For the third consecutive season, and this time with a new head coach, the Kansas volleyball team, which finished second in the power-packed Big 12 Conference this season, is in position to host first and second round NCAA Tournament games at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena this week.
The Jayhawks, seeded 4th, will play host to High Point at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and the winner will advance to Friday to play the winner of the matchup between No. 5 seed Miami (Fla.) and Tulsa.
The Jayhawks (22-10) have been in this very position a handful of times before, but the goal, with this team, was always to make it beyond Round 2, where KU's season ended in each of the past two years.
Doing that is certainly easier said than done, but the Jayhawks, under Ray Bechard, were crazy close to doing it in both 2023 and 2024, and there's a strong belief that this group, under Matt Ulmer, has what it takes to break through to the Sweet 16 and possibly beyond.
So much of KU's focus this entire season was geared toward making sure the Jayhawks were ready for December and December has arrived.
So, now we get to see how much they've got and how far they can go.
Here's a look at 10 reasons a deep run might be in the cards for Ulmer's first KU team.
1 - Two stellar setting options. Think of it as having two really good quarterbacks and being able to play and use both of them if you want to. That's exactly what the Jayhawks have in veteran Katie Dalton and Oregon transfer Cris Cline, both of whom have had stellar moments throughout the 2025 season. Each has been the Jayhawks' featured setter. They've complemented each other well in KU's two-setter system. And they've supported each other when the other was playing and one was sitting. That team-first approach by both of them has made developing chemistry with the hitters easier to develop.
2 - Elite defense. While the Jayhawks have searched for new and different ways to generate offense throughout the season, their defense and passing has always been at the top of its game. It's that strength that allowed Kansas to battle some of the sport's big dogs early in the season. And it's that strength that bought the offense time to come along at its own pace, with new faces emerging as offensive threats, sometimes weekly, during the evolution of this team. The offense has found its stride a little bit of late, with poise, confidence and connectivity being keys there, but the defense has always been ready for prime time. And now they're there.
3 - Horejsi. There are a bunch of great volleyball environments in the country, but very few of them are better than Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. And now, as long as they can keep winning, KU gets to play its first two NCAA Tournament matches in the friendly confines of their own stellar home court. That's been the case the past two years, and KU fell short of reaching the Sweet 16 because of the absolute juggernauts they faced in Round 2. There's another one waiting in Miami (Fla.) if Kansas can get past High Point on Thursday night. But the theory goes like this: If you've got to play a program like Miami anyway in the second round, you might as well get 'em on your turf, in front of your fans, with all of the comforts and familiarity that comes with playing at home on your side. All volleyball at Horejsi is awesome volleyball, but postseason volleyball at Horejsi is otherworldly. The Jayhawks are due for that to fall in their favor.
4 - They've got Ulmer. Forget that it's his first year in charge of the program or that they had to go through some growing pains to find their stride. Matt Ulmer knows how to win at this time of year and he's got KU poised to do just that. The man made it to three Elite Eights at Oregon, including a pair in 2022 and 2023, and also led the Ducks to the Sweet 16 five times. Some of that was talent, of course, but there's also a great deal of coaching philosoph in play here. And while Ulmer's approach has always been to spend the season preparing your team to be ready to peak in December, one of the key components of that mindset is the concept of being absolutely fearless. His teams have learned that they have to think that way, they have to play that way and they have to live that way. Especially in December. Confidence and preparation creates a lot of that, but the rest is essentially finding a way to be as aggressive as possible and never taking your foot off the gas.
5 - Battle tested in a big way. An NCAA Tournament record 10 teams from the Big 12 Conference is in this year's field, and Kansas played nine of them. Add to that the fact that the Jayhawks' non-conference slate was filled with top-notch programs who also qualified for the NCAA Tournament and you're looking at a team that played well over half of its matches against teams still playing today. Oh, and they beat a bunch of them. It doesn't stop there, though. Remember last spring when Ulmer and the Jayhawks dove into this thing with a handful of spring matches, including one at Nebraska? Yeah, that counts as being battle tested, too. Simply because this program has seen that level, played in that venue and took some good moments from it.
6 - Depth means KU can survive an off night. One of the best things about KU's depth and search for offensive firepower all season is that it has afforded Ulmer the opportunity to survive someone having an off night. That won't stop just because it's the postseason. And remember that bit about being fearless from No. 4? Don't think for a second that he'll avoid sitting someone if he senses they don't have it or are having some kind of trouble. He will. And he can. Depth is a beautiful thing this time of year and the Jayhawks have a bunch of it at just about every position on the floor.
7 - They've put in the work & they believe they're ready. After the Jayhawks' home win on Senior Night in the regular season finale Ulmer said that one of the things he liked most about the way his team is playing at this stage in the season is how connected and poised they are. That wasn't always the case this season, but Ulmer said the Jayhawks worked incredibly hard to elevate their overall level of play, transforming from a team that battled but couldn't quite make the winning plays when they had to have them into one that battled and then believed those types of game-clinching plays were coming.
8 - Informational approach. Ulmer has been hard on this team and they've taken their lumps, too. But one thing that has made them able to withstand both the tough coaching and the rough nights is the way they sharpen their focus after just about every point. Rather than letting emotions rule the day, this team has done everything in its power to be information-based. So, those huddles you see between points, they're not all about rah-rah and cum-bay-ya. Instead, they're actually moments of players exchanging information. Where to be, how to play, who's got what, what comes next and more. Libero Ryan White and middle blocker Reese Ptacek both said this week that approaching it that way forces them to be less emotional and focus more on the next play, ball, rotation or whatever. As they broke the process day, Ulmer sat between them and smiled. He said the way he prefers to coach the mental side of the game was the hardest thing for this team to learn. But based on the way White and Ptacek explained their view of it, Ulmer was clearly comfortable enough to say they've got it now. In fact, he called it a proud coaching moment.
9 - They like each other. It's a new team made up of a handful of transfers meshing with a bunch of players who were already here. But so many of those Jayhawks, new and old, have been thrust into new roles in 2025. Because of that, this group actually bonded deeper and possibly even quicker than one might've guessed it would for a new team playing for a first-year head coach. From Day 1, the freshmen and foreign-born players have been welcomed in like they were the most respected upperclassmen. The returners both led and followed as needed. And it was clear early that the respect and love they all had for each other was real. It grew stronger as the season progressed and now this is a tight-knit team that is playing for the program, themselves and the Jayhawk family.
10 - Fairytale potential. Any deep postseason run brings with it its magical moments and special situations. But few have been as built-in on the front end as the one the Jayhawks face entering this year's tournament. For starters, they're playing High Point, the same program Ulmer and Oregon defeated in Round 1 last year. It's a slightly different team, of course, and so is Kansas. But having that kind of knowledge of a Round 1 opponent is rare and can only help. After that, if the Jayhawks can finally break through and get to the Sweet 16 again, it'll likely be Nebraska that awaits. Nebraska. The same program that welcomed Kansas to Lincoln for that spring match we talked about earlier. Yes, the Huskers are the cream of the crop in college volleyball and playing them at their place is no picnic. But could it be possible that KU would actually have some kind of strange psychological edge in that one, if it were to happen? The KU team that Nebraska saw last spring is far different from the team the Jayhawks are today. They'd still be underdogs, but they'd at least take comfort in knowing that Nebraska might not quite know what to expect. Finally, if the Jayhawks find there way into a deep, deep run, the 2025 Final Four will take place just down the road at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
