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

Kansas head coach Matt Ulmer talks with the team during a timeout against Colorado in Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025 in Lawrence.

The Kansas volleyball team extended its win streak to four straight matches and beat Cincinnati for the second time in nine days as the Jayhawks swept the Bearcats (25-15, 25-19, 25-22) on Saturday afternoon at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

Rhian Swanson’s 12 kills on .393 hitting led the way for KU, which improved to 18-8 on the season and 10-3 in Big 12 play, tied for second in the league. Grace Nelson and Reese Ptacek tallied nine kills apiece, with Nelson adding seven digs; Molly McCarthy and Ryan White paced the Jayhawks defensively with 10 and 15 digs, respectively. Setter Katie Dalton steered KU with 36 assists in the three-set match.

“I’m really proud of how we served and defended,” KU coach Matt Ulmer said in a press release. “When we stayed aggressive, we knocked their setter off the net and took their rhythm away.”

The Jayhawks recorded six service aces, including four from Jovana Zelenović, while Cincinnati had just two and committed a dozen service errors.

Carly Glendinning and Sydney Nolan recorded 10 kills each for the Bearcats, but Glendinning’s came on a whopping 42 attacks with six errors for a .095 hitting percentage.

KU asserted its will early, jumping ahead 7-2 before Cincinnati used its first timeout, and then embarking on another 6-1 run for good measure, one that at one point included three consecutive attack errors by the Bearcats.

Back-to-back aces by Zelenović gave KU its largest lead at 21-9, and the Jayhawks cruised to a 25-15 victory.

“That first set showed what we’re capable of, and our team carried that focus the rest of the way,” Ulmer said in the release.

KU broke through in the second set with a run of four straight points after it led 11-10, including a kill and an ace by Reese Ptacek. The Bearcats found a bit of a spark late in the game with an error by Swanson and kills by Glendinning and Nolan, but KU earned the final two points it needed with a kill by Ptacek and a bad set by Andi Spies.

Set three featured the most drama, as the teams were within one point of each other for most of the game. The most pivotal stretch occurred when, with KU and UC tied at 16, the Jayhawks recorded five of the next six points, aided by a service error from Tatjana Simeunovic when the Bearcats trailed 18-17.

KU led by as many as four points, but Cincinnati got back within one on attack errors by White and Nelson. However, Swanson put the Jayhawks at set point and then Dalton and Aisha Aiono combined to block Glendinning for the 25-22 win.

The Jayhawks will next have a chance at revenge against Kansas State at Morgan Family Arena in Manhattan on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. The Wildcats previously stunned KU in five sets at Allen Fieldhouse on Oct. 24.