Kansas head coach Ray Bechard speaks with the team during a timeout Friday night in San Diego.

Kansas head coach Ray Bechard speaks with the team during a timeout Friday night in San Diego.

Early last season, while several of this year’s Final Four-bound Kansas University volleyball players were still freshmen figuring out how to adjust to the college game, the Jayhawks met up with defending national champion Penn State and 2013 NCAA tournament MVP Micha Hancock during a tournament in Philadelphia.

The Jayhawks lost, three sets to none, that day, but after being swallowed whole during the opening set, 25-10, did more than an admirable job of bouncing back and competing, falling in the next two sets, 27-25 and 25-23.

No one remembered the match as a close one — 3-0 sweeps are rarely viewed in that manner. But hanging in there with one of the nation’s truly elite programs proved to be another mini-milestone on a wild ride that the Jayhawks have enjoyed during the past few seasons.

A little more than three months after that loss to Penn State, KU watched as Hancock and the Nittany Lions repeated as NCAA champions.

Today, just one year down the road, it’s the Jayhawks who are two victories away from a national championship and that fact, given the context of having played Penn State a few months before they were crowned, has created a surreal vibe around the KU program all week.

“Oh, absolutely,” junior libero Cassie Wait. “That’s been our word, surreal. Not that you never believed that you could do it, but each point even, each set, each game, it just gets that much more real — this is what we’re doing, this is where we’re headed, this is what our program stands for, this is who we are.”

A big part of the reason these Jayhawks have replaced Penn State in this year’s Final Four — other than the fact that Hancock graduated and ended her run as one of the most dominant players in college volleyball — is the growth that those younger girls have experienced.

Setter Ainise Havili, though sensational as a freshman, is a much more mature, experienced and steady presence this season. Monster right-side hitter Kelsie Payne has transformed herself from a player with great potential into a player who can take over a match. And the girls who, as sophomores and juniors, were asked to be veterans a year ago — Wait, Tayler Soucie, Tiana Dockery, Janae Hall, etc. — actually are veterans this season.

photo by: John Young

Kansas players come together in celebration after scoring a point during their volleyball match against Kansas State on Wednesday evening at Ahearn Field House. The Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats in four sets to improve their record to 25-2 on the year.

That rapid growth, incredible chemistry and blatant talent inspired Havili to change her thinking from “maybe getting to the Final Four is something we could do junior or senior year” to “maybe this is something we can do now.”

“I remember playing Penn State really clearly,” Havili said. “And I remember looking at Micha Hancock and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this girl is so scary.’ But a year later, I’m here, and it’s not that scary any more. It’s crazy to think how far we’ve all come and how much we’ve grown in one year…. All these games, how we practice every day, how we build together, it all adds up to what we’re doing right now.”

Added Wait, when asked what she and the team learned from the experience of being on the same court as Penn State a season ago: “If we play for each other, if we’re willing to make all of the sacrifices, then you give yourself the best chance of achieving big things. If you can take that on and truly play as a team, I think that gives you the best shot, and, one year later, look where we are.”

photo by: John Young

Kansas junior Cassie Wait dives to make a dig during Kansas' second round NCAA volleyball tournament match against Missouri on Friday night at the Horejsi Center. The Jayhawks sent the Tigers packing with a three set sweep.