The Kansas volleyball team earned its first-ever first-place selection in a Big 12 preseason poll on Wednesday.
In a survey of conference coaches, the Jayhawks tallied 173 points and six first-place votes, slipping past BYU (168 and four) for the No. 1 spot. The top seven teams have at least 141 points in a well-balanced league.
KU is coming off a season in which it went 24-6 (14-4 Big 12) and hosted NCAA Tournament matches but fell to Penn State in the second round. The Jayhawks won their one and only Big 12 title in 2016, as Texas claimed 12 of the last 14 conference championships but has left for the SEC.
“For us, we should have aspirations of winning a Big 12 championship,” head coach Ray Bechard told the Journal-World in June. “Sometimes that’s been difficult to say over the last few years when you have Texas in your league, but it’s going to be a wide-open league, there’s going to be some good teams, but why not us?”
In a press release accompanying Wednesday’s announcement, Bechard stressed that postseason results are what really provide value, but said, “This reflects what this group has done over the past couple seasons and we have a lot of veteran players returning,”
Three of those players, opposite hitter London Davis, outside hitter Ayah Elnady and setter Camryn Turner — all seniors — earned preseason all-conference nods, while middle blocker Zoey Burgess was named preseason freshman of the year.
Burgess, who signed in November and enrolled early in the spring, was a key piece in KU’s decorated 2024 recruiting class. The 6-foot-4 freshman from Alpine, Utah, was a four-time state champion in high school, and Bechard said her “athleticism and size will allow her to have an immediate impact both offensively and defensively.” At middle blocker, the Jayhawks return Toyosi Onabanjo from last year’s squad, as well as younger options Aisha Aiono and Ellie Schneider, but lost Mykayla Myers to graduation.
Davis, Elnady and Turner are familiar names who helped lift last year’s team to success. Turner was the Big 12 setter of the year, tallying 10.68 assists per set, while Davis and Elnady averaged 2.71 and 3.43 kills per set, respectively. No other school in the conference received three all-league nods.
KU went on a spring tour of Europe in which all of its highly touted freshmen were able to participate in some capacity.
The Jayhawks host Drake for an exhibition on Aug. 24 and then begin their season against South Carolina in Durham, North Carolina, on Aug. 30.
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
