SPORTS

KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | THURSDAY, OCT. 15, 2015

INVINCI8LE

No. 9 Kansas wins 18th in a row

MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
Tayler Soucie cheers after a score on Sept. 23.

AMIE JUST
@Amie_Just

It wasnt easy, it wasnt pretty,

but No. 9 Kansas defeated Baylor in four sets (25-21, 13-25,
25-20, 25-17) to extend its undefeated streak to 18-0.
Kansas (18-0, 6-0 Big 12)
dropped just its fifth set of the
season in the win over Baylor
(13-6, 1-4). Kansas dropped
one set each against Arkansas,
Northern Colorado, Gonzaga

and Kansas State.

[We] didnt serve well, didnt
pass well, and a lot of that has
to do with your opponent,
coach Ray Bechard said in a
postgame interview. Baylor
played a high level match tonight.
Sophomore right side hitter
Kelsie Payne and sophomore
outside hitter Madison Rigdon
hammered out 13 kills apiece
to lead the Kansas offense.
Sophomore setter and reigning AVCA Player of the Week
Ainise Havili notched 34 as-

sists and 13 digs, marking her

sixth double-double of the
season.
The first set was one for the
ages. The score was deadlocked 13 times and the lead
alternated seven times. Kansas
won the set off a long attack attempt from Baylor.
The second set was a completely different story. The
Jayhawks and the Bears were
tied at five at one point, but the
Bears took it and never looked
back. Baylor ran away with the
set, giving Kansas its worst set

loss of the season, 13-25.

At the break, Bechard said he
told the team that Baylor outworked them in the first two
sets.
Our team takes that personal when we talk about other
people outworking us, Bechard said. We are committed to having a culture of hard
work. They were on our heels
the entire time that second set.
Thats a good wake-up call for
our team.
The third set was slightly
reminiscent of the first set, as it

was tied seven times throughout, but Kansas powered

through to take the two-set
lead. Senior outside hitter Tiana Dockery was a main factor
in closing out the final points,
as she and Janae Hall went up
for a block to give Kansas the
match point serve. A kill from
Dockery sealed the deal, giving the Jayhawks the 2-1 set
lead.
The fourth set was tighter,
but not as close as the first and
third. Kansas and Baylor were
tied early at nine points apiece,

but Kansas charged ahead,

winning five of the next six
points. Baylor couldnt recover
and Kansas ended the set, winning 25-17.
Next up for the Jayhawks is a
home match against the Oklahoma Sooners on Wednesday,
Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Kansas
will shoot for 19-0 in the game
against the Sooners.
Edited by Leah Sitz

Womens basketball
picked to finish 10th in
the Big 12 Conference
DYLAN SHERWOOD
@dmantheman2011

After finishing ninth in the

Big 12 Conference last year, the
Kansas Jayhawks were picked
to finish 10th in the Big 12s
preseason poll released by the
conference on Wednesday.
The Jayhawks have not finished higher than sixth, which
they did during the 2011-12
season. Kansas finished ninth
in the Big 12 last season with
a 6-12 conference record, finishing one game ahead of Texas Tech and one game behind
both Kansas State and West
Virginia.
Baylor is picked to win the
conference, receiving eight
first-place votes, followed by
Texas and Oklahoma, each
receiving one first-place vote.
Iowa State comes in at number
four, followed by TCU, West
Virginia, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Kansas.
Coach Brandon Schneider
enters his first season at the
helm of the Jayhawks and
looks to rebuild the womens basketball program after
a successful five-year stint at
Stephen F. Austin, leading the
Ladyjacks to back-to-back
Southland Conference regular
season championships. Schneider knows how tough the Big
12 Conference is one of the
toughest womens basketball
conferences in the nation.
One thing Schneider mentioned at womens basketball
media day last Wednesday was
that a sophomore is basically a
veteran on his young team.
We have some veteran players that have really stepped
up and tried to demonstrate a
work ethic and an approach to
the process that we really like,
Schneider said.
When Schneider was hired
back in April, he knew he
had some work to do. He also
brought two Division-I transfers into the program in sopho-

more guard McKenzie Calvert

and junior guard Jessica Washington. With those two having
to sit out a year due to transfer rules, Schneider believes
Calvert and Washington can
help out his very young team.
They are ultra-confident,
and I dont think it hurts to
have that in your facility every
day because those are the caliber of players that were playing
against, Schneider said.
Schneider wanted his team
to play hard when he was introduced as coach in April.
The teams mantra all over the
womens basketball facilities is
Tough and Together, which
is what the team worked on in
September with strength and
conditioning coaches Andrea
Hudy and Glenn Cain.
For you to build that toughness and that togetherness,
then youve got to have some
built-in adversity, Schneider
said.
The team also had training
camp for a three-week period,
and Schneider said he thinks
they really came together
during that time.
Schneiders team welcomes
nine newcomers along with
six returners including sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge,
who was named to the All-Big
12 Freshman Team. Also returning are sophomore guard
Chayla Cheadle and sophomore forward Lorraine Enabulele, as well as junior guard
Timeka ONeal and junior forwards Jada Brown and Caelynn
Manning-Allen.
With the beginning of the
season right around the corner
in 17 days and Late Night behind them, the team is gearing
up for a long stretch of practices before its first exhibition
game against Pittsburg State at
2 p.m. on Nov. 1. at Allen Fieldhouse.
Edited by Rebecca Dowd

MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
Freshman quarterback Ryan Willis runs the ball against Baylor on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Freshmen Willis, Booker and Sims

give David Beaty glimpses of what
Kansas football could be someday
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy

Kansas had already driven

23 yards down the field on its
opening drive against Baylor.
The Jayhawks were almost to
midfield not a bad start
against the No. 3 team in the
nation.
This is where drives had often stalled for coach David
Beatys offense in past games,
and it did on this drive too
for two downs, at least. It
was 3rd-and-17 when freshman quarterback Ryan Willis
showed exactly what Beaty
has raved about since camp:
his arm.
Willis completed a 22-yard
pass on the sideline to freshman wide receiver Jeremiah
Booker, then floated a pass
over the shoulder of freshman
wide receiver Steven Sims Jr.,
which hit him in stride.
Booker made his career first

catch, Sims caught his first

career touchdown and Willis
became the first true freshman quarterback to throw a
touchdown pass since Todd
Reesing did it in 2006. Call it
the freshman trio, if you will.
Theyre very confident,
those young guys, and I love
it, said offensive coordinator
Rob Likens. They watch film
and they go, Oh, I can beat
that guy. I can beat that guy.
Its very refreshing to watch
those guys.
If they can keep that, we
can build on that.
Ultimately, thats the goal
with the host of young guys
Kansas is putting on the
field right now get them
playing time and, hopefully,
confidence. Whether its by
choice or purely out of necessity, Beaty is getting plenty of
those guys face time early in
his tenure.
The team started six fresh-

men last week two were

redshirt freshmen. In all,
eight more non-starter freshmen got playing time for
Kansas.
You look out there at one
time, Likens said. I think
we had five true freshman out
there playing offense at one
point.
One of those freshmen was
Booker a 6-foot-2 receiver
out of College Station, Texas.
In the minds of Likens and
Beaty, it was only a matter of
time before Booker got some
field action, and they knew
that would come early in his
career. In fact, it came in his
first game as a starter. Booker
led the team with three catches for 39 yards.
We always thought after
a couple of days of practice,
Man, this guy is going to play
for us early, Likens said, referring to fall camp. He was
able to do that this Saturday,

and he looked good.

The number of days it took
Booker to break through
and start getting snaps with
the starters in camp could
be counted on a single hand.
Soon after, with the help of
what Beaty called a tireless
work ethic that dated back to
the weight room of Bookers
high school, he was an integral piece of the starting 11
before he was injured.
When he was ready to return to the field, the big-bodied, strong-handed wide receiver stood out as part of the
offense.
He kind of has it all, Likens
said. Sometimes freshmen
are a little squirrelly you
dont know exactly if they are
going to do the right things all
the time, but he does, because
he cares a lot.
One of the things we just
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