OKLAHOMA CITY – The 2026 Oklahoma City University volleyball team makes its debut Thursday with a ton of familiar faces ready to make big moves.
 
The Stars return almost every starter from last season's 17-13 squad that reached the Sooner Athletic Conference semifinals.
 
Headed by SAC Setter of the Year Natalie Adams, the Stars return their top four attackers and all six players who averaged two or more digs per set.
 
Grace Smallwood (3.82 kills per set) and Kaylie Marshall (2.52) return as the kills leaders with Erin Mack back after averaging 2.39 kills as a super sub in 2026. Starter Maddie Edwards bring back her experience, including a 202-kill season last year. They are expected to thrive with Adams directing the offense and averaging 10.46 assists per game last season.
 
All 216 service aces also return this year. Adams led the team with 59 aces last season, followed by Smallwood at 37 and Ryal Leland and Layla Olvera with 33 each.
 
"I expect that we will have another good offensive year," said OCU Head Coach Kristen Coventon. "Last season we led the conference as a team in kills per set and I believe we will be even better offensively this year."
 
Defensively, Smallwood (3.93), Marshall (3.32) and libero Kate Cleofe (3.18) led the team in digs last season. The biggest loss and question mark is the blocking where Marina Kalajdzic's 0.72 average will be missed.
 
That blocking leadership will be a focal point this season, but the Stars return talent at the position with Maddie Edwards and Biljana Milosevic.
 
"Goals for this team are the same as every year," said Coventon. "We want to win a conference championship and go on to try to do something special in the postseason. Our goal this year is to be a better blocking team and we want to run a more up-tempo offense. If we can speed things up, I believe our offense can be even better than last year."
 
With the load of experience on the team, there is no shortage of leadership.
 
"We have a lot of girls on our team that can lead for us this year," said Coventon. "We have some very good senior leadership, as well as some underclassmen that are great vocal leaders. I look to Grace Smallwood, who led us in kills last season, to have another good year.  Also, with Natalie Adams, as our setter we can lean on that position a lot to be a leader."
 
Along with the statistical leaders, OCU returns defensive specialists Joeci Hunt and Katelyn Stephenson, setter Summer Clark and outside hitters Kacie Townsend and Bailey Lowder.
 
This year's team will have more experience." Coventon said. "Last year, about 75 percent of our team were sophomores or younger. This year we have a good mix of upper classmen and underclassmen. You could really see things clicking for us the second half of the season last year, and I think we will build on that. We had a great spring season where I saw some of the biggest improvements as a team in all of my years of coaching"  
 
Newcomers this season are freshman setter Rylie Steward and Seminole State transfer Amber Jones.
 
"I think both of our new kids will come in and push everyone at their position," Coventon said. "Amber Jones is an athletic middle who can jump out of the gym. Rylie Steward may be a freshman setter, but she has played high-level club and has experience that will push our other setters."
 
The Sooner Athletic Conference picked the Stars to finish third and OCU collected a pair of first-place votes behind Texas Wesleyan and Nelson.
 
The Stars begin the season on Thursday, hosting No. 13 Oklahoma Wesleyan at 6 p.m., followed by the Stars Invitational at OCU on Friday and Saturday. OCU takes on Evangel at 7 p.m. on Friday before facing LSU-Shreveport at 11:30 a.m. and Texas A&M-Texarkana at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.