The Kansas University men’s basketball team led off the festivities with an afternoon scrimmage, and the Jayhawk volleyball team capped the action Saturday night in an exhibition match against former KU players.

Although KU volleyball coach Ray Bechard will take a 4-0 win over a team featuring some of his former players, he knows his team still has much to do to prepare for the regular season, which begins Wednesday at Arkansas.

“It’s going to be so much faster,” Bechard said of the opposition’s offensive attack. “It’s going to be like night and day, and that’s an adjustment we’re going to have to make if we’re going to be successful.”

The current Kansas squad had plenty of speed in the first game, jumping to a 15-1 lead. The Jayhawks went on to cruise against the alumnae to a 30-7 decision.

Saturday’s closest match came in the second game that included six ties. The present Jayhawks mustered a 30-27 victory, but alumnae including Nancy Bell (1997-2000), Laura Rohde (1995-98) and Danielle Geronymo (1999-2000) contributed noteworthy performances.

“It’s fun to play here again because I have so many fun moments with my teammates that I’ll never forget,” said Geronymo, who was the first Brazilian player to head to Lawrence after playing under Bechard at Barton County Community College.

Bechard’s team took the third game, 30-18. A fourth game was played for fun, and the current Jayhawks completed a sweep with a 30-12 win.

Kansas senior Ashley Michaels had 11 kills, and juniors Josi Lima and Paula Caten each added 10 kills. Junior Andi Rozum had a team-high 32 assists.

“This was a very good match to get us going,” Lima said. “We all know what we have to do. We just need a few real games to get going.”

Senior Jill Dorsey, who had a team-high 16 digs, said Wednesday would be her team’s first true test.

Photo Gallery: KU volleyball exhibition match

“We have a lot of firepower and our core group back, and we’re excited about that, but Arkansas is going to be a really good measure of where we are,” Dorsey said.