New faces and opponents will define Volleyball’s 2024 campaign.
The Owls are coming off an 18-11 season last year that came to an end in the Atlantic Sun tournament semifinals at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast University, 3-1.
Head coach Keith Schunzel is heading into his 12th season at the helm with a record of 194-110.
Schunzel and middle blocker Olivia Burrage said they look to build on a few things heading into the season with a new look schedule and roster after an eventful offseason.
“We haven’t had an offseason like this in a while,” Schunzel said. “We lost five seniors so we started with 10 in the gym and many of them had new things put on their plates from leadership, to skill, to positions.”
During the offseason, the team focused on setting a foundation and determining roles for this year’s group, with six new freshman on the roster.
“The offseason really set a foundation of who this new group was going to be and some of those older players growing into roles,” Schunzel said. “We had a really good offseason.”
Burrage is heading into her sophomore season as a middle blocker and is expected to be a leader in 2024. The only player to start all 29 games for the Owls last season, she finished fourth on her team with 172 kills in 2023 and looks to build upon that.
“A lot of people get to those levels and then they settle,” Burrage expressed. “I like to kind of go above and beyond with my learning abilities which helps me as a player.”
Burrage said that her leadership shows in her actions rather than her words.
“I don’t have a very vocal voice so I stay minimal,” Burrage said. “I feel like my actions on the court really show that I like to be a very active leader.”
With the Owls having a lot of youth on their roster, they look to continue to get better every day as the season approaches.
“We are so new in so many positions and we have a totally different gym vibe and it’s been really good,” Schunzel said. “Our expectation is that we want to be better tomorrow than we were today.”
In KSU’s first year in Conference USA, they look to start the season off aggressively and build team character.
“I have a very big goal of coming in with a very aggressive push because we’re moving from ASUN to (C-USA),” Burrage said. “So I feel like we need to come in with a bang and then it shows a lot about our character and our team.”
Despite the team and coaching staff not being certain of what to expect from the skill levels of C-USA teams this year, they remain optimistic and look forward to the unknown challenge of competing in the new conference.
“We don’t know anything about many of these teams nor have we ever been to most of these places,” Schunzel said. “So that with all of the new freshmen we have coming in and with the turnover roster, it feels like a really natural time for our program to do.”
The Owls will open up the season against Wichita State in the Kennesaw State Invitational on Aug. 30, 2024, at noon at the Convocation Center.
