AAC volleyball preseason honors feature co-Player of the Year for Wichita State Shockers
For the first time since joining the American Athletic Conference, the Wichita State volleyball team has a Preseason Player of the Year.
WSU outside hitter Brylee Kelly shared the honor with SMU outside hitter Jamison Wheeler, as the preseason poll and all-conference selections were released Monday morning.
Kelly, a 6-foot-2 redshirt senior from Monee, Ill., is entering her sixth year in the program. She has been voted a first team all-league hitter the last two seasons, as she led WSU last year with 3.27 kills per set and is on pace to crack the program’s top-five list for all-time kills.
Kelly was joined on the preseason all-conference team by junior middle blocker Natalie Foster, who ranked 31st nationally with a .382 hitting percentage and finished with 3.01 kills per set. She also recorded a career-best mark in blocking (team-high 100 total blocks) and serving (26 aces).
Fellow AAC coaches voted the Shockers to finish third in the West division with 59 points, behind SMU (78) and Rice (76) and just in front of North Texas (52) in what should be a competitive division. Memphis (72) edged out East Carolina (70) for the top spot in the East division.
WSU opens the 2023 regular season this weekend at the Under Armour Challenge in Lubbock, Texas, where the Shockers will face Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Houston Christian on Friday and Saturday.
WSU will open play at Koch Arena with the Shocker Volleyball Classic. The Shockers will play host to Kansas on Sept. 7 and Colorado on Sept. 9.
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