No. 19 Kansas Sweeps Houston in Big 12 Opener

Friday, September 25

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

8-3,1-0Big 12

Houston

7-5,0-1Big 12

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Houston	29	20	15	0
Kansas	31	25	25	3

No. 19 Kansas Sweeps Houston in Big 12 Opener

9/25/2026 8:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Kansas opened Big 12 Conference play with a sweep of Houston, winning 31-29, 25-20 and 25-15 on Friday night at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

The Jayhawks improved to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play, while the Cougars fell to 7-5 and 0-1 in conference. Kansas finished with 45 kills as a team and hit .228, led by Taylor Stanley, who paced all players with 17 kills alongside six blocks. Reese Ptacek was all over the stat sheet with six kills, a match-high eight blocks and two aces, while Logan Bell also chipped in six kills, two aces and three blocks. Sophomore setter Reese Messer ran the KU offense with 35 assists, and libero Olivia Hasbrook led the team with 13 digs and two aces.

Kansas jumped out to an early lead in the opening set, with Aisha Aiono delivering the opening kill before Ptacek followed with back-to-back points on a kill and a block to make it 3-0. Hasbrook then ripped off back-to-back aces to extend the lead to 5-0, and the 7-0 start forced a Houston timeout. Bell's block made it 10-2, and Messer added an ace to push the lead to 14-7 before Stanley's block made it 15-7. A cross-court kill from Bell kept the Jayhawks comfortably ahead at 19-13, but the Cougars responded with three straight points to cut it to 19-16 and force a Kansas timeout. Back-to-back kills from Bell pushed the lead back to 21-17 before Houston answered with a 4-0 run of its own to pull within one at 22-21. Ptacek's slide kill made it 23-21, but the set tightened from there, with the two teams trading points to tie it at 23-23, 26-26 and 27-27. Kansas battled through the extra points before closing out the extended opening set 31-29.

The second set saw the teams deadlocked at 7-7 before Houston grabbed a 10-9 edge. Bell's ace tied it back up at 10-10, and Nelson's kill put Kansas ahead to stay at 11-10. The Jayhawks carried a 14-13 lead into the media timeout, and Grace Nelson later tipped one off a Cristin Cline assist to make it 21-18. Ptacek then took over down the stretch, coming up with a block to make it 22-19 and following it with an ace to push the lead to 23-19. Nelson's block set up set point, and an attack error capped the set for Kansas, 25-20.

Houston jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the third set, but Stanley answered with a kill down the line to trim the deficit to 3-5. Cline then delivered back-to-back setter dumps to even the score at 5-5 and Ptacek's ace made it 9-7. A big swing from Aiono extended the lead to 13-11 and Kansas carried a 15-11 advantage into the technical timeout.

Stanley came out of the break with a kill to make it 16-11. Messer's setter dump capped a 5-0 run and made it 17-11, forcing a Houston timeout. Stanley then delivered back-to-back aces during a 4-0 run to push the lead to 21-12, and she closed out the match with a big cross-court kill for the sweep, 25-15.

Kansas returns to action Sunday at Texas Tech at 1 p.m. CT.