For all the ways the 10th-ranked Kansas volleyball team will prepare for this weekend’s matchups against No. 6 Purdue (6:30 p.m. Thursday) and No. 9 Creighton (3 p.m. Saturday), it’s the Stress Performance Scale that might be the most important element, according to KU senior Caroline Bien.
That scale, which is an informal measure of each athlete’s preparedness for the biggest moments, has the potential to be the difference between winning and losing whenever a pair of top-10 teams get together on the volleyball court.
And its range is simple, from being too turned up to the point of not being able to function to the opposite end of not caring a lick.
“Obviously, we’re not gonna be on the other side where you don’t really care,” Bien told R1S1 Sports during a Tuesday interview to preview this weekend’s Jayhawk Classic. “So, finding that middle ground, where you can enjoy the crowd, enjoy the fans, but then also be able to focus and block everything out, I feel like will be a big thing.”
The two top-10 clashes will make Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena one of the hot spots in college volleyball this weekend. But it’s not as if that will be a new thing for Ray Bechard’s Jayhawks.
Between home matchups with No. 1 Texas, a five-set home loss to then-No. 25 Purdue last year and the season-ending, five-set, second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Penn State, the KU upperclassmen have experienced plenty of high-level matches in their home venue during their time with the program.
“So, we don’t have to talk too much about it,” Bechard told R1S1 Sports. “Bien and Ayah (Elnady) and Cam (Turner) and London (Davis) and Toy (Onabanjo) and Burny (Raegan Burns), they’ve all played in big matches.”
The fact that these two battles — along with Friday’s matchup with 8-2 Tulsa – come a week before the Jayhawks (7-0) open Big 12 play is perfect timing in the eyes of Bechard and Bien.
“You’re kind of on a quick turnaround, and I feel like that’s good practice for Big 12 and just for the rest of the season and for the NCAA Tournament even,” Bien said. “We’re just really looking forward to having some really good teams here and really good competition to prepare us a little more.”
Added Bechard of the step up in competition: “When we made our schedule, we thought we probably would’ve felt a little bit more match pressure by now, but we really haven’t. That’ll all change this week. And I told the team, we need this before we get into Big 12.”
For Bien and a couple of other Jayhawks, there’s a ton of familiarity with the Creighton roster. Kendra Wait, who Bien played with for years, is the Blue Jays setter — not to mention the younger sister of former KU libero Cassie Wait — Ava Martin played at the same high school as Bien and she’s been around a couple of other Creighton players at USA volleyball events.
None of that will matter in the moments leading up to Thursday’s match with Purdue, but Bien and Bechard said it could come in handy on Saturday.
“We will not mention Tulsa or Creighton in the scout,” Bechard said. “We just can’t. So, it’ll be a pretty in-depth Purdue scout, and then, man, you have to have the ability to turn the page quick.”
One of the things Bien plans to remind her teammates of as the week progresses is the internal checklist of things to remember at match time — don’t get nervous, follow the scouting report and do your job.
If the Jayhawks do that at a high level, Bien likes their chances of being ready to take on anybody.
“It’s quite a weekend,” Bechard added. “And now you start thinking about really good wins, and if you’re thinking about trying to host again and do things like that, then certainly there’s some validity to the importance of these opportunities.”
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