Jayhawks Sweep Shockers in Home Opener

Tuesday, September 8

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

2-3,0-0Big 12

Wichita State

2-4,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Wichita St.	9	21	14	0
Kansas	25	25	25	3

Game Notes

Jayhawks Sweep Shockers in Home Opener

9/8/2026 7:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas volleyball swept Wichita State 3-0 in its 2026 home opener Tuesday evening, winning the sets 25-9, 25-21 and 25-14.

"It was nice to get back in front of our home crowd," head coach Matt Ulmer said. "We always want to play our best for them. I thought that was the best we've looked this season and the connections are really coming together and I think it shows."

Kansas volleyball swept Wichita State Tuesday evening behind a dominating offensive performance, hitting .417 and holding the Shockers to .065. The Jayhawks recorded 44 kills with only nine errors with nine aces. Freshman outside Taylor Stanley let the match with 15 kills while hitting .440 and contributing an ace.

In addition to Stanley, junior Grace Nelson recorded nine kills on a .471 hitting percentage and a team-leading 14 digs, and junior Reese Ptacek tallied 6 kills and three blocks while hitting .500. Senior middle blocker Aisha Aiono led the Jayhawks with six blocks alongside four kills and sophomore setter Reese Messer led the match with 36 assists.

The Jayhawks got out to a fast start, with Stanley getting the first point on an explosive kill. Kansas and Wichita State then traded points back and forth before a Shockers service error put Kansas ahead 5-3. From there, junior libero Olivia Hasbrook served four straight points, including an ace, and forced Wichita State to call a timeout with KU up 9-3.

Out of the break, Hasbrook continued on her run, serving five more in a row to cap a 10-0 Kansas run. The Shockers stopped the run with a kill by Jordan Heatherly, but a pair of attack errors and a Logan Bell backrow attack put Kansas on top 17-4.

After trading a couple more points, Ptacek and Stanley combined on a block to win the first set 25-9. In the first set, Kansas had a hitting percentage of .458 with 13 kills and only two errors. In addition to the prolific offense, they stymied the Shocker offense with four blocks and two service aces.

The second set began with the two teams trading points, before the Jayhawks jumped out to a 8-5 lead. The two teams continued to trade points, exchanging both service errors and aces to become knotted again at 15-15. After a miscommunication, an attack error and a Shockers ace, Kansas was forced to call a timeout trailing 20-17 in the set.

Following the timeout, Stanley picked up another kill before Aiono secured a solo block in the middle of the net to pull Kansas within one. Ptacek then picked up an ace and forced a Shockers timeout with things knotted at 20-20. Kansas picked up three straight points out of the pause in the action, with a second ball attack from Messer, an Aiono kill and a Shockers error to cap a 6-0 Jayhawks run. Kenzie Dean finished the set a couple of points later with an emphatic kill to secure a 25-21 set win.

After a slow start to the third set, Kansas found similar success to its first. Following the two teams trading points early, Kansas jumped out to a 10-7 advantage thanks to a kill from Stanley. She then combined with Aiono on a block to put the Jayhawks in front 11-7 and helped the Jayhawks to a 15-10 lead at the technical timeout.

Stanley continued to dominate down the stretch, picking up an ace to extend the lead to 17-10 before Wichita State scored again on a service error. Following the lost point, however, Kansas scored three straight, with kills from Ptacek, freshman Avery Poulton and Messer to force another Wichita State timeout, leading 20-11.

To close the match, Stanley picked up two more kills, while Aiono combined with Poulton on a block and picked up a kill of her own. The Jayhawks won the final set 25-14 to complete the sweep.

The Jayhawks return to Horejsi on Friday at 1 p.m. when they host South Dakota State in the first match of the Kansas Invitational.