There were a lot of things that Matt Ulmer knew and liked about the volleyball scene at the University of Kansas when he decided to take the job last December.
But there was also one important thing he did not know much about.
Later this week, Ulmer and the 14th-ranked Jayhawks (14-7 overall, 5-2 in Big 12 play, with an RPI of No. 24) will address that unknown, with what he calls “a guinea pig thing,” when KU plays host to in-state rival Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse on Friday night.
“Horejsi is incredible,” the first-year KU coach said of the the Jayhawks’ home venue, which holds just over 2,000 fans and is almost always sold out. “It’s just limited in capacity. So, I was just really interested to see what the actual fan base is like for volleyball in the area. And I think Horejsi doesn’t really give me a good barometer for what that is.”
Ulmer has no real expectations for what the match at Allen Fieldhouse will deliver. He’s just hoping that the chance to open the door to as many people interested in volleyball as possible will create a special night and a memorable environment.
He also thinks that, a good turnout this week could lead to bigger and better things down the road, be that more matches at Allen or some other plan of attack entirely.
“It’s it’s 2,200 and that’s what it is, then that’s something I want to know,” he said of the turnout on Friday night. “If it’s 5,000, if it’s 10,000, if it’s more… What is that gonna be? Because, when I go fight some fights, I want to know what I’m fighting for.”
Although the Jayhawks had a home match with TCU on Wednesday night, Ulmer already started his fight for a large crowd last week, when he said on a recent Hawk Talk episode that he would sing the National Anthem before the match if the Jayhawks sold a large number of tickets.
He mentioned 10,000 in the venue that seats 15,300 for basketball games as a good goal to shoot for and said he had offered — and delivered — to sing the National Anthem once before when he was at Oregon.
Beyond that, he and some of his players have been busy walking campus this week — “selling my soul” — to try to drum up support among the student body for Friday’s 8 p.m. home match against the rival Wildcats (10-6, 3-5, No. 44).
“I was just really interested to see what the actual fan base is like for volleyball in the area. And I think Horejsi doesn’t really give me a good barometer for what that is.”
— KU volleyball coach Matt Ulmer
According to Ulmer, KU only has room for around 100 students to attend matches at Horejsi, in addition to the always-rowdy KU pep band.
“It’s a bit of an attraction because it’s the first time (we’ve played at Allen Fieldhouse) in a decade,” Ulmer said. “But it’s more about me just saying, ‘What do we got here? What are we working with?’”
KU last played at Allen Fieldhouse in 2013, when the Jayhawks hosted one regular season match and a pair of NCAA Tournament matches. Kansas volleyball also played three matches at Allen Fieldhouse in 2012, going 2-1, with a regular season win over St. Louis and a 1-1 mark in NCAA Tournament play.
The Jayhawks played their home matches entirely at Allen Fieldhouse from 1975-98 and moved to Horejsi in 1999.
In 1996, 14,800 fans packed Allen Fieldhouse to watch KU play Missouri. The largest crowd after that one came in 2012, when KU hosted Wichita State in a first-round NCAA Tournament match that drew 4,478 spectators.
There’s another wrinkle tied to the decision to play inside the bigger venue and it has everything to do with exposing his team to those types of settings in case they find themselves in them during postseason play.
“We did some matches earlier in the year when we were playing in huge arenas that have 10,000+ people,” Ulmer explained this week. “And that was on purpose because if you make it to the Final Four, if you make it late in the season, those are the type of venues you’re playing in and this is the best way we can simulate that on campus.”
While the Jayhawks acknowledged that it was tough to think about giving up the intimate setting and rocking home-court advantage that Horejsi has delivered for years, the fact that the first of two Sunflower Showdown matches this year is the reason they’re doing it helped outweigh whatever downside there might be.
“We’re super-excited,” KU senior Rhian Swanson said. “It’s always been talks about trying to be in a bigger venue, but we’ve never actually done it.”
The Jayhawks practiced at Allen Fieldhouse once last week and will again on Thursday before putting the ball in the air for real on Friday night.
“It just feels huge,” Swanson noted. “It’s crazy. During that first practice it was just like, ‘Wow, it just feels so big.’”
That was without benches and with the lower-level bleachers pushed back. So, game night will feel a little less cavernous. But it also won’t feel as tightly confined as Horejsi either.
Ulmer said he was thankful for the work put in by everyone in the department to make this a possibility, noting that there had been three all-staff meetings just to talk logistics.
“The reason not to play in Allen (is) because Horejsi is such a great home-court advantage,” he said. “We’re very comfortable in there and the fans are a great asset in the smaller gym. So, I don’t know what it’ll be like in Allen. I’m just interested to see.”
“I don’t know how comfortable we’ll be,” he added. “Probably as comfortable as they feel. But hopefully we’ll have great fan support come out and they’ll make our team really excited.”
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
