KU volleyball releases new-look conference schedule

By Henry Greenstein     Apr 5, 2024

article image Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
The Kansas volleyball team huddles during the match against Penn State on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

The Kansas volleyball team announced its 2024 conference schedule, and it looks quite a bit different from the 2023 edition.

For one, 2023 league winner and national champion Texas is gone, as is Oklahoma, as both will depart the Big 12 Conference prior to next season. Instead, the league now features Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, formerly of the Pac-12 Conference.

In addition, the layout of the schedule is different; last season, in what was then a 13-team league, KU played six back-to-backs, either Thursday-Friday or Friday-Saturday, as part of its conference slate. There are none this season.

While KU will still play 18 total conference matches, it now plays 10 teams once and just four teams twice (Iowa State, Kansas State, UCF and West Virginia), and its league schedule is far more spaced out so that instead of having two matches one after another in the same place, it generally plays Wednesday-Friday, Wednesday-Saturday or Thursday-Saturday, sometimes in two different locations.

When it has two road matches in a given week, they are positioned rather conveniently, as when it plays at West Virginia (Oct. 10) and then at Cincinnati (Oct. 12), or travels to face the two Arizona teams later on. Potentially its most logistically challenging turnaround is when it hosts Kansas State Oct. 17 and then plays at UCF (in Orlando, Florida) two days later.

The Jayhawks return a lot of talent from last year’s team, which went 24-6 (14-4 Big 12) thanks to a superb conclusion to conference play and was able to host NCAA Tournament matches, but lost on its home floor to Penn State in the second round on Dec. 1.

KU’s principal losses are outside hitter Reagan Cooper, who averaged 3.86 kills per set and is now playing professionally for the Columbus Fury, and middle blocker Mykayla Myers, along with defensive specialist Molly Schultz. But it brings back the vast majority of its production, including players like outside hitter Ayah Elnady, opposite London Davis, middle blocker Toyosi Onabanjo, libero Raegan Burns (one of the league’s top rookies last year) and the versatile Caroline Bien, while also introducing a star-studded class of six freshmen.

Nonconference dates haven’t yet been released, but the team will open its Big 12 slate at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena against UCF on Sept. 25. The Jayhawks beat the Knights 3-1 in Lawrence last November in their first meeting as conference foes.

Full schedule

Sept. 25: vs. UCF

Sept. 27: vs. Houston

Oct. 3: at Colorado

Oct. 10: at West Virginia

Oct. 12: at Cincinnati

Oct. 17: vs. Kansas State

Oct. 19: at UCF

Oct. 23: vs. Iowa State

Oct. 26: vs. Utah

Oct. 30: at Texas Tech

Nov. 2: vs. West Virginia

Nov. 6: at Arizona State

Nov. 8: at Arizona

Nov. 13: vs. TCU

Nov. 16: vs. Baylor

Nov. 24: at Kansas State

Nov. 27: vs. BYU

Nov. 29: at Iowa State

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.