OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Volleyball team gets set to jump in to the 2024 season under the leadership of Kristen Coventon who is in her sixth season at the helm for the Stars as OCU gets underway on Aug. 16 against Hastings (Neb.) In the Bulldog Bash Tournament held in Seward, Neb.
Key Returners
SR - Ruby Kelley
SR - Rylee Steward
SR - Kaitlyn Dunlap
SO - Natalie Adams
Key Newcomers
RS-FR - Maddie Edwards
FR - Bailey Lowder
FR - Grace Smallwood
Key Losses
Hannah Grundy
2023 Season Review
The 2023 Stars got off to a hot start winning its first five of seven games to open the season before going on a stretch of losing its next four to two top 25 teams and falling to McPherson on the road who was receiving votes at the time. Oklahoma City finished its season strong winning its final three of four heading into the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
OCU snagged the five seed and had to make a trip to Siloam Springs to take on the four seeded John Brown Golden Eagles in the Opening Round match who the Stars split the regular season series with. After dropping set one, OCU rattled off the straight set victories to earn the win and punch its ticket to the semifinal round in Waxahachie, Texas.
Oklahoma City was tasked with taking on the defending SAC Champs and one seeded SAGU (now Nelson)Lions. The Stars had been swept both times in the regular season to the Lions but that did phase OCU after jumping out to a two-set lead right away. After winning the first two 25-21 and 25-20, the Lions came roaring back with a win in set three 25-15 and afterward saw set four come down to the wire as OCU had a chance to win it leading 26-25 before SAGU scored three straight to win 28-26 and take it into the final set where the Lions won 15-5 to end the Stars season.
2024 Roster Outlook
The Stars return a bulk of its roster from a season ago including four al-conference players such as Natalie Adams, Kaitlyn Dunlap, Ruby Kelley and Rylee Steward. Other returners who made an impact on last year's squad include Marina Kalajdzic, Gabrielle Fjeseth, Michela De Stefano, Jaiden Downey, Joeci Hunt (RS), Riley Winkler and Emma Nickerson.
The Stars lose five players off last season's roster headlined by Hannah Grundy who made just seven starts and appeared in 20 matches, both numbers being the most out of any of the players who departed off last year's team.
The 2024 Stars bring back a lot of experience but also bring in a plethora of youth with six newcomers added to the roster. Maddie Edwards is the lone transfer who comes in from NCAA Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Five freshman join the squad for teh 2024 season all being in-state student-athletes which include, Grace Smallwood, Erin Mack, Ryan Leland, Layla Olvera and Bailey Lowder.
Who to Watch Ruby Kelley
After earning second-team all-conference a year agoRuby Kelleyhas found her way onto the first-team in 2023. The Mustang native tallied a team-high 312 kills on a .217 hitting percentage with 3.22 kills per set. Kelley also led the squad with 41 service aces and came in second with 302 digs, Kelley reached her season-high in kills on two different occasions notching 18 kills against Wayland Baptist and John Brown back in early September.
The junior secured 12 double-doubles and reached double-digit kill totals in 19 of the 27 matches played.
Rylee Steward
Rylee Stewardfound her way back on the first-team for the second year in a row after earning first-team honors in her sophom*ore stint. The middle blocker became the teams top defender after leading the Stars with 104.0 blocks on 1.08 blocks per set. Steward also showed off her presenceon the offensive side coming in second on the team with 207 kills.
Steward earned season-high kill totals in both matches against Wayland Baptist as she notched 16 kills each time giving headaches to the Pioneers. Back on Sept. 9, Steward displayed her defensive skill set with 10.0 blocks coming against McPherson.
Steward currently sits four all-time n program history for blocks in a single season (125, 2022) and ranks first in total blocks in a game with 13 coming against Texas Wesleyan on Sept. 23, 2022.
Natalie Adams
SetterNatalie Adamshad one of the best freshman seasons in the history of Oklahoma City volleyball as Adams finished her rookie campaign as not only the team-leader in assists but led the entire Sooner Athletic Conference with 793 assists the most by a freshman at OCU since Hannah Mitcham set a total of 1200 assists back in 2012. Adams reached her season-high on Sept. 1 against Wayland Baptist delivering49 assists in the four-set win over the Pioneers.
The freshman reached 40 or more assists four times, 30 or more 11 times, and 20 or more assists 25 times. The San Antonio native also racked up six double-doubles seeing a season-high 17 digs come against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Oct. 6. Adams also became more active in the attacking game towards the end of the year seeing a season-high six kills come in the Sooner Athletic Conference quarterfinal win over John Brown.
Kaitlyn Dunlap
Another junior for the Stars to receive all-conference honors was liberoKaitlyn Dunlap. The Wichita Falls native earned second-team all-SAC after finishing fifth in the conference and first for Oklahoma City with 441 digs. Dunlap saw her top game come in the five-set defeat to SAC champion Texas Wesleyan as the junior racked up a season-high 32 digs on on Oct. 20.
Dunlap reached 20 or more digs in eight separate contests while only having five matches where she did not reach 10 or more digs.
Dunlap tied the record for second-most digs in a single game in August of 2022 with 36 coming against Southwestern Christian.
Meet the Coach
Kristen Coventon enters year six as the head coach of the Stars and holds a record of 94-46 in her time at Oklahoma City. Since arriving at OCU in 2019, she has guided the Stars to two SAC regular season titles, two SAC Tournament Championships, two NAIA Championship appearances. Coventon has also been awarded the SAC Coach of the Year twice and is one-time AVCA South Central Region Coach of the Year.
Coventon returned to OCU after spending the previous five years as the head coach at Southwestern Christian University. She had served as an assistant coach with the Stars prior to becoming a head coach. In five years at SCU, Coventon established many program benchmarks, including leading the Eagles to their most wins in a season (23), guiding their first winning season and mentoring their first NAIA all-American, and two National Christian College Athletic Association all-Americans.
Coventon led SCU to winning marks, including two 20-win seasons, in her last three years. She took the program from two wins in Sooner Athletic Conference play her first year to 13 league victories in her final year. She led Southwestern Christian to 86 victories in five years.
In all, Conventon guided 17 all-SAC performers, four all-region choices, the 2017 SAC newcomer of the year, an NCCAA all-tournament recipient, eight NAIA scholar-athlete selections, seven NCCAA scholar-athlete award winners and 31 academic all-conference honorees at SCU.
Coventon has also been active coaching youth. She is vice president and founder of Rise Volleyball Club, and has been head coach of the USA Volleyball Oklahoma region high performance team.
In Coventon's two seasons as an assistant coach with OCU, she helped coach six all-SAC selections, including the 2013 NAIA Mid-South Region and SAC freshman of the year.
She began her coaching career as an assistant with Central Oklahoma after being a four-year standout there from 2006-10. She became one of only three players in school history to record 1,000 or more kills and digs in a career, finishing with 1,307 kills and 1,478 digs.
She also notched 153 blocks and 97 aces while becoming a three-time all-Lone Star Conference player for the Bronchos. She helped lead UCO to two 20-win seasons and a 70-59 overall record in her four years. She has a degree in kinesiology from Central Oklahoma.
Coming Up
Oklahoma City begins its season with eight straight games on the road starting in the Bulldog Bash in Seward, Neb., before heading to San Antonio to play three more matches in the Volleyesta Tournament hosted by Our Lady of the Lake.
The Stars will open conference play against College of the Ozarks (Mo.) who is in its inaugural season in the Sooner Athletic Conference before heading to John Brown to end the road trip.
Oklahoma City returns home for the first time on Sept. 13 playing host to Wayland Baptist at 6:00 p.m. inside Abe Lemons Arena.
Follow the Stars
Find all news, scores, highlights and updates on ocusports.com, Twitter (@ocustars), Instagram (@ocustars), Facebook (Oklahoma City University Stars) and Youtube (@ocustars). Catch every OCU home game and select away games on theSAC Sports Network.
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