You have to go back seven years to find the last time the Kansas volleyball program was ranked as high as it is today in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s weekly poll.
Up two spots from No. 13 the past three weeks, the Jayhawks (6-0) enter the final stretch of non-conference play at No. 11 in the AVCA poll, marking the first time since the week of November 6, 2017, that they have been ranked this high.
That season, the Jayhawks started at No. 8 in the preseason poll and stayed in it every week of the season until the end.
That was just the third time that the Jayhawks had been ranked in the AVCA preseason poll. This group joined them on the list, starting the season at No. 13 before ripping off six straight wins to move up two spots in the latest AVCA poll.
Picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference title, the Jayhawks have a real opportunity to move up even higher heading into the start of conference play.
And the good news is, both opportunities will come at home, where the Jayhawks have a nearly unmatched home-court advantage inside Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
Next week, it’s No. 7 Purdue that comes to town on Sept. 19, before a Saturday match against No. 9 Creighton.
Both will be battles, both will be tough, and both will provide a great indicator of where the 2024 Jayhawks are in their quest to win the Big 12, get back to the NCAA Tournament and host for the second year in a row.
If Ray Bechard’s team is victorious in both of those matches, they could easily be looking at their highest ranking since rising to No. 4 in the second-to-last poll of the 2016 season. The year before that, the Jayhawks finished the 2015 season at No. 4 after their first ever trip to the Final Four.
The last two Kansas volleyball teams finished the year ranked in the AVCA Top 25. Last year’s team, which finished 24-6, second in the Big 12 and with a home loss to perennial power Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, finished ranked 17th.
And the 2022 team, which finished 19-11 and also lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, finished ranked 23rd.
Interestingly enough, the 2021 team did not finish ranked in the final AVCA poll even after making a late charge to get into the NCAA Tournament and then advancing to the Sweet 16 once they were in.
In all, the Jayhawks have finished ranked in the Top 25 of the AVCA poll just six times since the poll was first created back in 1982.
No matter what happens in the next 11 days, the 2024 team appears to be tracking toward a seventh appearance in the final AVCA poll, but all these Jayhawks are worried about for the time being is getting better, playing to the best of their ability every night and staying present in the moment.
Before the two top-10 foes come to town for the Jayhawk Classic, the Jayhawks (6-0) will play host to Lipscomb at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.
Big 12 play begins Sept. 25 against UCF in Lawrence.
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