Jayhawks’ season ends in heartbreaking fashion yet again

There was a painful dose of déjà vu circulating throughout the Allen Fieldhouse media room on Saturday night, following the 3rd-seeded Kansas volleyball team’s heartbreaking second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Florida.

Nearly one year to the day after losing in similarly gut-wrenching fashion to Penn State on the very same floor, the Jayhawks were ousted in five sets by a big and powerful Florida team that made just enough plays and got just enough break to advance to next week’s Sweet 16.

Last year, the Penn State coaches and players lauded Kansas for its grit and class and said they believed the Jayhawks and Nittany Lions should’ve met later in the tournament.

This year, Florida coach Mary Wise said almost the exact same thing.

“We haven’t played a team, really in my time here, that plays as clean a game as Kansas,” Wise said after the victory. “They don’t give you points. They are such a good team. I just wish we could’ve played them later in the tournament. Such a high-level, high-intensity, great volleyball match. It’s too bad it was in the second round. It was worthy of a regional for as well as both teams played.”

The Jayhawks certainly believed that both times. Yet, there they were — both times — left to process the sting and sadness of the season-ending loss.

In 2023, it hurt but not quite as bad because they knew there was still the 2024 season, with big time potential and another shot to host and make a run.

This year, at least for six KU seniors (Caroline Bien, London Davis, Camryn Turner, Toyosi Onabanjo, Bryn McGehe and Ayah Elnady) the pain was magnified greatly because it came at the end of the road.

One minute, the Jayhawks (25-5) are up 12-11 in the fifth and decisive set to 15 after senior sitter Camryn Turner ripped a kill on two that electrified every corner of Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena.

And literally 10 minutes later, their careers were done.

And think about this when you consider just how tough this KU senior class was: It took a career-high 33 kills (on a whopping 71 total attacks!) from Florida sophomore and national player of the year candidate Kennedy Martin to knock them out.

There’s something equal parts cruel and cool about the way the Kansas volleyball team saw its season end on Saturday night in the thrilling and gut-wrenching, 5-set loss to Florida.

The pain is cruel. The abrupt end of the stellar career for six sensational seniors is unfair. But, boy, were they proud of the way they went down fighting; and, boy, did what they put on display Saturday night perfectly summarize what this team and this senior class was about for the past four seasons.

“If you appreciate competition, if you appreciate young women just playing as hard as they possibly can, you certainly had an appreciation for what happened tonight,” KU coach Ray Bechard said.

Wise certainly did. Not only because of her respect for Kansas and the tough team that the Jayhawks put on the floor. But also because she knew exactly what they were going through in that home locker room after the loss.

“Man,” she said before noting that Saturday’s win will go down as one of the highlights in the careers of her own players.. “Been there. The hardest part is when you walk out of that locker room you know it’s the last time together. That’s what hurts. But they have much to be proud of. They built what we witnessed out there.”

And, so, with tears in their eyes and pride in their hearts, Bechard, Caroline Bien and London Davis met with the media one final time and talked not about the pain of the loss but the joy of the journey.

They talked about favorite matches, memorable moments, being freshmen and not believing they’d ever be seniors. And then blinking and being here.

They talked about their pride in the program, what they’d done and what they’d built, and talked about how they weren’t worried about the future of Kansas volleyball after they’re gone.

In fact, in the sadness that consumed the KU locker room after Saturday’s loss, Bien said it was the underclassmen that did most of the talking. About how sad they were for it to end this way. About how thankful they were to have played with this senior class. About how they wanted to keep adding on what this group of seniors built at Kansas.

“We’ll forever be grateful for for everything this group of seniors did for Kansas volleyball,” Bechard said.

That included Saturday, when they fought, competed, entertained and gave everything they had one last time.

It won’t be the same without them. But it will move on because of them.

“There’ll be a void,” Bechard noted. “Not only are we losing good volleyball players, we’re losing really, really good people.”

So good, in fact, that, on her way out of Horejsi for the final time, Davis turned back to the ushers who had been there every night and, in many ways, watched her grow up over the past four years, and said simply, “I’ll see you guys next year, sitting in the stands.”

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