For the first time in the early stages of the season, No. 22-ranked Kansas volleyball (4-3) has a winning percentage above .500.
The Jayhawks took care of business on Sunday, sweeping previously undefeated Tulsa (25-16, 25-22, 25-18) at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena to finish the week 3-0 without dropping a set.
“It feels great to be home,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “Our players love playing in front of the Horejsi crowd, So I mean, that feels good, and to be able to never drop a set with them would be really fun — probably not realistic moving forward — but it was a really nice week for us in that way.”
Freshman pin hitter Taylor Stanley was once again the team’s leader in kills, recording 20 with a career-best .531 hitting percentage. Even through just seven matches in her career, Stanley can already feel the trust her teammates and coaches have in her.
“My teammates know about me, but when I feel that their trust, like radiating off of them, I think it’s so helpful,” Stanley said. “It means the world to me, honestly, that I can just out there and swing free and play free.”
Defensively, KU limited Tulsa to a .186 hitting percentage, with seven blocks and 45 digs, as Ulmer said it was the most disciplined the defense has been all season.
“We just came out with a really aggressive mindset,” Stanley said. “We really trusted our scout, a lot of it’s going back to what Ulmer’s telling us to do, and so I think that if we’re disciplined in what he’s telling us to do, and we’re trusting the scout and everything he’s seeing for us, that it’s going to be a big game changer.”
A 4-0 run early in the first set, sparked by a Tulsa service error, forced an early timeout with KU leading 9-4. The run stretched to five straight points out of the stoppage on Nelson’s second kill of the match, before a Jayhawk service error.
Three straight points by the Jayhawks forced the Golden Hurricane to call a second timeout, then the visitors added three more to pull within five at 13-8. The KU defense buckled down for the remainder of the set, holding Tulsa to a .000 hitting percentage (six kills, six errors), and taking the opening frame 25-16.
“(Tulsa) really loves to get their middle the ball, it’s good tempo, they’re a good passing team,” Ulmer said, “So it’s like all those things should really stress our defense, so I was excited for us, and again, if our defense can start closing them, getting tighter, then all of a sudden we can get some gaps in the scoreboard like that.”
The Jayhawks didn’t lead by more than two in the first portion of the second set before a kill by Logan Bell made the score 15-12 at the media timeout. Stanley’s 13th kill of the match stretched the advantage to four before three consecutive points by the Golden Hurricane resulted in a timeout called by Ulmer.
Tulsa became the first team to 20, taking its first lead of the set after a block to make the score 20-19, but KU ultimately pulled away late with the final three points of the set, capped off by Stanley’s 15th kill of the match to take a 2-0 lead.
A large part of Stanley’s early success is her connection with setter Reese Messer, who had 34 assists in the win.
“She is one of the most competitive people I know,” Stanley said. “And I think that really fires everybody up. She has such a high volleyball IQ, and it rubs off on everybody.”
KU began the third set right where it left off, scoring the first four points and ultimately building a 10-5 lead, forcing Tulsa to use its first timeout. Out of the timeout, Tulsa scored to pull within four, but KU won five of the next eight points, including a Golden Hurricane service error to lead 15-9 at the media timeout.
The Golden Hurricane cut the deficit to as little as four, but it was too little, too late as the Jayhawks capped off the final set by way of an attacking error to complete the sweep.
KU will be back in action on Tuesday, facing Wichita State for the second time this season after a sweep of the Shockers earlier this week. Tuesday’s match from Charles Koch Arena in Wichita is set for 6 p.m.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
