'Wow; this is so cool'

The Kansas volleyball team got Sunflower Showdown weekend started on Friday night, when the 14^th-ranked Jayhawks fell to rival Kansas State, 25-14, 17-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-8 at electric Allen Fieldhouse.

The outcome was not what anyone in KU blue had hoped it would be. But the environment was sweeter. And that made for a lot of smiles on the KU bench throughout the night.

That’s to say nothing of the joy it gave the 7,550 fans who attended the match.

KU coach Matt Ulmer said last week that he wanted to host a match at KU’s basketball arena because he wanted to see how big of an appetite there was in the area for Kansas volleyball.

Friday’s crowd, on a wet and rainy night, with a home KU football game kicking off 15 hours later, should’ve given him a pretty good indication.

“I actually felt like it was more intimate than I thought it would be,” Ulmer said of the AFH environment. “I was nervous that 7,500 was gonna feel quiet and not very full. But not at all. It was a great volleyball atmosphere. Even though we lost, I hope a lot of people walked away thinking volleyball was fun to watch.”

Added transfer libero Ryan White of the experience of playing in Allen while she’s still in the process of getting used to Horejsi: “We all just stood out there and said, ‘Wow. This is so cool.’ It’s crazy how many people are invested in the volleyball program here.”

The novelty of it all certainly had something to do with it. The match marked the first time volleyball had been played in Allen Fieldhouse since 2013, and the ability for fans to have access to 15,000 seats instead of the 2,000+ at KU’s regular home arena clearly caught the attention of several Kansas fans.

But the newness wasn’t the only thing that attracted these people. The crowd was loud and into it and largely offered a pretty keen awareness of what was happening on the court throughout the match.

Both Ulmer and former KU coach Ray Bechard have said in the past that Kansas fans are pretty knowledgeable about volleyball, and that showed loud and clear on Friday night.

Here’s a look back at some of Friday night’s action at Allen Fieldhouse, where much more volleyball should be played in the years to come.

Clearly there’s an appetite for it.

• Another 5-setter – Friday night marked the Jayhawks’ 8^th — EIGHTH!!! — five-set match of the season and the victory improved KU’s record in those marathon matches to 3-5 this season. While most of them came in the early, non-conference portion of the Jayhawks’ season, it was clear on Friday that their experience, possibly even comfort, playing in those types of do-or-die sets late in a grueling match helped KU pull out this one. I’m not sure anyone in the building expected Friday to go five after the way the Jayhawks dominated Set 1, but there they were after 10 p.m., scrapping and clawing for every point they could get in the first-to-15 final set. KU libero Ryan White said after the match that you never want to get comfortable in a fifth set because you never want to be in a fifth set. But he said the Jayhawks have become used to battling in them and operate with the approach that they’re never out of a set no matter what the score reads.

• Strong servers – KU’s got a lot of good things up and down its lineup, but few of their strengths stand out quite as much as the stellar serving by freshman Logan Bell and international standout Jovana Zelenovic. Both were on their game in a big way in this one, consistently serving tough and setting the stage for KU to rip off several scoring streaks throughout the match. Zelenovic’s thing is all about power and angles. At 6-7, she’s swinging from a completely different spot than most players and the downward angle and pure power, along with it just clipping the top of the net half the time, makes it really hard to handle. Bell’s got a low serve that zips the top of the net and also moves. She also has a change-up that she can throw in that makes it tough to sit back and wait for the rocket.

• Offense still not quite there – It certainly looked good in the first set, as Kansas spread its attack throughout multiple players and looked like way too much for K-State to handle. Even when the Wildcats were in the right spots, the Jayhawks often overpowered them with big swings and hitting balls off the block for easy KU points. Ulmer said after the match that K-State made a ton of errors in the first set and added that, “If you like offense, this wasn’t the match for you.” After the non-conference portion of KU’s schedule, Ulmer talked about the Jayhawks not having quite enough on offense to take down the giants. But the offense has been better in recent three-set wins and was definitely better again on Friday night in the opening set. K-State took Set No. 2, 25-17, largely holding KU’s offense down, but KU bounced back nicely in the third set to reclaim temporary control. After recording 10 kills and just 4 errors in the opening set, KU recorded 9 kills and 10 errors in the second. By the third set, the Jayhawks bounced back with 13 kills and 5 errors and followed that up with 12 kills and 4 errors in the fourth. There are still times when KU needs to find someone who can just bury a ball, but until they have that consistently, the efficiency numbers are oh-so-key.

• Honoring a legend or two – Prior to Friday’s match, former KU coach Ray Bechard, who led the program for 27 years before retiring last December, was honored on the floor for his excellence and commitment to all things Kansas. Bechard hugged and waved to a dozen or so people in attendance, smiling big and wide throughout the ovation. He’s been at most, if not all, of KU’s home matches so far this season, with a little lower blood pressure than he might’ve had on match night in recent years. Between the second and third sets, with the match tied at 1, KU also welcomed 60 or so former players onto the floor to be recognized by the crowd, which gave them a standing ovation for their commitment to the program.

• Students showed up – It wasn’t just that the packed the seats they normally pack for men’s basketball games. It also was the fact that they were lined up and filing in steadily well before the 8 p.m. start on Friday night. It helped that students got in free. But if Ulmer can get this kind of support for his team from the student body, you can bet he’ll make sure they’re in free any time they play in Allen Fieldhouse in the future. They were loud, into the match all night and really brought an added home-court advantage to the Jayhawks.  

• Ulmer flat-out amazing – He teased all week that if people showed up, he’d sing the National Anthem before Friday’s match. And then he doubled-down again on Wednesday when he said he told the team that if they beat TCU, he’d definitely do it. KU swept the Horned Frogs and there was Ulmer, in front of thousands, singing the National Anthem to get the party started. His rendition was both heartfelt and on pointe, and he got a huge ovation from the crowd when he hit his last note.

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