WVU Swings Through Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The West Virginia University volleyball team starts its three-match road swing in Lawrence, Kansas, with a match against the Jayhawks on Thursday, Oct. 10. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. ET inside the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

Thursday's match will air live on Big 12 Now/ESPN+, with live video and stat links available on WVUsports.com.

"It's the Big 12, and anyone can beat anyone on any given day," fifth-year coach Reed Sunahara said. "We need to take care of our side. We can't worry so much about the other side. We are taking it one game at a time, but we need to get better. Both teams are searching for its first conference win, so it'll be an intense matchup. We have to bring the energy."

West Virginia (8-7, 0-3) and Kansas (4-9, 0-3) will meet for the 17th time overall on Thursday and the 15th time in league play since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 Conference in 2012. The Jayhawks own a 15-1 all-time series advantage, though WVU has taken KU to five sets in two of its last three matches. West Virginia dropped a four-set match to Kansas in its most recent meeting on Oct. 31, 2108, held at the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown.

Last week, West Virginia dropped a 3-0 match to Iowa State on Oct. 5, at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers fell to the Cyclones in set scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-16.

The Mountaineers are hitting .203 on the season, notching 12.6 kills per set. Sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Kristina Jordan leads the Mountaineer offense with 3.29 kills per set to rank seventh in the Big 12. Additionally, Jordan averages 0.38 aces per set, ranking second in the league behind Texas' Logan Eggleston. Junior defensive specialist Alexa Hasting also ranks second in digs per set with 4.31.

Hasting is on pace to etch her name in the WVU single-season record book. Her average of 4.31 digs per set would rank No. 3 all-time by a Mountaineer junior and ninth overall in single season in program history. Additionally, she boasts 917 digs in her career, 83 shy of 1,000. The last Mountaineer to reach 1,000 digs was Anna Panagiotakopoulous in 2014.

Kansas is currently on a seven-match losing streak, most recently falling to Oklahoma in four sets on Oct. 5, at McCasland Field House, in Norman, Oklahoma. The Jayhawks captured the first set against the Sooners, 25-23, but eventually dropped the final three (25-21, 25-16 and 25-17) to hand OU the four-set win.

Kansas features one of the best defenses in the conference, ranking second in the Big 12 with 2.50 blocks per set. Kailea Carrier leads KU's presence at the net with 1.12 blocks per set to rank sixth in the league, followed by Rachel Langs in seventh with 1.10. Allie Nelson is sixth in the Big 12 in digs per set (3.68) and has 162 digs on the season. Offensively, Zoe Hill and Ashley Smith each average 2.30 kills per set, while Sara Nielsen quarterbacks the Jayhawk offense with 8.89 assists per set to rank eighth in the league.

Looking ahead, the Mountaineers will trek to Manhattan, Kansas, to square off with Kansas State on Saturday, Oct 12. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET inside Ahearn Field House and will air live on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Alexa Hasting

Kristina Jordan

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