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Kansas State's Laura Downey, left, kept her eyes on the ball as teammate Cari Jensen slipped in front of her for the dig during Wednesday's match against Kansas. The Wildcats swept the Jayhawks 3- 0 at the Horseji Center in Lawrence.

LAWRENCE --- The birds played more like roadkill Wednesday and the Wildcats ate them for dinner.

It wasn't the scene along the side of a highway, but a volleyball match unbelievably one-sided in every aspect as Kansas State devoured Kansas 30-18, 30-21, 30-23 at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center, garnering its 14th straight win in the series.

So stunned were the Jayhawks by their poor performance that Kansas coach Ray Bechard, normally quick to exit the lockerroom after matches, emerged 40 minutes after the match.

"Oh, I'm sorry you guys had to wait, but obviously we had some things we needed to talk about," said Bechard, after one of his team's most devastating losses in his four years at Kansas. "I am really surprised because we played well Sunday (at Baylor) and practiced well this week, but this was a total letdown. I'm disappointed and the team's devastated. We thought we were poised to give a good effort, but we didn't."

Devastating might be a good word for the Jayhawks' performance, as they fell flat on their face against Kansas State. The Hawks' shock and sadness was evident when no players emerged from the lockerroom for nearly an hour after the match.

On the other side of the net, K-State had every reason to be excited. The Wildcats successfully bounced back from getting drilled 3-0 by defending national champion Nebraska on Saturday, jumping on the Jayhawks from the opening serve. Four early kills by Lisa Mimick punched K-State to a 9-6 lead. Kansas closed to 13-12 before the Cats unleashed a 17-6 knockout punch that closed game one.

Kansas, after amassing only six kills in game 1, was never really in game 2, either. The block combo of Gabby Guerre and Jayne Christen dominated the front line and Mimick and Cari Jensen repeatedly put away kills. The two combined for 27 kills. Meanwhile, as a team, Kansas had 25 kills and a -.047 hitting percentage.

"When all three of your left sides hit a negative efficiency then you're going to be in for a long night," Bechard said. "We didn't take care of our side of the net tonight and do what we needed to do to be competitive."

# posted by Medical Information : 4:01 AM