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Tonight was the most anticipated match of the Jayhawk Invitational: a Top 10 matchup between the hosting #7 Kansas Jayhawks and the #9 Creighton Bluejays.
The Jayhawks were looking for a sweep of action in the tournament to remain undefeated, but they didn’t seem to have the same energy tonight that they normally do.
Debuting crimson uniforms tonight! #KUvball pic.twitter.com/DOvBqiw9VS
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
First Set:
The beginning of this set started as you would expect from two volleyball heavy-weights, with points being traded back and forth. And most of the points came by way of successful attacks, as opposed to errors from either team.
Taylor Alexander has three kills on three swings early in the first set #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
S1 | 9-8
Kansas held a small 13-11 lead until Creighton was able to flip the score with a quick 5-0 run of their own.
7 ties and 4 lead changes so far in the first set #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
S1 | 13-15
Kansas was able to tie it up at 17, but Creighton immediately took back the lead and never relinquished it the remainder of the set.
Creighton takes the first set, 25-20 #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
Kansas looked a bit off after the first half of the set, as they just couldn’t seem to get anything going. I don’t know how much of that is Creighton being a really good team or Kansas just having an off set at the start.
Second Set:
Creighton continued to assert their dominance during the second set, building leads of 5-2, 8-3 and 10-5 early in the set.
Madison Rigdon is nearly at double-figure digs (9). Kelsie Payne has a team-high 6 kills. Creighton hitting .404 #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
S2 | 10-15
It didn’t really better from there at all, as every time Kansas tried to get back into the set, Creighton bounced right back to increase the lead. The details aren’t pretty, so I’ll just leave you with this.
Creighton takes the second set, 25-16 #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
Third Set:
Kansas finally got the offense and defense going in this set, reversing an early 5-3 deficit with a 7-0 run to take the lead.
Kansas out to a 10-5 lead in the third set #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
But the see-saw action wasn’t finished, as Creighton fought back to take a 15-13 lead, only to see the Jayhawks go on another run of their own.
Jada Burse has 10 kills to lead the Jayhawks' charge in the third set #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
S3 | 20-16
It looked like Kansas was going to finish of the set with ease at that point, but everyone watching knew that Creighton probably wasn’t going to go quietly.
Creighton was hitting .414 after two sets, but are now hitting .094 in the third set alone #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
S3 | 23-23
From there, Kansas and Creighton traded points for a while, getting the score out to 27-27 before the Bluejays powered their way to the win.
FINAL: #9 Creighton 3, #7 Kansas 0 #KUvball
— Kansas Volleyball (@KUVolleyball) September 10, 2017
Overall, it wasn’t a good showing for the Jayhawks, as they looked tired and unable to get anything going for most of the night. While it seemed pretty apparent that they were not the better team tonight, it looked like they were at least going to avoid a sweep, but they just couldn’t finish it off.