Ray Bechard will face a difficult dilemma in the coming weeks. Kansas University’s volleyball coach must decide on his primary setter.
Should Bechard go with sophomore Andi Rozum, last year’s starter who missed the first month of this season because of a hip and groin injury? Or should he use junior Ashley Bechard, his daughter and starter for the first 13 matches this year?
For now, he used each player about half the match, but Bechard admits he’ll have to decide on one setter soon.
“Andi’s more physical on the front row, and Ashley delivers a good ball,” Bechard said, “so there’s a little bit of a combination there. We’ll settle into a system sooner or later, but right now this is what’s working for us so that’s what we’ll go with.”
Kansas (10-4 overall, 2-1 Big 12 Conference) will continue using both setters against Missouri (10-3, 3-1) at 7 tonight at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo.
Using two setters hasn’t hurt the Jayhawks’ record. KU is 3-1 since Rozum’s return, with the lone blemish a 3-0 defeat at No. 10 Kansas State.
Still, the team’s momentum swings seem to have increased as it adjusts between Bechard’s up-tempo style and Rozum’s calming presence. Sometimes the style difference picks Kansas up, but the constant change occasionally threw the Jayhawks out of whack Saturday against Baylor.
“It’s hard,” senior outside hitter Sarah Rome said. “They’re different setters, but we just have to make the most of what we have. They both do a good job.”
It would be hard to argue if Ray Bechard picked Rozum. After all, she started all 29 matches as a freshman and guided the Jayhawks to a 19-10 season, KU’s best record since 1991. Rozum’s 1,179 assists were a KU freshman record, and her 28 assists against Baylor moved her into the No. 6 slot on the career chart.
Rozum’s injury has healed, but neither her conditioning nor her timing are back to normal. Her lack of court time is evident when she delivers an off-the-mark pass or attempts a kill and buries it into the net.
“My confidence isn’t quite there yet,” Rozum said, “but it’s coming along.”
Against Baylor, she quarterbacked KU’s game-winning 6-0 run and showed flashes of the brilliance Bechard expected when he recruited her out of Thompson Valley High in Loveland, Colo.
“I thought that was big that she could do that for us,” Bechard said. “She just has to have that kind of experience out there to keep improving.”
With Rozum out, Bechard turned to daughter Ashley, and she produced.
Ashley Bechard guided Kansas to a 10-3 record as a starter and cracked the school’s Top Ten list for career assists before returning to the bench against Baylor. Prior to this season, Bechard had played in just 22 games.
“AB’s done a great job for us this whole time,” Rome said, “so we owe a lot to her for the role that she’s been playing.”
During that time, teammates and coaches commented on Bechard’s steady improvement and work ethic. Her stats spoke for themselves — she ranked second in the Big 12 in assists per game prior to Rozum’s return — and she proved she belongs at the NCAA Division I level.
Now Rozum is healthy and Bechard is fighting to keep her job.
“We both want the spot, obviously,” Bechard said, “and neither of us is going to give it up and hand it to someone. However it works out, we’ll be happy for that person.”
