No. 17 Kansas swept in-state rival Kansas State at Morgan Family Volleyball Arena in Manhattan on Thursday. Kansas won the sets by scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 25-23.
The Jayhawks had a hitting percentage of .340 in the match and outkilled the Wildcats 50-25.
Taylor Stanley led the Jayhawks with 16 kills. Grace Nelson had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Reese Messer finished with 40 assists.
Kansas State led 10-8 in the first set, but Kansas went on a run to make the score 15-11 at the technical timeout. Kills made up 11 of those first 15 Kansas points, including three each from Taylor Stanley, Grace Nelson and Aisha Aiono.
Most of the Wildcats’ points before the first set technical timeout came from Jayhawk errors: two from the service line and four attacking.
Kansas State could not get within two points of Kansas for the rest of the set.
Skylar Brady led the Wildcats with four kills in the first set. The third came on a long rally with the Jayhawks up 20-16. With the score at 22-17, she swung from the back row, and the ball found the floor just inside the back line on Kansas’ side.
Olivia Hasbrook ended the set with a serve that went straight to Addison Massey’s body. She couldn’t bump the ball up, and it was an ace for the Jayhawks.
The second set opened with a play that was called a Kansas State point off a Kansas block touch. Kansas head coach Matt Ulmer challenged the play, and the call was reversed.
Kansas State head coach Jason Mansfield called a timeout, trailing 11-7, after Reagan Fox sent an attack that landed right at the feet of a line judge.
The Jayhawks scored the next two points before Kansas State was able to stop the run with a challenge.
Grace Nelson sent an attack both wide and long. It was initially called Kansas’ point off a touch, but after review, it was determined that no Wildcat had touched the attack. That successful challenge made the score of the second set 13-8, Jayhawks.
Kansas State would not get within any closer than five points for the rest of the set. It trailed 19-14 before Kansas scored six of the last seven points of the set to close it out and take a 2-0 lead.
The beginning of the third set was as back-and-forth as it gets. Neither team led by more than a point until a kill by Massey put the Wildcats up 14-12.
Reese Resmer had a service ace to give Kansas State a three-point advantage at 17-14.
Kansas tied the set at 18 on a service ace from Stanley. It was initially called out, but Ulmer challenged the ruling and won. Had the call stood, it would have been Stanley’s sixth service error and the Jayhawks’ 16th of the match.
The Wildcats called a timeout after their fourth service error of the set, which tied the score 21-21.
Mansfield called his second timeout of the third set after Logan Bell got a kill to tie the set at 23.
Massey sent a cross-court attack wide on the next play to set up a Kansas match point.
Reese Messer dumped a serve over the net on that match point. Fuka Sekita made a diving pancake dig, and the ball went back to Massey, who was making the third hit for the Wildcats and had to bump the ball over her head from out of bounds. That ball went wide the other way, and the Jayhawks finished off the sweep.
The second edition of the 2026 Sunflower Showdown will be hosted in Allen Fieldhouse on Oct. 30.
Kansas will play No. 8 Arizona State at noon on Saturday in the Jayhawks’ first match at Allen Fieldhouse in 2026. The match will be nationally televised on ESPN.
This article was edited by Sports Editor Jacob Webb. If the information in this article needs to be corrected, please contact jwebb7583@ku.edu.