Via Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas volleyball will open the 2026 season this weekend as the Jayhawks travel to Pittsburgh for the second annual Opening Spike Classic.
Kansas opens the season against No. 4 Pittsburgh on Friday, August 28 at 5:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The match will be played at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Jayhawks will then face the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, August 30 in the tournament finale. The match will air on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. CT.
“It’s a great opportunity for our program” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “By facing such high-level competition in Pitt and Stanford in front of a great crowd we’ll learn a lot about ourselves early. The goal is to compete for championships and to be playing into December and to do that we have to play in matches and venues that challenge us at that level. We get to do that this weekend and it’ll be a great weekend of volleyball.”
Kansas enters the 2026 season ranked No. 15 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, and KU was picked to finish third in the Big 12 by league coaches. Individually, Taylor Stanley was named preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Reese Ptacek and Reese Messer earned preseason All-Big 12 honors.
KU will be led by Ptacek, a junior middle blocker who was a unanimous preseason All-Big 12 selection after a standout sophomore season. Other key returners are pin hitters Logan Bell and Grace Nelson and middle blocker Aisha Aiono.
Newcomers expected to make an immediate impact include transfers Messer (USC) at setter, and Olivia Hasbrook at defensive specialist, and freshmen Taylor Stanley and Avery Poulton.
Fans can follow the action on X (Twitter) @KUVolleyball or watch the broadcasts on ESPN and ESPN2.
The Jayhawks will continue nonconference play the following weekend with a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, facing Lipscomb and Florida State.
