Payne happy she wound up at KU

Kansas sophomore Kelsie Payne (8) sends the ball flying past a pair of Kansas State blockers during their volleyball match Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, at Ahearn Field House.

? It’s not every year that a head coach of a powerhouse program that has been to five consecutive Final Fours is answering questions about how he let an All-American get out of town.

But that was exactly what Texas volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott was doing Wednesday at CenturyLink Center, one day before his Longhorns take on Minnesota a couple of hours before the Kansas University volleyball team squares off with Nebraska in the nightcap.

“We were very aware of her,” Elliott said of KU sophomore Kelsie Payne, who, on Wednesday, was named a first-team All-American. “She came for a couple of visits, and we looked at her. She’s in our backyard. Sometimes, as recruiting goes at such an early age, you’re learning a lot about where they are emotionally as young ladies. We knew she had the talent to be extremely good. That was always our position. At the end of the day, I made a miss, and that’s not the first one I made a miss on. She’s a great player playing for a great coach at a great program, and it’s good to see her succeed.

“I don’t regret any part of it. I think she’s happy, and I wish her the best of luck.”

As it turned out, Elliott had very little shot of keeping the 6-foot-3 heavy hitter who owns the KU record for kills in a season (474) and led the Big 12 in kills per set.

“I’m not going to say no,” said Payne when asked if she always wanted to go to UT. “Because I grew up in Austin, and Texas was always a big part of my life. But once I started getting into recruiting and looking into colleges, I realized that I did want to leave Austin, I did want to leave Texas, and just get away and go experience college like a regular student. So, yeah, I think leaving was a good choice for me. That’s awesome that he said that, though.”

Hello, old friend

In 1998, Ray Bechard moved to Lawrence to become the head coach of the KU volleyball program. Two years later, just up the road in Lincoln, Nebraska, John Cook took the reins at Nebraska.

From that day on, for the next 13 years, Bechard and Cook had at least two showdowns on the volleyball court every year as members of the Big 12 Conference.

Every one of those matches went Cook’s way — Nebraska owns an 86-0-1 all-time record against the Jayhawks — but the outcomes did nothing to stamp out Cook’s respect for Bechard or their budding friendship.

That’s one of the things that makes this Final Four so special for the 16th-year NU head coach.

“We were in a meeting already this morning,” Cook said with a smile. “And I think Ray’s one of the classiest coaches in the country. (In) coaching, you don’t have a lot of friends I guess you’d be close with within your conference, but I always felt like Ray had some connections.

“Like I said, he’s a classy guy. I’m really happy for him. He’s really built that program. So it’s great for Kansas. It’s great for the Big 12. It’s great for this part of the country. There’s not a more deserving guy than Ray to get there. I hope Lawrence is hopping right now because of him.”

The tie

Speaking of that KU-Nebraska tie in the lopsided series between the two former Big Six, Big Eight and Big 12 foes, it came way back in 1977, when the Jayhawks and Cornhuskers split a doubleheader on Nov. 5 during the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks lost the first set, 16-18, and then won the second, 15-7. Asked Wednesday if he knew why the match ended in a tie, Bechard pointed out that he was a long way away from becoming a college coach when that match was played.

“I was a freshman at Barton Community College playing hoops,” Bechard said with a laugh. “I’m not sure what was going on in ’77. I think they used to do multiple matches in a day, and maybe you played two sets. If you split them, you called it good, and you moved on to the next match. (That) would be my guess. So that’s kind of unique.”

Bechard was dead on. KU played six matches that day — all of them were two sets — and KU finished the day 4-1-1, with wins over Lawrence Spikers, Swaim of KC, Wichita State and the Wichita Volleyball Club, a loss to Kansas State and the tie against Nebraska.

Big 12 vs. Big Ten?

Even though they battled the Jayhawks in a couple of cutthroat conference matches this season, the Texas Longhorns were overjoyed by the fact that their Big 12 brethren knocked off top-seeded USC last week and joined them at this year’s Final Four.

Several KU players on Wednesday shared with the media the text messages and phone calls they received from UT players and coaches last weekend, and KU setter Ainise Havili said the shared celebration created a Final Four stage of the Big 12 vs. Big Ten (Nebraska and Minnesota).

“I guess so, yeah,” Havili said. “All the girls are really great. They all texted us and tweeted at us and told us congratulations and how excited they were for us. It’s awesome they can be here too, and we can experience this all together.”

Added Bechard: “We’re a big Texas fan right now because we’re Big 12 fans, obviously. So we would hope that they can advance. Anything I can do to help their situation or anything they think they can do to help ours, because we represent more than just our university. We represent our conference. We want volleyball to be the best it can be in the Big 12.”

Ticket masters

With just 200 tickets reserved for each of the Final Four schools and the rest quickly scooped up by excited Nebraska fans, Kansas figures to be playing a virtual road match in tonight’s national semifinal.

But that does not scare the Jayhawks, nor do they believe that the KU crowd on hand at CenturyLink Center will be limited to 200 people.

“We’ll have to have resourceful fans, and they’ll find a way,” Bechard said. “Obviously, we’re going to be a little outnumbered, but the fans that really want to get in the building and see us will be there, and we’re excited about that. It’s important for this event for there to be a lot of energy in the building, for it to be sold out. And nobody does it better than Omaha. I’ve been here a few years ago when Nebraska and Penn State were getting after it, and it was unlike any environment I’ve ever seen. So it’s outstanding for our sport. It will be a great spectator event tomorrow night, and hopefully Jayhawk fans are resourceful and find their way in here.”

Asked about the likely pro-Nebraska crowd they’ll be facing, the Jayhawks brushed the potential disadvantage off as just another challenge in a season full of them. Some, like junior Tayler Soucie, expressed that mentality with words. “Like we talked about all season, we just play our game,” Soucie said. “It’s our side of the net. It’s what we do. We do our job, like Coach B said. We just have to focus on what we do every day. We focus on our training and tune out everything else that’s around us.”

Others, like All-American sophomore Kelsie Payne, did not need words to get the message across. When the KU crew was asked about the pro-NU building, Payne’s face lit up, her smile grew wide and her eyes squinted as if to say, ‘Can’t wait.’