photo by: Kansas Athletics

New KU volleyball coach Matt Ulmer speaks at his introductory press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

The first thing Matt Ulmer did after taking over as Kansas volleyball coach was to figure out who was on his roster.

The 2024 Kansas team graduated seniors who played extensive minutes during the season. That left Ulmer to figure out who he had left on his team and how to supplement the talent that stayed on the team going into 2025.

“The first thing is trying to figure out who’s here and who wants to be here,” Ulmer said. “What’s amazing is how many people on the team that just really love KU. Whether it was (former coach) Ray (Bechard) or me, this is the place that they want to be.

“The conversations that we had with the returning team at the end of spring was, ‘Is this still the right fit for everybody after we’ve gone through a semester of training and competing in the spring?’ And the answer was a resounding yes. This is where everybody wants to be.”

Twelve of the 19 members of the 2024 team are back in Lawrence, including junior libero Raegan Burns, sophomore middle blocker Reese Ptacek (the Big 12 freshman of the year last season) and outside hitter Rhian Swanson, along with a variety of promising underclassmen.

Ulmer said he focused on adding different pieces to the roster at each position and creating a competitive environment in each practice. Now, less than a month away from the regular season, Ulmer likes where the roster stands.

Ulmer brought some familiar faces from the transfer portal to provide that competition. Senior pin hitter Audra Wilmes transferred from Washington, while sophomore setter Cristin Cline and transferred from Oregon, where Ulmer coached in 2024 before taking the Kansas job. Senior libero Ryan White, previously at Oregon State, was signed to play at Oregon before Ulmer made the move to KU

As for freshmen, three of KU’s signees — Selena Leban, Jovana Zelenovic and Aurora Papac — come from Europe. Logan Bell, the 2024 Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year, is the lone American signee. Ulmer called Bell “a great leader, a great culture kid.”

Ulmer starts every year with his team from scratch. The spring and summer are spent practicing the fundamental techniques and tactics. That was particularly beneficial for the Jayhawks, as even those players who returned didn’t return with much game experience. By working the fundamentals as a team, the Jayhawks learn how to play together in their new system, starting at the basics.

“It’s an exciting time for them to get to learn the style of play that I’m hoping we can play and how they start playing together,” Ulmer said. “And this will be one of the keys for us this fall, is going to be how quickly we can handle this transition of gaining rhythm together.”

Chemistry and communication are important factors in all team sports, but with volleyball, communication is especially fast with the speed of play.

“You have to rely on each other to have success,” Ulmer said. “A lot of it is nonverbal communication skills in a quick time. So you need to have some sort of relationship, and we need to be able to build that as quickly as possible.”

Kansas will start its season with Vanderbilt before facing the 2024 NCAA defending champion in Penn State and two 2024 Elite Eight teams in Wisconsin and Creighton. The Jayhawks will play seven teams that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament in nonconference play.

The early part of the schedule will be a challenge for the jelling Jayhawks, but Ulmer is more focused on ensuring the team plays at its best late in the season. If anything, Ulmer said too much pressure on early-season results can sabotage a team.

“I take a lot of pride that I think our teams have always played our best volleyball in December,” Ulmer said. “Very rarely have we not. We’re really trying to gear up for what the end of season will look like, which means I’m not trying to stress us out about making sure we’re playing our very best volleyball on day one.”

Still, those matches will be opportunities for the Jayhawks to play in challenging environments against the best in the country. They can bring valuable experiences for the Jayhawks as they hope for a deep playoff run.

“I like us playing those good teams right away in tough environments,” Ulmer said. “That’s why we went to Nebraska. I want everyone to see what that’s like. I want our goals to be playing in Final Fours and for national championships, so you want to be putting your team in as many of those situations as possible.

“I think once you get a taste of that, once you get some success, once you start seeing what that volleyball is like, hopefully you’re driven to want to play at the higher level each and every day.”

That competition all comes before conference play in the Big 12, which sent six teams — including Kansas — to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Jayhawks finished second in the Big 12 with a 15-3 conference record. Only Arizona State (17-1) had a better conference record.

While this is Ulmer’s first season coaching in the Big 12, his time at Oregon allowed him to see many of the teams he’ll see in the conference. From the former Pac-12 schools Ulmer’s teams faced in conference play to playing BYU and TCU during the 2024 season, Ulmer has an idea of the brands of volleyball the Jayhawks and their foes will play.

“Midwest teams, generally, I feel like are kind of smash-mouth defenders, a little bit bigger block, but maybe a little slower play,” Ulmer said. “We’ve been much faster in our offense, a little bit more dynamic. It’ll be interesting to see how that matches up, and I think that’s always fun for fans to watch.”

Ulmer said KU isn’t massive on the left side, trading size for ball control and a faster pace of play that helps create better opportunities for the outside hitters. The team’s setters, Cline, Katie Dalton and Ellie Moore, are athletic and help push the tempo.

“That allows us to play a little bit of a different game that maybe can help benefit us tactically,” Ulmer said. “It really makes sense for the group that we have.”

There’s a lot for the Jayhawks to work out ahead of the 2025 season, and the season opener on Aug. 23 against Vanderbilt is fast approaching. But Ulmer and the Jayhawks are ready to get started and see what the team can accomplish.

“I’m really encouraged based on our spring and what everybody’s intentions were,” Ulmer said. “I think this group is really excited. It’s hard to predict outcomes, but I’m excited for our process.”

photo by: Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas freshman Reese Ptacek spikes the ball against Kansas State on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Lawrence.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas libero Raegan Burns makes a dig against Colgate Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 in Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence.

photo by: Red Box Pictures

Washington’s Audra Wilmes (1) serves against Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Seattle.

photo by: Kane Nguyen/OSU Athletics

Oregon State libero Ryan White plays for the Beavers in this undated photo in Corvallis, Ore.