After set one of Kansas' Wolverine Invitational matchup with Long Beach State, it looked as if the Jayhawks might be on their way to their first loss of the 2017 season. The 49ers, who struggled only a night before against Montana, secured a 25-17 set one victory and held Kansas to a .033 hitting percentage.

But not for nothing is Kansas ranked No. 13 in the latest FloVolleyball NCAA Top 20. Senior opposite hitter Kelsie Payne hit the 20-kills mark for the third time in five matches, helping the Jayhawks roar back to a 17-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-23 four-set victory.



"Long Beach was a lot more ready to play than we were," Kansas head coach Ray Bechard said. "That's on our staff, our coaches, and our players to be more prepared. You can't prepare for a team you see on video, you have to be prepared to face their best effort and that is certainly what we got."

By the end of the match, Kansas had improved its hitting percentage to .285 to Long Beach State's .206. The Jayhawks also out-dug the 49ers 61 to 44.

In the second match of the evening at the Wolverine Invitational, Utah Valley faced Montana, which was feeling good after sweeping Long Beach State the night before, but it was the home team that walked away with the sweep this time, winning 25-15, 26-24, 25-16.

Utah Valley's Madison Dennison and Montana's Mykaela Hammer tied for the match high with 12 kills each, but with only one error on 19 swings, Dennison also led the match with a .579 hitting percentage.

"We were shaky from the start in this match. We weren't ourselves," Montana head coach Allison Lawrence said. "And we played a really good team that plays well at home, and they were completely in sync."

For the final day of the Wolverine Invitational, Kansas takes on Montana at 11:30 AM ET, and Utah Valley plays a matinee match versus Long Beach State at 2 PM ET. Watch both matches LIVE right here on FloVolleyball.