Kansas Jayhawks volleyball’s Cinderella NCAA Tournament run ends in Sweet 16
The Kansas Jayhawks volleyball team’s upset-filled run through the NCAA Tournament has ended in the Sweet 16.
Third-seeded Pittsburgh recovered quickly after a shaky first few minutes, sweeping KU 25-19, 25-21, 25-18, in a Sweet 16 matchup Thursday at Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh.
With the win, the Panthers advanced to face sixth-seeded Purdue on Saturday in the Elite Eight.
“Though we attacked well, we just couldn’t slow them down enough,” KU coach Ray Bechard said in his team’s postgame press conference.
KU started quickly, taking advantage of numerous Pitt errors to take an 8-3 first-set lead before the home team settled in.
“We jumped on them pretty good in the first set, but you didn’t see a lot of panic or anxiety on their side,” Bechard said. “They played steady.”
Pittsburgh followed after that with a 10-0 run to build a lead for its first-set win, then generated 16 kills with a .480 attack percentage in the second set on its way to the victory.
KU, which ends its season at 18-12, had a six-match winning streak snapped. That run included a pair of upsets last week in the NCAA Tournament over ranked foes Oregon and Creighton.
“Obviously it’s a bummer. They played really well,” KU super-senior outside hitter Jenny Mosser said. “There’s always plays where you wish you could’ve done better.
“But I think the biggest thing — like Coach B’s talked about — is just gratitude. No one really had us making it this far. Most people had us out in the first round. So just a lot of gratitude for this whole team that we stuck together and even made it this far to begin with. I’m just proud of how we overcame these obstacles.”
The Jayhawks’ Sweet 16 appearance was their best NCAA Tournament showing since 2015, when they made the Final Four.
“I couldn’t be happier for the season that this group brought all the Jayhawk fans, our coaching staff and our athletic department,” Bechard said. “Certainly, there’s a few kids we’ll miss, but there’s so much to build on, and we’re excited about what that looks like in the future.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 2:44 PM.
