaineers faced four regionally ranked teams (BYU, Duke, North Carolina, and Seton Hall). Three of the four were also in the national top-50.
West Virginia will remain in Kansas, traveling to Manhattan on Saturday to close out the season at Kansas State in a 9 p.m. ET match.
