photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas sophomore Reese Messer sets the ball to a teammate during the Jayhawks' match against Utah on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence.

No. 19-ranked Kansas volleyball extended its NCAA Division I-leading active win streak to nine straight matches on Thursday, defeating No. 23 Utah 3-0 (32-30, 25-20, 26-24) inside Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

“Utah is a very good opponent; they’ve been playing really good volleyball,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “This was going to be a really tough one for us, (and) we knew that.”

Reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Week Taylor Stanley, who has won the award three weeks in a row, led the Jayhawks with 13 kills, while Aisha Aiono had 11 and Reese Ptacek added eight of her own.

Sophomore Reese Messer, the conference’s reigning setter of the week, recorded a double-double with 36 assists and 11 digs while putting down five kills.

“Ulmer tried to challenge me a little more on dumping this game, and I really wanted to use that more in order to open up our offense,” Messer said.

Utah’s defense was ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in opponent hitting percentage, holding opponents to a .163 percentage coming into the match. The Jayhawks got off to a slow start, but finished with a .219 hitting percentage.

“We found different ways to score, and again, we’re controlling the ball well enough that it gives us opportunities to do that,” Ulmer said. “It’s tough to stop them, and it’s a tough team to score on, and we didn’t do it a lot, but we did just enough.”

The opening set had all-time-classic vibes from the start as Utah led 15-10 at the technical timeout in Set 1, but KU (10-3, 3-0) battled back to tie the set at 17 and led briefly at 18-17; the Utes soon responded and forced a timeout, leading 21-19.

A 4-0 run out of the timeout gave KU a 23-21 lead before Utah staved off two set points to force extra points for the second straight match on Ray Bechard Court. In a set that felt never-ending, Stanley’s seventh kill eventually allowed the Jayhawks to claim the opening set, 32-30.

“(Utah) came out punching right away,” Ulmer said. “You could tell that we had a little extra adrenaline, had to settle down, but once we did, I thought our defense really picked up.”

The second set was tight at first before KU took a 12-7 lead following a 4-0 scoring run. Utah cut the lead to as few as two points, but a pair of attacking errors and three timely kills by Ptacek allowed the Jayhawks to take Set 2, 25-20.

After hitting .130 with 12 errors in the opening set, the KU offense responded in the second set by hitting .282 with only four errors.

While the Jayhawks were primarily working out of system all match, Messer said that being able to make the most of plays and find the team’s middle hitters was important.

“I didn’t feel like a lot of the game was really in system; our passes are great, but there’s a lot of transition points,” Messer said. “There’s long rallies, so finding middles in transition is a huge opportunity for us.”

The Jayhawks scored the first five points of the third set before the Utes climbed their way back from the deficit to score the set at nine. KU regained its lead after multiple Utah errors before three consecutive points gave the visitors a 15-14 advantage at the technical timeout.

Utah’s lead stretched out to as many as three, but a 4-0 run sparked by kills from Ptacek and Aiono earned KU a 21-20 advantage. KU forced a match point at 24-23 after an ace by Grace Nelson, and following a kill by Utah won the next two points, capping off its 27th straight set win with a kill by Ptacek.

“It’s just more about what we’re doing,” Ulmer said of extending the consecutive set win streak. “We’re winning a lot of close sets… Our defense is getting better, which you’ve heard me say all year, saying that’s not good enough, but we really won a lot tonight with our defense.”

The Jayhawks have a quick turnaround before hosting No. 18-ranked BYU on Friday. First serve is set for 6 p.m.

“(BYU is) another excellent team, similar to Utah,” Ulmer said. “They run the same thing, 6-2, huge physical block, tough serving team, have weapons everywhere. We’re just trying to be consistent, (and) be our best selves.”