After a heartbreaking second-round NCAA Tournament home loss to Penn State on Dec. 1, emotions ran high for the Kansas volleyball team.
“There was hugging and there was crying,” said Reagan Cooper, a graduate transfer playing in her final game. “It doesn’t matter that I’ve been here a short amount of time, I’m going to miss them. So I’m glad that we had that time in the locker room to just hug it out.”
Head coach Ray Bechard looks at this year’s team with the same fondness and gratitude, but also sees the disappointing loss as a stepping stool to improve next season.
“We’ll miss our graduating folks, but they’ve laid an unbelievable foundation for this program to build on and continue to get better,” he said. “So when we’re in this situation next time, we’ll look for a different result.”
The Jayhawks will look to bounce back in 2024 with a solid group of returning players and a top-five recruiting class in the nation as they’ll hope to push past the second round of the NCAAs — after their season ended at that point two years in a row.
Bechard knows the returners and his top recruiting class will have their challenges in the upcoming season, but points out that the tough loss Kansas experienced on its home court is a lesson the team can put to use in the future.
The Jayhawks will lose Cooper, their most efficient piece on offense, along with Kennedy Farris, Mykayla Myers, Kaiti Parks, Molly Schultz and Kim Whetstone, who all went through Senior Day. But Kansas shouldn’t be too worried. For one, it is expected to return many of its key contributors from 2023, including juniors Caroline Bien, London Davis, Ayah Elnady, Toyosi Onabanjo and Camryn Turner (the conference’s setter of the year), sophomore Katie Dalton and freshman Raegan Burns (one of the league’s top rookies).
Plus, its 2024 recruiting class ranks not just fifth in the nation but first in the Big 12 Conference and first in program history, too. The incoming class contains six true freshmen thus far, with the transfer portal just recently opening, which might allow for further additions.
The freshman class is highlighted by a pair of middle blockers, Zoey Burgess and Reese Ptacek, both early enrollees, the former of which won 6A player of the year, Utah’s Miss Volleyball and AVCA First Team All-America honors. Burgess likely will fit well with Onabanjo, a transfer addition from last season who stepped up and filled a vacant middle blocker role with impressive consistency.
The addition of two outside hitters, Kenzie Dean and Grace Nelson, will also help the Jayhawks with Cooper’s departure and the changing role of the outside/defensive specialist Bien, who spent most of her time in the back row this season. The rest of the class includes setter Ellie Moore and libero Heidi Devers.
Bechard finished his end-of-season press conference by recalling the 2012 team, which had a similar fate to this year’s team: hosting the tournament to lose in the second round. Then in 2013, they were able to bounce back, host again, and win both the first and second rounds to advance to the first Sweet 16 in school history.
“I just remember the joy in that group because they knew the hard work that [was required] if they didn’t want to feel that way again,” Bechard said.
Next year’s team does have a long way to go to get there.
“It’s a little soon to inventory all of those fresh feelings, but I know when we gather again after the first of the year, that’s exactly where we’ll start,” Bechard said. “But we can’t discount what this group has done and the foundations they’ve set for us and if there’s a group that ever played with grit and grace, our two core values, this is a group that did it.”
Kansas’ Camryn Turner serves to Penn State on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Lawrence.
Kansas’ Caroline Bien digs the ball against Penn State on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Lawrence.
Kansas’ Ayah Elnady goes up for an attack Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, against Penn State in Lawrence.
Kansas’ London Davis celebrates against Penn State on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Lawrence.
Kansas middle blocker Toyosi Onabanjo attacks against Penn State’s Jess Mruzik during the match on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Lawrence.
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World
Landon Cory/Special to the Journal-World