Kansas University volleyball players rush the court after their Elite Eight victory over USC.

Kansas University volleyball players rush the court after their Elite Eight victory over USC.

One of the coolest things about Saturday night’s thrilling Kansas University volleyball victory over top-seeded USC in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament was the aftermath that followed.

No, I’m not talking about the eruption on the floor, the celebration in the locker room that included head coach Ray Bechard getting drenched with water or the looks on the faces and sounds in the voices of the girls who made history.

Don’t get me wrong; those moments and so many others were all incredibly cool. What was even cooler, at least to me, was the outpouring of love that Jayhawks past and present showered this team with on Twitter and via text messages.

Former KU football standout Ben Heeney, not long after touching down in Denver for Sunday’s Broncos-Raiders game, gave a shout-out to the volleyball team on Twitter. And several other former and current KU football players did the same. The official KU football Twitter account even acknowledged the team’s intentions to show up for this evening’s 5 p.m. homecoming celebration at Horejsi Family Athletics Center.

In the basketball world, KU junior Wayne Selden on Twitter posted a photo of him watching the KU-USC match on his iPad on the bus ride home from the his team’s own comeback victory at Sprint Center in Kansas City.

Several other KU athletes, from golf and baseball to track and tennis, also took time to congratulate the KU volleyball team on its historic accomplishment.

Lost in the euphoria, however, might have been the experience of a few former KU volleyball players who helped make a night like Saturday happen.

Former Jayhawks Bri Riley, Erin McNorton, Chelsea Albers and Jaime Mathieu, who not long ago were the toast of the KU volleyball world for becoming the first crew to reach a Sweet 16, watched Saturday’s upset of USC together and celebrated every point as if they were on the court or bench in San Diego. In many ways, they were.

See, those girls, along with about a dozen others, were the ones who made Saturday night possible. That’s to take nothing away from the current team or coaching staff that went out and did the deed. This year’s team, in just about every way, is more talented than that first Sweet 16 team of trailblazers who played every night with the kind of grit and joy you saw on display throughout the season from this year’s squad.

Hmm. Wonder where this group of girls learned to play like that?

Not everyone on this year’s team played with the Riley, McNorton, Albers, Mathieu, Caroline Jarmoc, Sara McClinton, Catherine Carmichael crew that broke through and put Kansas volleyball on the map to stay. But a few did. And that’s what adds an extra dose of family feels to this incredible achievement.

Junior libero Cassie Wait learned from Riley and is now playing a lot like her. Junior middle blocker Tayler Soucie, as a freshman, played a huge role on that Sweet 16 team and learned the ropes while those girls were on their way out. Senior Tiana Dockery was a consistent part of the rotation for that team, and juniors Maggie Anderson and Janae Hall were around that group long enough to understand that Kansas volleyball had entered a new era.

Kansas University senior Tiana Dockery lets her emotions out after the Jayhawks' five-set victory over Southern Cal on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, in San DIego.

“I think our class really set the new standard for Kansas volleyball,” Riley said Sunday while still buzzing over Saturday’s result. “We all had the mindset that we wanted to make a difference for this program and not only leave our mark but also create a legacy of consistent dominant teams to follow and this year’s group has certainly lived up to that standard.

“There is such a great sense of pride knowing that the success and hard work we put in and the coaching staff has put in is being carried through by this year’s amazing team that has had a remarkable season. Everyone associated with the program is just so thrilled to watch the run these girls are on right now.”

Thanks to Saturday’s stunner, that run is still going, and regardless of what happens in the next week, it figures to extend well into the future because of this team, the teams that came before it and the sky-high standard this program now holds.

The No. 9 overall seed Jayhawks (30-2) will play No. 4 seed Nebraska at 8:30 p.m. (central) Thursday in the Final Four in Omaha, Nebraska.