photo by: Chance Parker/Journal-World

Kansas junior Camryn Turner is jubilant after scoring a point against Kansas State on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.

It’s a new year but a lot of the same for the Kansas volleyball team in 2024, with 12 returners from last year on a team that has experienced the NCAA Tournament three times in a row.

KU has fielded a competitive volleyball team consistently under coach Ray Bechard, but the 2023 regular season played out particularly well. The Jayhawks went 24-6 — 14-4 in conference play — and narrowly lost 3-2 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Penn State.

Bechard said that the Jayhawks were a competitive team that were able to pull out wins in four-set or five-set matches. That identity is something he expects to carry over into the 2024 season.

The returners include the team’s statistical leaders from last year in kills, aces, attack percentage, blocks, digs and assists. With the returning strength, the Jayhawks could continue the upward trajectory to take the Big 12 and get back to the Sweet 16. Ahead of the team’s official report day, Kansas took the No. 1 spot in the Big 12 preseason poll with six first-place votes.

The majority of KU’s production will return to Lawrence. Ayah Elnady, who led the team in kills and aces, will be a senior after being a first-team all-Big 12 selection in 2023. Senior Camryn Turner — a Topeka native — returns after earning Big 12 setter of the year last season, as will senior Toyosi Onabanjo, who led the Jayhawks with 1.03 blocks per set.

“We’re an older team with our seniors,” Bechard said. “We have six that have played together. (With the juniors) I think that’s a good blend of upperclassmen. We have good depth.”

Elnady and Turner are joined by junior London Davis on the Big 12 preseason team, with incoming freshman Zoey Burgess being named the Big 12 preseason freshman of the year.

KU’s success centered around its prolific offense. Among 2023 Big 12 schools, the Jayhawks were first in assists with 12.93 per set (16th in the nation) and first in kills with 13.89 per set (17th in the nation). KU finished second in the conference in both points per set at 17.43 and in hitting percentage at .274 (20th in the nation).

It wasn’t just the offense. KU led the conference with the fewest service aces allowed, which in correlation with the team’s conference-leading 15.44 digs per set, showed the defensive prowess of its back line. Sophomore Raegan Burns was the catalyst for that, as she averaged 3.46 digs per set as a freshman. Burns’s freshman year digs total is already 10th in school history in the 25-point rally scoring era (from 2008 to present).

The Jayhawks should be strong in ball control. A four-year starter at setter will help make that case, but it’s the entire team’s experience playing together that excites Bechard.

“(Last year) we were a little heavy on what we called a pin offense, but we feel like we’ve got more physical middles now that will allow us to create a little more balance offensively,” Bechard said.

Bechard added a lot of height to the team with the freshman class. Three of the six freshmen are 6-foot-3 or taller, and those three — Burgess, Kenzie Dean and Reese Ptacek — are among the five tallest players on the team. Their height should help improve upon last season’s 2.38 blocks per set, which was fifth-best in the conference.

“Their physicality creates a new opportunity for us to be more physical both offensively and defensively,” Bechard said.

Around the conference

A 14-4 conference record wasn’t enough for the Jayhawks to lead the Big 12 in 2023. Texas, a team that hasn’t lost more than one conference game in a regular season since 2016, won 15 conference games en route to a second straight national championship.

The Texas goliath won’t be easily toppled, but that isn’t a problem for the Jayhawks any longer. With the Longhorns’ departure to the SEC, the top of the conference has a void that the Jayhawks could fill this fall.

“(Texas leaving) created a new opportunity for a bunch of teams,” Bechard said. “Four or five teams got first-place votes (in the Big 12 preseason poll), and I think we got a few more because we’ve got a little experience coming back. But there’s a ton of teams going to practice that feel like they’re a Big 12 championship-level team.”

Seven teams from the 2023 NCAA Tournament will compete in the Big 12 in 2024. The only newcomer of those seven is Arizona State, who went 28-7 during JJ Van Niel’s first year in Tempe. The Sun Devils also went furthest among 2024 Big 12 member schools as the only team to advance to the third round of the tournament.

It was the second offseason with conference realignment for the Big 12, with different play styles coming from the various conferences and regions these teams came from. That adds a wrinkle to some of the preparation, but it’s an exciting challenge for a Jayhawk team that was picked to win.

“That’s now eight new teams in the past two years … That’s pretty significant,” Bechard said. “As I was trying to figure out the voting in the coaches poll, there’s seven, eight, nine teams that can win the conference because there’s a lot of unknown.”

The schedule ahead

KU will start its season on Saturday in an exhibition match against Drake, with the regular season starting on Aug. 30 in the Duke Tournament. The team will compete in three tournaments before conference play, with the final one being hosted in Lawrence from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21.

The Jayhawks will begin conference play in Lawrence on Sept. 25 against UCF and will conclude on Nov. 29 at Iowa State.

KU will face several teams that finished the 2023 season in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top-25 poll. The Jayhawks will host Purdue during the Jayhawk Classic on Sept. 19 and Creighton two days later. In conference play, KU will play at Arizona State and at home against Baylor, BYU and Houston.