Four days apart, with one match coming at home and the other on the road, the Kansas volleyball team made history last week.
With three-set sweeps over Houston and Texas Tech, the 19th-ranked Jayhawks pushed their current winning streak to eight in a row, improving to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 play.
While the eight wins certainly is sweet, it's how they got those eight ways that made them historic, with the Jayhawks having won all eight matches by sweeping three straight sets.
That pushed their consecutive sets won streak to 24, breaking the previous program record of 21, set back in 2016.
So, does the whole sweep thing — in terms or asserting dominance or keeping the streak alive — actually matter to the Jayhawks who are doing the work?
Not as much as the bottom line of what the sweeps mean.
"I don’t think we talk about, ‘Oh, let’s sweep them," junior libero Liv Hasbrook said after the Jayhawks' 3-0 home sweep over Houston last Friday night, Ray Bechard Court night, no less. "I think we talk more about actually what we want to do. We want to take control of our side, and if that’s a sweep, that’s a sweep. We just want to play our best every single day and if we’re playing our best, there’s no doubt in our minds we can continue this streak."
"I don’t think we talk about, ‘Oh, let’s sweep them. I think we talk more about actually what we want to do. We want to take control of our side, and if that’s a sweep, that’s a sweep."
— Junior libero Liv Hasbrook
Those words echoed what second-year KU coach Matt Ulmer said about the sweep streak just a few moments before Hasbrook.
"I mean, we like winning," Ulmer said matter-of-factly. "It’s fun to win at home and people want to keep coming back. To me, it’s more about just what we’re doing. Happy to win always. But I would just like to play better and follow the game plan better. We struggle with that. They don’t trust me very much, which is frustrating. And I need to do a better job of getting their trust."
How does he do that?
"Keep being right, I think," he said, with a laugh. "So far I’ve been right. They just don’t listen. So, it doesn’t matter what I know if they don’t believe me. So, hopefully at some point they’ll believe it."
"I think there’s a happy medium between are we competing our best all three sets and taking care of business sooner in the game," junior middle Reese Ptacek said after the win over Houston.
Ptacek also mentioned the importance of staying locked in on the scouting report, match by match, and continuing to focus on what the Jayhawks are doing and need to do to continue to grow, improve and chase down their big goals.
Their wish list includes winning the Big 12, hosting NCAA Tournament matches, playing deep into December and winning a national title. And they know that the rest of the schedule is full of teams that have similar goals and also know that KU aspires to be at the top and, therefore, will be aiming to cut them down.
"As (our opponents) start to know us better, can we continue to stay aggressive for three sets and not let them creep in (and take it to a) fifth set," Ptacek said of her team's main focus, which is far greater than worrying about keeping the sweep streak alive.
“It can be different for everybody," she added of the current streak. "But, at least for me, it’s like, game’s over, now we’ve got next-game mentality."
Next up, the Jayhawks will be home for two more Big 12 matches, Thursday night vs. Utah (6 p.m.) and Friday night vs. BYU (6 p.m.)
Both will be televised by ESPN+.
