photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Kansas setter Camryn Turner sets the ball for a teammate against Creighton at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024 in Lawrence.
After Big 12 coaches selected Kansas as the favorite to win the league this season, the Jayhawks have a chance to go out and prove it on the court beginning on Wednesday night.
KU will welcome UCF to Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena at 6 p.m. The contest will also air on ESPNU as one of the Jayhawks’ two nationally televised matches of the regular season.
It’s the start of an 18-match grind in the new Big 12 that will see the Jayhawks face just four opponents twice and the rest once apiece.
“We got four new teams, we got five teams ranked in the Top 25 right now,” head coach Ray Bechard said on his “Hawk Talk” radio show Monday night. “It’s a very deep league. I think there’s eight or nine or 10 teams (that) think they can be NCAA Tournament-type teams.”
KU is coming off a bit of a roller-coaster Jayhawk Classic in which it beat then-No. 6 Purdue in four sets in what Bechard characterized as a “deep into an NCAA Tournament type (of) match,” swept Tulsa but then found itself on the receiving end of a sweep by Creighton on Saturday that brought its nine-match season-opening winning streak to an end.
“They played closer to their identity than we did, and that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “And they served the ball a little bit better to where they needed to, and passed a little bit better, and when a team plays just like you and then they’ve got some advantages in physicality in different places, then they make it tough.”
Bechard said the defeat could at least give the Jayhawks the chance to evaluate some aspects of their game they might not necessarily have looked at if it hadn’t happened.
“Winning and losing both can be equal imposters,” he said. “You feel real good after the Purdue match, but you have the same deficiencies you had after that match as you do the Creighton match.”
KU hasn’t revealed too many deficiencies thus far this season. Setter Camryn Turner continues to rank among the top players at her position in the country and earned a spot on the watchlist for national Division I player of the year honors. Libero Raegan Burns has been consistent on defense. Ayah Elnady (3.58 kills per set, .279 hitting percentage) and Caroline Bien (2.76, 2.80) are swinging the ball well, and right-side hitter London Davis broke out for 22 kills against Purdue.
In the middle, Toyosi Onabanjo has taken another step, while a group of young middle blockers has joined the fold alongside her, including Zoey Burgess, the Big 12 preseason freshman of the year, as well as classmate Reese Ptacek, who debuted against Tulsa because she wasn’t fully healthy to start the year. Bechard characterized it as the deepest KU has been at the position.
In general, Bechard said the freshmen will play an increased role down the stretch, even with all the experience around them.
“This is a class that was highly thought of and recruited at a high level,” he said. “We have experience coming back, but you’ll see more of this freshman class as we move through the Big 12 conference, and I think they’ll have more of an impact as they get more comfortable with the speed of play and the level of play here.”
UCF will come to Lawrence to face the now-No. 9 Jayhawks with a 7-2 record, after dropping a five-set match at home to Maryland on Saturday. Bechard noted the Knights’ size; their top three outside hitters (and leaders in kills per set) are at least 6-foot-4, led by the 6-foot-5 sophomore Ava Armour. They also have a 6-foot-7 middle blocker in Alexia Kuehl.
“We need to do what we do,” Bechard said. “We need to play a little faster.”
UCF went 17-12 (8-10 Big 12) last year in its first season in the conference and lost 3-1 on the road at KU in its season finale. The two teams will play again in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 19.
In the meantime, KU will host Houston on Friday ahead of a three-game road trip and then one installment of the Sunflower Showdown.
