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Kansas Volleyball defeats Iowa State Cyclones in 5 sets, clinches first ever Big 12 title.

Despite missing star junior Kelsie Payne, Kansas closes out a tough Iowa State squad to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 championship.

By Andy Mitts
KU Volleyball Final Four Omaha
KU Volleyball Final Four Omaha

On Senior Day, the Jayhawks gave their departing stars the best gift possible: the first Big 12 championship in school history.

A big thanks to the Kansas Volleyball Twitter account (@KUVolleyball) for their help on this recap.

First Set

Kansas was without one of their stars, who was out with an injury suffered in the last match with West Virginia:

Iowa State jumped out to a quick lead and stayed ahead for most of the first set, but couldn't quite pull away from the Jayhawks:

After Iowa State took an 18-15 lead, Madison Rigdon took charge and powered Kansas to a set victory:

Second Set

Iowa State got off to a hot start again, but Kansas battled back quickly to take charge:

There wasn't much in the way of attractive volleyball in the second set, with multiple errors and defensive plays galore:

Kansas finished off the set and you could hear the excitement for what looked like a commanding Kansas victory:

Third Set

This set was all Iowa State, and I'll let the tweets speak for themselves:

Fourth Set

Iowa once again jumped out to the early lead, but Kansas came right back to set up a hotly contested 4th set:

Kansas took another lead in the set thanks to Rigdon:

But Iowa State quickly retained the lead and then traded points the rest of the way:

Fifth Set

Kansas finally gets off to a good start:

Iowa State went on a bit of a run, and you could hear the tension, even over the radio:

But Kansas came out of the timeout on a tear, and they ride that wave of emotion to the victory:

I wasn't able to get good audio of the senior speeches, but I'll see what I can do. For now I'll leave you with this:

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