OKLAHOMA CITY – After finishing 13-15 in 2022 the OCU Volleyball team is prepared to bounce back with high expectations entering this season. The Stars return a majority of their roster from a season ago and add four new players to the mix. 

KEY RETURNERS 
Ruby Kelley 
Rylee Steward 
Emma Nickerson 
Cassidy DeShong 

KEY LOSSES 
Jordan Ashley 

KEY NEWCOMERS 
Catherine Birkhead 
Natalie Adams 
Jaiden Downey 
Macy Edwards 

With every player except one from last year's team, OCU enters 2023 as a more experienced group under the leadership of Kristen Coventon. Rylee Steward and Ruby Kelley make their returns to the squad after receiving All-conference honors last season. Steward, now in her senior season out of Edmond, Oklahoma snatched a first-team all-conference selection and made honorable-mention All-American after record-setting performances in 2022, recording program records for blocks a set for a season and blocks in a match. Steward provided the Stars with 1.16 blocks a set to top Whitney Kress' 0.96 blocks a set in 2007 and rank 23rd among the NAIA this year. Steward posted 2.18 kills 2.88 points a set and a .288 hitting percentage. For her efforts, Steward garnered both SAC Defender of the Week and NAIA Defender of the Week for Sept. 19-25 and league attacker of the Week for Oct. 17-23. Ruby Kelley, a junior business administration major from Mustang, Okla., received her second All-SAC award after being named to the Sooner Athletic Conference Second-team. Kelley accumulated 2.83 kills, 2.98 digs, and 0.69 blocks a set and nine double-doubles. Kelley turned in career bests with 20 kills against Southwestern Christian on Aug. 30 at Abe Lemons Arena, 23 digs on two occasions, and two outings with six blocks.  

The Stars also returned big names from last season such as senior Emma Nickerson out of Frisco, Texas. Nickerson accumulated 93 kills with 100.0 points in her junior campaign. Cassidy DeShong, a junior from Amarillo, Texas comes back after totaling 481 assists and 4.45 A/S in 2022. With most of the same roster back the experience and the development of the team should be able to push the Stars to success in 2023.  

With many of the same faces returning, OCU still signed four members in its 2023 recruiting class. This year's class features two freshman setters, one sophomore defensive specialist, and a grad transfer defensive specialist. Natalie Adams joins the Stars as a setter from San Antonio, Texas where she was a part of a powerhouse high school volleyball who was ranked second in the nation with a 55-2 record during Adams's senior season. Adams was a part of the San Antonio Force Volleyball Club where she helped lead her team to a 2023 AVC National Qualifier and earned a bid into the National Tournament. Adams club coach Erin Hirt is an OCU alum from 2006-2008 and holds many records with the program. The other freshman joining the OCU Volleyball team is Jaiden Downey from McKinney, Texas. Downey was a member of the Arete Volleyball Club and helped her squad finish fifth at the Lone Star National Qualifier. From Edmond, Okla., Joeci Hunt transfers in after spending one season at Southern Nazarene University. The sophomore joins the Oklahoma City Stars volleyball team as a defensive specialist from Edmond, Oklahoma. Hunt played her club ball with Oklahoma Peak Performance and qualified for the National Tournament. Hunt competed in 10 matches and played in 24 sets in 2022 for SNU and he tallied up 27 digs in her freshman stint. Finally, to round out the newcomers on the 2023 roster is Catherine Birkhead, a graduate senior from Yukon, Okla. Birkhead enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2018 and then completed her Undergraduate degree in International Security in 2021. She was commissioned in the Air National Guard in 2022. She will be pursuing her master's in business administration.   

Head coach Kristen Coventon says that this year's team is "deeper at every position than we've ever been." Coventon goes on to mention that every practice has been super competitive, and every person will have to earn their spot. After finishing last season sixth in the SAC with an 11-9 conference record the Stars were selected fourth in the Sooner Athletic Conference preseason poll. OCU will be tested right out of the gate as they will take on NAIA number one and defending national champion University of Jamestown in San Antonio, Texas for the season opener on Friday, August 25th at 11 AM. Oklahoma City will play two more games down in San Antonio on Saturday, August 26th against Carroll College and Our Lady of the Lake. OCU will open up conference play with two games on the road and then return for its home opener on September 6th at 6 PM against John Brown University.