In and hosting... Again!

The leadership within the Kansas volleyball program may have changed since last season, but the results did not.

For the third consecutive year the Jayhawks, led this time by first-year coach Matt Ulmer instead of longtime coach Ray Bechard, who retired, have earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament and the chance to host the first two rounds.

KU, a 4 seed in the Nebraska region, will play host to High Point at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. With a win, the Jayhawks would advance to Round 2 on Friday night, against the winner of the match between Miami (Fla.) and Tulsa, which will also be played on Thursday in Lawrence.

"It's a great accomplishment for this group," Ulmer said in a news release after the announcement of the tourney field on Sunday night. "Kansas has hosted the last two years, and we're thrilled to be here again."

Round 2 has been the Achilles' heel of sorts for the Jayhawks in recent years.

In 2023, with one of the best teams in program history, the 4th-seeded Jayhawks fell to perennial powerhouse Penn State in their home gym, taking the Nittany Lions to five sets before falling.

In 2024, the Jayhawks, seeded 3rd this time, rolled into Round 2 again, but this time fell in five at home to Florida. In that one, it took a historic performance from UF All-American Kennedy Martin (a career-high 33 kills in 71 attacks) to take the Jayhawks down.

And while many of the key players on both of those teams are now gone, there are still a few who experienced both heartbreaking losses sprinkled throughout the 2025 KU roster, who no doubt will be salivating at yet another chance to reach the Sweet 16 on their home floor.

They have to get there first, of course. And there's little doubt that all four teams who play at Horejsi this coming week will have what it takes to win a couple of matches.

But there's something about this bunch and this season and the way it played out that makes you think these Jayhawks just may get the job done.

They opened the season on the road for a month and didn't play a home match until Big 12 play started.

They played an insanely difficult schedule during that month — which was a huge reason they made the cut to host, by the way — and showed that they could go toe to toe with some of the best programs in the country, even under first-year coach Ulmer.

Penn State, Wisconsin, Creighton and Purdue. All on the road. All hard-fought losses. All losses that showed Kansas (a) what it took to play at that level and (b) that they already had a lot of that on their side of the net. It was just about fine-tuning it, honing in on some of the areas they needed to improve and putting it all together.

Heck, that reality dates back to the spring, when Ulmer and a bunch of girls he barely knew headed north to Nebraska to play the Huskers on their home floor in a spring match that was designed to give the Jayhawks their first taste of what it would take to do at Kansas what Ulmer did at Oregon, qualifying for three straight Elite Eights before coming to KU.

It was that growth, and the bonding and battling that created it, that led the Jayhawks to today.

They're not hosting because they won 25 matches and rolled over the competition all season. In fact, as recently as last week, the Jayhawks dropped a pair of Big 12 matches on the road at Utah and BYU to finish the season.

But they still finished with an RPI ranking of No. 15, with nine wins on the road and six more on neutral courts, fortifying their status as one of the nation's best teams, way more than their 22-10 overall record does.

Picked to finish second in the Big 12 Conference, KU finished right there, with a 13-5 conference record and a couple of months of Big 12 matches that leave the Jayhawks as battle-tested as anybody, when you add that to what came in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

So, now it's all about what comes next.

When Ulmer arrived in Lawrence and was introduced as the replacement for Bechard, he talked about testing his teams at the highest level and made no secret of his desire to take the program to an even higher level.

The opportunity to take the first step in doing that is at hand. And it's at home, no less.

"We have the best fans," Ulmer added. "And it's such an amazing environment; it's been a huge advantage for us. We love playing here, so any chance we get to add another match in Horejsi, we'll take it. I'm really excited for our team and for our fans."

Let the fun begin!

Stay tuned in to R1S1 Sports throughout the week for much more on the Jayhawks' postseason prospects.

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com