After trailing by a set on a pair of occasions, the Kansas volleyball team rallied on Saturday afternoon to beat Vanderbilt 3-2 (19-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 15-4) at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.
The Jayhawks won their season opener and earned their first victory under new head coach Matt Ulmer.
In the decisive fifth set, middle blocker Reese Ptacek tallied four kills and outside hitter Grace Nelson recorded three service aces. The aces were part of a run of seven straight points that essentially clinched the result for KU.
Returnees Ptacek and Nelson paced the Jayhawks with 15 and 13 kills on the match, respectively. Setter Cristin Cline, transfer from Oregon, recorded a double-double with 39 assists and 11 digs.
The Commodores, playing their first volleyball match in 45 years after the revival of their program, were tied as late as 18-18 in the fourth set but couldn’t finish off the Jayhawks, who scored six of the next seven points. Reese Animashaun recorded 18 kills, while Jacquelyn Moore added 17 on .323 hitting.
Vanderbilt jumped out to an early 10-5 advantage entering a timeout in the first set. KU managed to take a 15-14 lead on a kill by Cline, but the Commodores responded with four straight. Kamryn Chaney recorded a pair of key kills late before Moore scored the set point for Vanderbilt.
The second set saw KU reach a level of play it did not attain again until the decisive fifth game. The Jayhawks led by as many as 13 points before Animashaun scored thrice as part of a 6-0 run that gave Vanderbilt some late momentum, even as it allowed KU to even the tally at 1-1.
The two teams traded leads during a back-and-forth third frame. With the Commodores up 23-22, Kenzie Dean came through with one of her eight kills, giving Cline the opportunity to serve. She rewarded the Jayhawks with an ace that put them at set point, but Chaney evened the score at 24, Dean committed an attack error and Maddy Bowser won the set on a reception error by Nelson.
With their backs against the wall, the Jayhawks shook off that adverse conclusion and went blow for blow with Vanderbilt again in the fourth set. This time, kills by Dean and Jovana Zelenovic and a block shared by Zelenovic and Aisha Aiono gave KU its first three-point lead of the set at 21-18, and the Jayhawks went on to a 25-20 victory, ahead of their dominant performance in the final frame.
No. 14 KU will face a tall task on Monday when it travels to Sioux Falls, S.D. to take on No. 2 Penn State at 5:30 p.m. Central Time.
