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

Kansas outside hitter Grace Nelson attacks during the match against Kansas State on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, at Allen Fieldhouse.

The end result wasn’t what the Kansas volleyball team wanted Friday night, but the atmosphere was undeniably electric.

Playing in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since 2013 in front of the largest regular-season crowd in program history, 14th-ranked Kansas hoped to pick up its ninth straight victory in the Sunflower Showdown, but when the final whistle blew, it was Kansas State that had earned a 3-2 (14-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 15-8) come-from-behind victory over the Jayhawks.

It marked the Wildcats’ first win over Kansas since a 3-2 victory in Lawrence in October 2020.

“(Playing in Allen Fieldhouse) was a good show,” said Kansas head coach Matt Ulmer, who sang the national anthem before the match. “It was a good volleyball atmosphere and even though there was a lot of people in there (attendance was listed as 7,550), it seemed more intimate than I thought it would be. Playing here was great and a lot of people did a lot of hard

work to make this happen, and we’re very appreciative of that.”

Kansas senior libero Ryan White echoed Ulmer’s sentiments.

“It was really fun,” said White, who finished with 20 digs, eight assists, and two service aces. “We’ve only had four or five home matches so far this season, and it was really nice to play (in Allen Fieldhouse) in front of so many additional fans. When we walked into the arena before the match, all of us thought it was cool. To get the kind of support we got tonight was absolutely insane.”

Kansas (15-8, 6-3 Big 12) used an 8-2 run to take control of the opening set and cruised to a 25-14 victory in set one, but Kansas State (11-6, 4-5) — which had dropped two straight and three of its last four coming into Friday night — fought back in set two, going from being down 9-5 to building a 24-13 lead. The Jayhawks scored four straight points, but the Wildcats evened the match with a 25-17 win in the second set.

The teams battled on even terms through the middle part of the third set before an 8-3 burst by Kansas allowed the Jayhawks to go up 18-13 and create some separation. Kansas State never got closer than five the remainder of the set and Kansas won, 25-18, to lead two sets to one. In the fourth set, Kansas had a chance to land the knockout punch, leading 19-15 after an attack error by the Wildcats. However, Kansas State rallied and went on a 10-4 run to close out the set, 25-23, and force a fifth set.

“We’ve played a lot of five-set matches this season,” White said. “But we’re still working on figuring out when to be emotional and get fired up during a match and when to be calm and focused.”

In the fifth set, Kansas State used a 5-0 run to open up a 7-3 lead on the Jayhawks before Kansas made a final stand, scoring four of the next five points to close to within 8-7. However, the Wildcats scored five straight themselves to stretch their lead back out to 13-7 before holding on for the 15-8 win in the deciding set.

“Kansas State played well, but all of the things we did well Wednesday (in a 3-0 win over No. 10 TCU), we didn’t do tonight,” said Ulmer, whose team dropped to 2-6 in five-set matches this season. “We have things we need to fix offensively and we need to find ways to be resourceful.”

White said she and her teammates were disappointed to lose to Kansas State, which is now 5-1 in five-set matches this year, but they also know they will see the Wildcats again on Nov. 15 in Manhattan.

“Losing rivalry matches are always tough,” said White. “We wanted to win this one badly, especially with it being (in Allen Fieldhouse), but we also get another chance to play them. So, we’ll get back to it on Monday.”

Jovana Zelenović led Kansas with 16 kills, five block assists, and three service aces. Rhian Swanson had 11 kills and six digs, Grace Nelson (17 digs) and Reese Ptacek (two block assists, one solo block) had eight kills apiece for the Jayhawks, and Katie Dalton had a double-double with 36 assists, 17 digs, three block assists and two kills for the Jayhawks in the loss.

Kansas is now off until Thursday, when the Jayhawks travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats (11-7, 3-5) in another Big 12 Conference matchup. First serve at Fifth Third Arena is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Central time.