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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014
PAGE 9B
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THE DAILY DEBATE
Will the volleyball team improve upon its 2013 Sweet 16 appearance?
"NO"
The Kansas women's volleyball team enters 2014 after
enters 2014 after one of its best seasons in the school's history. The 2013 season featured a second place finish in the Big 12, and an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, which was the first for the Jayhawks.
The expectations are high this year, as the team is ranked No. 22 in the preseason rankings. It is ready to make another tournament run, even after losing seven seniors from last year.
Of those seven seniors lost, three of them stand out. First and foremost is middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc. Jarmoc was an All-American during her last two years in Lawrence and served as a team leader in kills. She is the all-time leader in blocks (555) and attack percentage (.327).
Next, the defensive side took a big hit with the graduation of defensive specialist Brianne Riley. She is the Kansas all-time leader in digs (2,053), and was one of the most experienced players on this team. She is the second
all-time leader in sets played (453), behind Caroline Jarmoc (475).
Lastly, setter Erin McNorton is a huge loss. As her stats and title indicate, the 2013 Big 12 Setter of the Year undoubtedly held the Jayhawks together, leading the Big 12 in assists, and the team in double-doubles.
These three losses do have viable replacements in freshman Ainise Havili, sophomore Cassie Wait and sophomore Tayler Soucie.
Havili, a setter out of Fort Worth, Texas, was named the 2014 Preseason Freshman of the Year and will look to fill the spot of McNorton. Wait, a defensive specialist from Gardner, will try to take Riley's spot. Wait does have some experience from last year and was the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year during her senior year of high school.
Soucie is a middle blocker from Osawatomie who will fill the spot of Jarmoc, arguably the biggest loss from last season. Soucie impressed everyone with a breakout freshman campaign, a freshman blocks record of 135, the title of AVCA Midwest Freshman of the Year and her place on the All-Big 12 Freshman Team. She has expressed confidence in her new role, and her success is vital for the team.
Chelsea Albers and Sara McClinton and junior Tiana Dockery. Both Albera and McClinton were awarded as a AVCA Honorable Mention All-American and All-Big 12 First Team in 2013.
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The only upperclassmen on the roster are the outside hitters. These include seniors
Then there's the schedule, and it's daunting. The Jayhawks face No. 1 and defending National Champion Penn State, No. 23 Creighton and No. 24 American in nonconference. In conference play, they play No. 2 Texas twice. In addition, Oklahoma and Iowa State received votes in the NCAA rankings, and will look to crack the two of the Big 12.
By pure talent and coaching alone, this team should make the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks have an incredibly promising volleyball future ahead of them, but now may not be a time when they can make another deep tournament run. One could raise the debate that 2013 was the best team in Kansas volleyball history. After losing seven seniors and having only three upperclassmen, it's difficult to see how the Jayhawks can beat a season like last year with such a lack of experience.
Edited by Alyssa Scott
"YES"
Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard knows his team is viewed as inexperienced by those outside of the team.
With just as many "newcomers" as "returners"
— terms the upperclassmen leaders decided to utilize rather than class names — the youth on Bechard's team is a common concern around the volleyball program. But the young squad is the closest Bechard could get to an experienced group.
Bechard has a photo on the team's notebook of its matchpoint against Creighton in 2013 to advance to the Sweet 16, which shows four players on the court: sophomore middle blocker Tayler Soucie, junior outside hitter Tiana Dockery, sophomore defensive specialist Cassie Wait and senior outside hitter Chelsea Albers.
These four, as well as senior Sara McClinton — who led the team with 3.13 kills per
set last season — are a strong foundation of returners for the lajyhawks to build on. The newcomers join Bechard's program with a bulk of experience as well.
One of the team's biggest losses came with setter Erin McNorton, who led the Big 12 in assists over the past two seasons and consistently ranked among the top-five setters in the nation. Bechard did the best he possibly could to replace her with freshman Ainise Havili, from Fort Worth, Texas. Havili represented the United States on the Women's Junior National Team, which took gold at the NORCECA Continental Championship.
She was already named the Big 12 Presseason Freshman of the Year, and showed out at the team's recent scrimmage with 43 assists and 14 digs, solidifying her starting spot as a setter for the Jayhawks.
Pair the sizable precedents that have been set for Havili with the team's outside hitters — far and away Kansas' strongest position
and the Jayhawks have an attack that will be hard for most of their opponents to match. The outside hitter position includes the team's lone seniors: Albers and McClinton, both All-Big 12 First Team in 2013 as well as AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans.
and the position is rounded out with a face that has already impressed: Madison Rigdon, a six-rotation freshman from Pfugerville, Texas. Rigdon led the team at last weekend's scrimmage with a team-high 18 kills and 11 digs. Although she won't play much of a role other than for depth this season, she is a nice asset for the Jayhawks to store.
Of the eight middle blockers and defensive specialists, five are freshmen, but both positions are led by some experience. At middle blocker, where the team lost a Kansas legend in Caroline Jarmoc, Soucie — the AVCA's Midwest Region Freshman of the Year in 2013 — will take the reins. The Kansas native broke the Jayhawk record for blocks in her 2013 debut season and was named to the Big 12 Preseason Team.
The three upperclassmen outside hitters return 80 percent of last season's kill
VOTE FOR THE WRITER WITH THE MOST CONVINCING ARGUMENT AT KANSAN.COM
Wait, a Gardner native returns to lead on the defensive end. She comes into this season with the team's third most digs in her freshman year.
With a team that's rushing with new talent, it's easy to forget they have the back-to-back Big 12 coach of the year coalescing the new talent with a set of returners who carried the Jayhawks to their best ever tournament finish. This team can surely make it back to the Sweet 16, and it'll be up to the returners to see just how much further the Jayhawks can go this season.
Edited by Alyssa Scott
DAILY DEBATE POLL 08/27/14 RESULTS:
WHICH SPORT DO YOU THINK WILL HAVE A BETTER SEASON?
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@halhooper
@KansanSports KU Baseball
VOLLEYBALL: 41%
9 VOTES
@ADrovetta:
@KansanSports I'll go with volleyball. Clearly trending upwards. Plus the volleyball radio guy is really good looking. #DailyDebate
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