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Women's volleyball set for breakthrough in 2015
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Senior outside hitter Tiana Dockery prepares to serve the ball during a skirmish on Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Horejsi Family Athletic Center.
DEREK JOHNSON
@D.Johnson1510
"We need to win a Big 12 Championship. We need to get past the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and we need to do that consistently."
These were the words of Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard, who is preparing his team for the 2015 season after three of the most successful years in the program's history.
Three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances have been great for the Kansas program, but following a Sweet 16 appearance in 2013, the team suffered a setback with a tough loss in the first round of the 2014 tournament. 2015 will be the year Kansas tries to get over the hump.
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This year's schedule will not be easy for Bechard and the Jayhawks, who begin play at the Arkansas Tournament on Aug. 28 in Fayetteville, Ark. Kansas will square off with the University of Arkansas in the third game, which would mark the start of a rigorous road for the Jayhawks.
[Arkansas has] a chance to be one of the top three teams in the SEC; Bechard said. "Duke is going to be one of the top teams in the ACC; UMKC is coming off their best season ever in program history and they have everybody back except one player. Gonzaga could win their conference and it just goes on and on and on. The tournament at Wyoming with Marquette and Northern Colorado — all three of those teams could be NCAA tournament teams so it'll certainly get us ready."
Adding to a tough schedule is the loss of Sara McClinton, who finished sixth all-time in kills at Kansas, as well as the loss of Chelsea Albers, who became the seventh player in program history to record 900 kills and 800 digs. Both McClinton and Albers graduated last May.
Two incoming freshmen and two more incoming transfers will supplant the loss of McClinton and Albers with the 12 Jayhawks who return. The transfers — Anna Church from Saint Louis University and Ashlyn Driskill from Wichita State — help the team immedi-
should help the team immediately and give two more seniors to a young but experienced squad.
The only other senior on the roster, Tiana Dockery, will look to improve on her 2014 campaign in which she received All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors. Dockery was third on the team in kills a season ago.
"We are beyond excited for this upcoming season and more than ready to dominate," Dockery said.
Dockery will help anchor the offense at the outside hitter position,
as will AVCA All-American Honorable Mention setter Ainise Havili. The Jayhawks may lack some size up front, but they have a plethora of capable athletes to be productive.
"I don't think we will be as dominant physically as we've been, but I think offensively we can be more balanced than we've ever been," Bechard said. "We can play faster, and I think we can control tempo and pace more so than we ever have."
Defensively, the Jayhawks return all of their libero/defensive specialists from a season ago and add another with Church's transfer. Sophomore Kayla Cheadle, twin sister of Kansas women's basketball's Chayla Cheadle, brings some size to the middle blocker position, where Kansas could be loaded with the return of juniors Janae-Hall and a healthy Tayler Soucie.
Maybe the biggest difference maker in 2015 will be Kelsie Payne. The 6-foot-3 rising sophomore finished the 2014 season with a career-high 15 kills and eight blocks in the team's final match against UALR.
"She's gonna be a lot more comfortable this year even though we might be putting her in a new position. She can dominate from a block and attack standpoint," Bechard said. "We want her to be very comfortable in the role of a go-to player."
A trip to Europe over the summer also helped the team bond and play together. For Dockery, Havili and Payne, experiences with the Collegiate National Team should better prepare them for tough competition ahead.
After setting the sell-out record a season ago and collecting 73 wins in the past three years, the goal is clear for Kansas volleyball: make it further than ever before and challenge for a Big 12 Championship with powerhouse Texas.