The Wichita State volleyball program lost its first match of the season on Friday, falling to the Kansas Jayhawks in three sets in the second game of the Kansas Invitational.

The Shockers were able to make late runs in the first two sets but KU was able to withstand them, winning 25-22 and 25-20. The Jayhawks were dominant in the third set to pick up the sweep, 25-16. 

WSU was once again limited to 12 of its 18 players one week after withdrawing from the SD Invite due “COVID-19 related issues”.

Lamb said that a key thing he would be watching for in the match against KU was the fight his team would should, despite being shorthanded.

“I’m going to measure the energy, I’m going to measure the fight,” Lamb said. “I want to know if we hit rough patches of not being great communicators, I’m going to look for people looking defeated. I know we’re going to try our hardest to stay in it and battle and never give up on it.”

For the match, the Shockers hit .180 and had 26 kills. Individually, freshman Kailin Newsome led the team with 11 kills. Freshman Lauren McMahon also added five kills of her own. 

Sophomore Lily Liekweg led the team with nine digs and sophomore Kayce Litzau finished the game with 22 assists. 

The Jayhawks hit .274 for the match and were led by Caroline Bien’s 13 kills.

Next up, the Shockers will wrap up the Kansas Invitation with a match against Delaware at 11 a.m. tomorrow inside the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.