WICHITA, Kan. — With high achievement comes high expectations, and the Newman women's volleyball team will get a chance to experience that first-hand as it embarks on the 2016 season.

After a 2015 campaign that saw the Jets smash nearly every program record in going 26-9 overall and 13-3 in Heartland Conference play to finish as runners-up in the league in both the regular season and postseason, Newman will take to the court with a different look this year.

All-American and conference Player of the Year Ashley Gonzalez is now on the bench as a student assistant, and Setter of the Year Alexus Litts has graduated. Second-year coach Destiny Clark has worked through the preseason breaking in a pair of new setters dishing to a different lineup of hitters, but she still sees potential in her squad.

"I think we have the chance to be really competitive," she said. "I think we're still working out the kinks right now as we're all learning the system and as us as coaches are figuring out what we want to see out of them. But I feel like we're going to be competitive once we figure it out, and we want to figure it out and be able to get back to the conference tournament again this year."

Newman opens the 2016 season this weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn Classic hosted by Texas Woman's. The Jets will take on the host Pioneers as well as Harding on Friday, followed by matches against Texas A&M-Commerce and Colorado State-Pueblo Saturday.

Season Breakdown (2015 Statistics in Parentheses)

Setters

Returners: None.

Newcomers: Brook Conley, Jr. (at Vernon JC: 40 MP, 4.96 ast/set, 1.75 kill/set, .220 hit%, 3.23 dig/set, 55 blocks, 38 aces); Milica Petricevic, So. (at Cowley County CC: 13 MP, 8.10 ast/set, 1.70 dig/set).

Coach Speak: "We have two brand-new setters in Brook and Milica, so there's some growing pains just because our hitters haven't hit off them before. I think they both are doing a really good job and making improvements from day to day, but it's just about them feeling comfortable in the system and the hitters feeling comfortable with them. We expect big things from them. They're very different setters, but they each are doing really good things."

Back Row

Returners: Anna Burton, Jr. (35 MP, 5.18 digs/set, 28 aces); Kaci Copeland, Sr. (7 MP, 1.00 dig/set); Andrea Wheeler, Sr. (33 MP, 2.03 dig/set, 28 aces).

Newcomers: None.

Coach Speak: "We have three defensive specialists. Anna Burton played at libero all year for us last year, and she's come back and we're really confident with her in there. At the same time, Kaci Copeland has also come along really well. We're really impressed with her so far, so those two are both competing for that spot. Then we have Andrea Wheeler, who is the defensive specialist that comes in for our right side in the back row, and she has a great serve and plays some really good right-side defense for us."

Middles

Returners: Jarin Braithwait, Sr. (17 MP, 1.61 kill/set, 2.03 dig/set, 7 aces); Yemima Buana, So. (34 MP, 1.29 kill/set, .218 hit%, 80 blocks); Mariah Douglass, So. (1 set played).

Newcomers: Hailey Braddy, So. (at Oklahoma Baptist: 17 MP, 0.55 kill/set).

Coach Speak: "We have three middles who have experience in the middle, and we just threw one of our pin hitters into the middle as well. Jarin is the most experienced, and then we have Yemima, who played there all last year, so she has plenty of game experience as well. Mariah was at middle for us last year, and we're expecting her to be more of a contributor this year. Hailey Braddy just moved to the middle, so she's playing catch-up, but she's doing a lot of really good things. We're just really trying to get our middles involved as much as possible."

Pin Hitters

Returners: Laura Hageman, Sr. (14 MP, 0.97 kill/set, 1.74 dig/set); Emily Harvey, Jr. (34 MP, 2.78 kill/set, .234 hit%, 40 blocks); Sarah Peterson, Jr. (6 MP, 1.00 kill/set); Alexis Roecker, Sr. (8 MP, 1.47 kill/set); Kayla Turner, Jr. (34 MP, 2.33 kill/set, 2.90 dig/set, 27 blocks, 28 aces).

Newcomers: Aliya Higginbotham, Jr. (at Cowley County CC: 32 MP, 3.79 kill/set, 4.64 dig/set, 44 blocks, 10 aces).

Coach Speak: "We have a lot of hitters. A couple of seniors, and a juco transfer. Aliya is kind of an all-around player. She just came in and we're trying to get her comfortable with our system. Alexis Roecker and Laura Hageman have experience being here. Even though they haven't seen a lot of court time, they're important pieces to the puzzle this year. Kayla has a lot of experience as a six-rotation outside, and we're looking to her for consistency. On the right side, Emily and Sarah are both playing really well right now. That's an important blocking position going up against the other team's outside hitter, so we're looking for them to make a big impact in that area."