photo by: Richard Gwin

Allen Fieldhouse serves as the backdrop for a volleyball match between Kansas University and Saint Louis on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. The Jayhawks swept the Billikens, 3-0, in their first match on James Naismith Court since 1999.

The Kansas volleyball team revealed its 2025 conference schedule on Monday, and one match features a particularly significant choice of venue.

On Oct. 24, the Jayhawks will welcome Kansas State to Lawrence for the latest edition of the Sunflower Showdown, but instead of doing battle at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, the two rivals will face off on James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse.

It will be the first match for KU at the home of the men’s and women’s basketball teams since the 2013 NCAA Tournament. In the years since, the Jayhawks have played in two separate iterations of Horejsi.

Prior to 1999, Allen Fieldhouse was the full-time home of the KU volleyball team. KU once hosted 14,800 fans at Allen Fieldhouse for a volleyball match against Missouri in 1996.

“The fan support for Kansas volleyball continues to grow,” first-year head coach Matt Ulmer said in a press release. “We are thankful that Kansas State has agreed to compete with us in Allen Fieldhouse to showcase just how large that support is. There’s no doubt in my mind that we can let the country know that Kansas volleyball is looking to compete at an elite level in every way.”

Ulmer moved from Oregon in January to become KU’s new head coach following the retirement of longtime leader Ray Bechard. Ulmer has been active on the recruiting trail as he has been tasked with reconstructing a roster that lost nearly all of its returning experience from the 2024 season (which ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament), but does bring back players like Big 12 Freshman of the Year Reese Ptacek and libero Raegan Burns.

KU’s season begins on Aug. 23 against Vanderbilt in Lincoln, Nebraska; its home opener, at least as the schedule stands now, is also its conference opener, a match against reigning conference champion (and new home of former Jayhawk Zoey Burgess) Arizona State on Sept. 26. The Jayhawks almost exclusively play alternating sets of two home matches followed by two road matches until a four-game road trip against Kansas State, Utah, BYU and Iowa State at the end of the year is followed by a lone senior-night home date against UCF.

Also recently added to the KU Athletics website were a variety of nonconference matches, including multi-day tournaments at Purdue and South Dakota and in Omaha, Nebraska. Those follow the previously announced marquee matchups at the AVCA First Serve and Wisconsin’s Opening Spike Classic.

In the near term, KU is still finishing up its spring volleyball slate. The Jayhawks will travel for an exhibition with powerhouse Nebraska on Saturday.

Full schedule

Aug. 23: vs. Vanderbilt (in Lincoln, Nebraska)

Aug. 25: vs. Penn State (in Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

Aug. 29: at Wisconsin

Aug. 31: vs. Creighton (in Madison, Wisconsin)

Sept. 3: vs. Bowling Green (in West Lafayette, Indiana)

Sept. 4: vs. Georgia Tech (in West Lafayette, Indiana)

Sept. 5: at Purdue

Sept. 11: vs. Florida Gulf Coast (in Vermillion, South Dakota)

Sept. 12: vs. Green Bay (in Vermillion, South Dakota)

Sept. 13: at South Dakota

Sept. 16: at Wichita State

Sept. 20: at Omaha

Sept. 21: vs. South Florida (in Omaha, Nebraska)

Sept. 21: at Creighton

Sept. 26: vs. Arizona State

Sept. 28: vs. Arizona

Oct. 1: at TCU

Oct. 3: at Baylor

Oct. 8: vs. Texas Tech

Oct. 10: vs. Iowa State

Oct. 16: at Houston

Oct. 22: vs. TCU

Oct. 24: vs. Kansas State (at Allen Fieldhouse)

Oct. 30: at Cincinnati

Nov. 1: at West Virginia

Nov. 6: vs. Colorado

Nov. 8: vs. Cincinnati

Nov. 15: at Kansas State

Nov. 19: at Utah

Nov. 21: at BYU

Nov. 26: at Iowa State

Nov. 29: vs. UCF