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

The Jayhawks celebrate a point against Colorado in Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on November 6, 2025 in Lawrence, Kansas.

Kansas volleyball returned to Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night and used a balanced effort to defeat No. 20 Colorado in four sets (25-20, 25-15, 26-28, 25-19).

“I thought we did so many good things,” KU coach Matt Ulmer said. “That’s a match that I think we could have swept, and we just have to be tougher when other teams push on us in stressful situations.”

The 13th-ranked Jayhawks (18-8, 9-3) had three players in double-digit kills, led by outside hitter Grace Nelson, who had 16 kills on a .189 hitting percentage, and middle blocker Reese Ptacek recorded 13 kills on a .292 clip. Pin hitter Jovana Zelenović was the third Jayhawk in double-figures with 11 kills, as well as seven digs, six service aces, and three blocks.

“That’s what you want to have,” Ulmer said of the balanced attack. “You got to have a lot of different weapons. A lot of things they try to do defensively is to challenge you to make a different set, and we answered that a lot tonight.”

KU had another attacker knocking at the door of double-figure kills in middle blocker Aisha Aiono, who made her second-consecutive start and notched a career-high nine kills to go with six blocks.

“I’m so proud of her,” Ptacek said. “She’s put in so much work, and for her to come out like this, these last two games, and really just absolutely ball out the way she has, I’m so unbelievably proud of her.”

Neither side created any separation early in the match, as the Jayhawks held a slim 9-8 lead. Following a kill by Ana Burilović, who came into the match leading the Big 12 Conference in kills per set with 4.86, KU embarked on a 6-3 run, using a service error to get to the media timeout, leading 15-11.

A pair of attacking errors and a service ace allowed the Buffaloes to cut the deficit to one before three consecutive KU points forced a timeout. The Buffaloes got as close as 23-20, but the Jayhawks won the final two points, including a cross-court kill by Grace Nelson on set point to claim a 25-20 victory.

The Jayhawks carried the momentum in the second set, opening out to a 9-2 lead on the heels of back-to-back kills by Rhian Swanson and Ptacek, as well as a block by Ptacek and Katie Dalton to force a Colorado timeout.

KU continued to build the lead, holding as much as an 11-point advantage at 20-9 following a Zelenović kill. Colorado won the next four points, but the Jayhawks finished the set on a 5-2 run, closing it out on an overpass kill by Swanson to take a 2-0 match lead.

In the second set, the Jayhawks were all over the stat sheet, hitting at a .323 percentage, with four service aces and three blocks.

Colorado built its biggest lead of the night with a 5-1 advantage in set three, but KU answered with four straight points to tie the set at five. After a successful Colorado challenge, the Jayhawks won the next three points and never looked back.

Aiono’s sixth kill of the match handed KU a 15-11 lead at the media timeout, but Colorado never backed down, not allowing KU to hold a lead of more than four points. The Buffaloes forced a Jayhawk timeout after back-to-back points made the KU lead 20-18.

The Buffaloes trimmed the deficit to one after a Burilović kill before Swanson answered with a kill of her own, resulting in a timeout. The Jayhawks held a 24-21 lead after Aiono’s eighth kill of the match, but the Buffaloes tied the set at 26, and won three straight points to extend the match with a 28-26 set three win.

After dropping the third set, KU got right back to business, opening the fourth set with a 9-3 advantage.

Ulmer said that the message following the third set was to get the team back on track and to continue to do the things that got the team out to an early 2-0 lead.

“I thought we were serving so well in the beginning of the match, and then I thought that got away from us,” he said. “They had a harder time scoring. I thought that worked out well for us, but really, it was just from the service line. I thought that really changed the game and got some easier points and got our block set up.”

Toward the middle portion of the fourth set, Zelenović recorded her 300th kill of the season, giving KU a 20-14 lead, and sent the fans in attendance into a frenzy as the milestone was announced over the public address system.

“I love how much the crowd loves her, I love how much she loves the crowd. It’s a really neat relationship,” Ulmer said. “I haven’t seen that anywhere else in our sport, so I think they appreciate her (and) I think she appreciates it back from them.”

The Jayhawks continued to extend the lead, and despite a scrappy effort late in the set by the Buffaloes, claimed the match with a 25-19 set win following Zelenović’s 11th and final kill of the match.

The win came at an important time for KU, which is still in the hunt for a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament with just under a month left in the regular season, but even more importantly, wins like this can help the team’s overall morale.

“If we can continue to keep playing better and better as the season goes, and like ‘games over, games done,’ now we focus on the next game,” Ptacek said.

The Jayhawks will be back in action at home on Saturday, hosting Cincinnati at 1 p.m. inside Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.