Volleyball Takes Kansas to the Brink in Season Opener

Friday, August 30

Swinney Recreation Center

7:00 PM

Kansas City

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Kansas

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Kansas

Kansas City

Volleyball Takes Kansas to the Brink in Season Opener

8/30/2019 10:55:00 PM | Volleyball

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Roos Drop Five Set Match to Big XII Foe

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Volleyball opened up the 2019 season with a five-set loss to the University of Kansas by scores of 13-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16, 15-12 in front of a raucous crowd of 1,016 fans at the Swinney Center on Friday night. The Roos were the first team to play on the brand new yellow court, complete with brand new logo. Their performance lived up to the hype, as they came out and punished the Jayhawks in the first set.

Kansas City took a 2-1 lead, mostly behind efficient hitting and aggressive serving. Through three sets, the Roos posted six of their total nine service aces. At the net, Kansas City swung to the tune of .340 (45-11-100) through three sets.

However, Kansas pushed Kansas City to a fifth-set and out-lasted the home-standing Roos to take the victory. Kansas City had a 9-6 lead in the fifth-set, but KU went on a 9-3 game-ending run characterized by long points.

The Roos ended the night hitting .252 compared to the Jayhawks .185. Melanie Brecka led the way with a .435 mark, posting 11 kills on 23 attempts. Alicia Harrington gathered a team-high 16 kills. Ty Lukes recorded 15 kills and 5.0 blocks and Mikala Wells came away with 10 kills.

Defensively, Maddie Renn led the Roos with 21 digs. Harrington had a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs. Alex Ratzlaff collected 11 digs.

KU's Gracie Van Driel came away with a team-hig 14 digs. At the setter position, Sara Nielsen had 46 assists and Allie Nelson led the way defensively with 24 digs.

Next Up

• Kansas City hosts the KC Roos Klassic tournament on Sept. 6-7 at Swinney Center. The Roos first match up with Louisiana Tech on Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. CT.

Quick Hitters

• Kansas City finished with four players with at least 10 kills in the match.

• Melanie Brecka was part of an aggressive serve style for the Roos, posting four service aces tonight. It's the most for a Roo since Alex Ratzlaff had four against Murray State on Sept. 15, 2018.

• To watch Coach Christi Posey's post-game interview, click here.

• The loss snaps a four-match season-opening win streak.

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