The Kansas volleyball team began Sunday’s top-20 matchup in perhaps the best way possible. The Jayhawks were firing on all cylinders and had a chance to put away No. 8-ranked Arizona State in just three sets.
But the Sun Devils were not going to let that happen, as they rallied from the deficit to defeat the No. 17 Jayhawks (12-5, 5-2 Big 12) in five sets (25-17, 25-14, 22-25, 20-25, 10-5) inside Allen Fieldhouse.
“We want to win, especially in that environment,” KU head coach Matt Ulmer said. “I thought that was some of the best volleyball we’ve played all year… We started to get away from it, so what it tells me is we don’t have any great habits yet.”
In the first of two matches inside Allen Fieldhouse this season (the second coming on Oct. 30 against Kansas State), 6,027 fans filled “The Phog” for a two-and-a-half-hour match that showcased the continuous growth of women’s volleyball on the national stage.
“I continue to always be impressed by our fans,” middle blocker Reese Ptacek said, “And regardless of how close or how far they live, they are dedicated to making it to these games, so I mean, I am extremely grateful.”
“It’s super cool that no matter how far, no matter how wide, people can see our game regardless of just being here.”
Ptacek had a career day with five service aces, as the team tallied 11 as a whole. Freshman pin hitter Taylor Stanley put down 21 kills, but also had 17 errors for just a .068 hitting percentage.
Junior pin hitter Grace Nelson also shone, hitting .244 with 14 kills on the outside, which has been a position of question for KU.
“Grace Nelson made so many good decisions,” Ulmer said. “If we get her to do that consistently, that really changes the game for us.”
Arizona State’s offense made it difficult on KU early in the opening set, turning block touches into kills to lead 6-2. Stanley’s first kill got the Jayhawks going as Ptacek stepped behind the service line and delivered four straight service aces, forcing a timeout.
“Just trying to mix up where I go,” Ptacek said of her early success from the service line. “Not trying to necessarily serve one person, one spot, one little square, but can I mix (it) up?…Can I look one way and then hit it the other way? And, I think that was pretty successful in that first set especially.”
The Jayhawks did not let off the gas out of the timeout, as Nelson notched her first kill of the match and Ptacek served up her career-high fifth ace. After an attacking error by Stanley, KU scored four straight as the Sun Devils used their second timeout. Messer added two more aces out of that stoppage to give KU a 15-7 advantage.
The lead dwindled to as few as six, but the Jayhawks hit .216 (11 kills, three errors on 36 attacks) along with eight aces in the opening set to take a 1-0 match lead after Stanley’s fifth kill.
Set two was close from the beginning as the two teams were tied at five before a five-point run by KU resulted in an Arizona State timeout. Stanley added two more kills and Nelson had one of her own as KU led 15-8 at the technical timeout.
It was all Jayhawks the remainder of the set, hitting .542 (15 kills, two errors) to take the second frame 25-14.
While KU didn’t record an ace in the second set, the team continued to serve tough, which forced a lot of free balls and out-of-system swings by Arizona State, leading to easier opportunities on the offensive end for Kansas.
“Our serve and pass game, especially in the first two sets, were pretty good,” Ptacek said. “In the second set, we might not have had as many aces, but we still kept good momentum on them, so for (Arizona State) to not necessarily always be in a perfect three-pass situation can allow us to get a good dig, set and transition ball out of it.”
Set three was by far the most competitive set as neither team was able to find much separation. The Sun Devils led throughout the early portion of the frame and held an 11-8 lead, but a 7-3 run by the Jayhawks gave them a 15-14 advantage at the technical timeout. Arizona State won the next two points and never looked back, hitting .250 in the third with three blocks to extend the match to a fourth set.
Needing to keep the match alive once more and force a fifth set, Arizona State did just that by hitting to a .250 percentage with six blocks, taking the fourth set 25-20 after a pair of three-point scoring runs late.
“They upped their service pressure as the match went on, and I thought we started passing the ball off the net a little bit,” Ulmer said. “We were very timid, really the whole match, (with) out-of-system setting.”
What also allowed the Sun Devils to get going was the play of reigning Big 12 Player of the Year Noemie Glover, who recorded 25 kills, 14 in the final three sets. Glover was a part of Ulmer’s final team at Oregon, so the second-year coach for the Jayhawks knew just how difficult it was going to be to slow down the left-handed pin hitter.
“She played a really nice game, and she made a lot of good choices,” Ulmer said. “She’s able to move that ball around to so many different spots with power and at a good height. We made a lot of good touches as we got further on in the match, and we just didn’t transition well.”
KU scored the first two points of the final set after a service error and a service ace by Olivia Hasbrook, before five straight points by Arizona State forced a KU timeout. The Sun Devils then scored five of the next seven points, resulting in Ulmer using his second and final timeout of the set. The Jayhawks pulled within three with a 3-0 run, but couldn’t cut into the deficit any further as Arizona State took the decisive set, 15-10.
“We’re our best when we are really pushing forward, being aggressive in every aspect of our game,” Ulmer said, “And what we’re learning is that — which we’ve already learned a million times, we just haven’t quite dialed it in yet — is when we back off in all those areas, bad things happen for us.”
The Jayhawks will return to action for another top-25 matchup on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas, visiting No. 10-ranked TCU at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena.
