photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas celebrates a point during the match against Kansas State on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Kansas State volleyball team put a significant damper on a special night for Kansas — and dealt KU its only loss since Oct. 1 — when it stole a five-set win at Allen Fieldhouse on Oct. 24, snapping an eight-game losing streak in the Sunflower Showdown.

The Jayhawks, as their social media account put it, “got (their) get-back” on Saturday afternoon, when they swept the Wildcats, 25-22, 25-20, 26-24, at Morgan Family Arena in Manhattan.

“Anytime you can line up your best against their best and get a win, that’s a really nice team effort,” KU coach Matt Ulmer said in a press release. “I’m proud of how we handled the emotions of a rivalry match.”

No. 13-ranked KU avenged a rare defeat to K-State and continued its quest to serve as a host for the NCAA Tournament, improving to 20-8 on the year and 11-3 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks will play three more matches on the road, beginning Thursday at Utah, before hosting UCF for senior day on Nov. 29.

On Saturday, they were led by Rhian Swanson and Jovana Zelenovic, who each recorded 10 kills on 25 attacks, with Zelenovic adding three aces. Setter Katie Dalton tallied 35 assists with eight digs and four kills, and libero Ryan White had 14 digs with an ace for match point in the dramatic third set.

Shaylee Myers led K-State with 15 kills and Ava LeGrand posted a 34-assist, 12-dig double-double, but the Wildcats hit just .150 to KU’s .250.

All three sets were close, to a much greater extent than when KSU took the five-setter in Lawrence. The Jayhawks used a 5-1 run to build a cushion midway through the first game, but had some trouble late following a kill by Swanson when K-State saved off a series of set points. Myers had two kills, Aisha Aiono committed an attack error and Molly McCarthy’s reception error gave Symone Sims an ace. But Sims’ service error in turn gave KU the win.

Swanson had three early kills in the second set as the Jayhawks jumped ahead 12-5. K-State got within three at several different points, including at 20-17 on a kill by Myers, but a key kill by Aiono and some attack errors made the conclusion fairly straightforward for KU.

Completing the sweep required some significant composure from the Jayhawks.

“They pushed hard in the third set, and I think the old us probably loses that set, but the mature us made good adjustments and finished it,” Ulmer said.

KSU used a 6-1 run, capped off by a kill by Brenna Schmidt, to take a 7-5 lead early, and a second stretch of five straight that featured three kills by Jordan Williams to go up 13-9.

The Jayhawks were down as late as 22-17 before pulling off a comeback. Williams committed an attack error and Aiono recorded another well-timed kill. After KSU called timeout, Zelenovic got a kill and Dalton came up with a service ace.

Myers briefly halted the run, but KU responded with three straight to take a long-awaited lead at 24-23 through Zelenovic. Aniya Clinton forced extra points, but then committed an attack error to put KU at match point, and KSU didn’t get much of a chance to equalize as a result of White’s service.