It took five sets, but the No. 5 Texas Longhorns volleyball team remained undefeated in league play as it topped the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence on Wednesday. Texas won 21-25, 27-25, 18-25, 25-10, 18-16.
Lexi Sun led the Longhorns with a career-high 21 kills as she hit .475 to help Texas improve to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the Big 12. Micaya White had a season-high 19 kills and Chiaka Ogbogu added 11.
Texas trailed two sets to one before taking the final two sets for the win. The Longhorns faced match point as they trailed 15-14 in the final set. White’s kill made it 15-all before the teams tied it at 16 a couple points later. Sun set up Texas with match point after her kill made it 17-16. An attack error by Kansas (16-3, 5-1 Big 12) ended the match.
Shook had 52 assists and 12 digs while Cat McCoy led the Longhorns with 22 digs.
Ogbogu led Texas with 10 blocks while Sun had seven. Sun also added 9 digs for Texas. White and Claire Hahn each had 14, a career-high for Hahn.
The teams were pretty even in major statistical categories but Texas held an edge in blocks (14-8.5) and attack errors. Kansas made 31 attack errors while Texas had 19.
With the score 6-6 in the first set, Kansas went on an 8-4 run to take control of the set on the way to the win.
Texas appeared to be in danger of going down 2-0 as they faced set point in the second set before scoring three straight to win 27-25.
The Jayhawks wrested control away from the Longhorns in the third set, finishing on a 10-2 run.
Texas came back with a vengeance in the fourth set, dominating 25-10. Sun had six kills in the set.
The final set couldn’t have been much closer as the Longhorns needed three extra points to seal the win.
Madison Rigdon led Kansas with 20 kills and five blocks.
The Longhorns volleyball team next hosts Iowa State on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
