After another appearance in the NCAA Regional and a MIAA Tournament runner up finish, the UNK volleyball team is ready for another run in the 2024 season.
UNK finished 29-6 in 2023 and appeared in the NCAA tournament for the 24th straight season. Coming into 2024, the Lopers need to replace All-Americans Emersen Cyza and Jaden Ferguson.
Head coach Rick Squiers is back for another year at the helm as he enters his 26th season with UNK. Squiers is 758-108 in his Loper tenure and has 23 NCAA tournament appearances.
UNK brings back plenty of talent, including All-American setter Peyton Neff. Fifth year senior Lauren Taubenheim and senior Asha Regier are both back as well. Both have earned all conference honors in their careers. Regier led the team in kills per set last year.
UNK also brought in some talent through the transfer portal. Alli Wise is a defensive specialist and libero who earned All-American honors twice playing at Hillsdale College. Aleena Peterson is a redshirt junior from Southwest Baptist.
With the new players coming to UNK, getting them to mesh well with the team is a top priority for Squiers.
“The sooner they can feel like they belong to UNK and are Lopers instead of wherever they came from, the better we’re going to gel,” Squiers said. “That’s a process that takes a few weeks and I think it helps to have good leadership in that process and I feel good about that.”
Freshman could also make an impact for the Lopers this year, as eight will be a part of this year’s team.
With some spots up for grabs, Squiers said there will be lots of battles for positions.
“There’s a lot of really important things going on that we’re trying to evaluate,” Squiers said. “We’re at a point where we still have a lot of reasons to practice. It’s not polished and we’re not seeing it all the time, and so if we can level off and consistently see some of the things that show up on the high end, then I think we have a chance to be really good.”
UNK will begin their season at the Otter Invitational in Seaside California on Sep. 6.
