🏐 Jayhawk Volleyball Back at Home to Host Iowa State

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Volleyball (10-3, 2-0 Big 12) brings an eight-game winning streak into its first home conference weekend, which will see the Jayhawks host Iowa State for matches on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1-2, at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

First serve of both matches is set for 4 p.m. and Saturday afternoon’s match will be televised by Big 12 NOW on ESPN+. All attending fans for Friday’s match will receive a ticket for guaranteed admission to Late Night in the Phog. For Saturday’s match fans are invited to participate in the Block Hunger food drive in partnership with Just Food, where donations are encouraged and appreciated.

The Jayhawks come into the weekend riding high following a pair of five-set victories last weekend at Texas Tech, which allowed Kansas to open Big 12 play with a 2-0 record. In doing so, the Jayhawks extended their current winning streak to eight consecutive matches, which is the program’s longest winning streak since they won nine consecutive games midway through the 2018 season.

Kansas is led by super-senior outside hitter Jenny Mosser, who is coming off arguably her best weekend of the season after leading the Jayhawks with a season-high 18 kills on Sept. 24 while totaling 30 kills and 30 digs for the weekend. Mosser has had at least nine kills in each match this season and she had a season-high five service aces on Sept. 25, which moved her to sixth in the conference with 18 for the year.

Caroline Crawford has reached double figures in kills in each of the last three matches, including a season-high 12 kills on Sept. 25 in Lubbock. The sophomore middle blocker from Lansing, Kansas, is third on the team with 95 kills for the year and she ranks eighth in the Big 12 with an attack percentage of .362 this season.

Freshman outside hitter/libero Caroline Bien is a two-time Big 12 Rookie of the Week recipient this season and she’s coming off her best offensive match of the season as she set career-highs with 16 kills and five service aces on Sept. 25 at Texas Tech. Bien has reached double figures in kills seven times this season and she’s recorded at least 10 digs in six consecutive matches.

Kansas had 23 total blocks during the opening weekend of conference play for an average of 2.30 blocks per set, which was the third-most among league teams. For the year, the Jayhawks have three players who have recorded 40 or more blocks in senior Rachel Langs (11 solo, 47 assist), redshirt-senior Anezka Szabo (4 solo, 44 assist) and Crawford (8 solo, 35 assist), with Langs and Szabo both averaging better than one block per set.

Kansas is 45-52-1 all-time against Iowa State in a series that dates back to 1975. Last season, the Jayhawks and the Cyclones split a two-game series in Ames, Iowa, with Kansas winning the first match in five sets before ISU answered by winning the second match in four. Kansas won the only prior meeting at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in 2019 and the Jayhawks are 23-15-1 all-time against the Cyclones in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks remain at home for another set of conference matches next weekend as they host the top-ranked Texas Longhorns at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on Oct. 8-9.