Volleyball On SI

Big 12 Volleyball Reveals 2026 Preseason Coaches Poll, Awards

Arizona State leads the way with the No.1 spot and four player selections.

Nicole Reitz

The Sun Devils are ranked No.1.
The Sun Devils are ranked No.1. / Arizona State Athletics

The Big 12 Conference has revealed its 2026 preseason coaches poll, preseason Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and preseason team. 

The Arizona State Sun Devils lead the way, as the team is favored at No.1, while Noemie Glover is anticipated to earn Player of the Year honors.

Arizona State is coming off back-to-back Big 12 titles, and 2026 marks the first time in its three seasons as a member of the conference that they are featured in the top spot. 

Glover led the Sun Devils in total points, total kills, points per set and kills per set in 2025. Her 4.23 kills per set (No. 8), 4.81 points per set (No. 8), and 423 kills (No. 10) all ranked inside the top 10 of all Big 12 players.

Kansas’ Taylor Stanley was tabbed the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year. She was named the 2025 AVCA High School Region Player of the Year after a stellar senior season at Blue Valley Southwest High School.

Stanley was also featured on the 2025 USA Volleyball U19 National Team, which represented Team USA at the FIVB U21 World Championships.

The preseason poll and awards were determined by Big 12 head coaches who are not allowed to vote for their own team or players. 

2026 Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Poll

* First-place votes are designated in parentheses. 

  1. Arizona State (12),194 points
  2. TCU (3), 177 points
  3. Kansas, 159 points
  4. Baylor, 152 points
  5. Colorado, 143 points
  6. Iowa State, 131 points
  7. BYU, 122 points
  8. Utah, 118 points
  9. UCF, 84 points
  10. Arizona, 77 points
  11. Kansas State, 65 points
  12. Cincinnati, 60 points
  13. West Virginia, 39 points
  14. Houston, 35 points
  15. Texas Tech, 19 points

2026 Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Player of the Year

Noemie Glover, Arizona State

2026 Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Freshman of the Year

Taylor Stanley, Kansas

2026 Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Team

  • Carlie Cisneros, Arizona
  • Aniya Clinton, Arizona State
  • Noemie Glover, Arizona State
  • Una Vajagic, Arizona State
  • Ksenia Rakhmanchik, Baylor
  • Alex Bower, BYU
  • Brielle Kemavor, BYU
  • Claire Little Chambers, BYU
  • Avah Armour, UCF, OH
  • Sydney Nolan, Cincinnati
  • Ana Burilovic, Colorado
  • Cayla Payne, Colorado
  • Rachel Van Gorp, Iowa State
  • Reese Messer, Kansas
  • Reese Ptacek, Kansas
  • Jalyn Gibson, TCU
  • Evan Hendrix, TCU
  • Becca Kelley, TCU
  • Kamryn Gibadlo, Utah

Kansas Jayhawks

Following a Sweet 16 appearance in 2025, the Jayhawks land third in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll, with setter Reese Messer and middle blocker Ptacek earning preseason All-Big 12 honors, aside Stanley’s Preseason Freshman of the Year nod. 

Messer will make her debut with Kansas after she spent her freshman season at USC. Ptacek was an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention selection and was named an All-Big 12 First Team honoree and unanimous preseason selection in 2025. 

TCU Horned Frogs 

Voted to finish second in the conference, TCU features three players on the Preseason All-Big 12 team. 

Jalyn Gibson makes her third straight appearance on the list, even after missing the 2025 season due to an ACL injury. Evan Hendrix is off a breakout sophomore campaign, where she became the seventh AVCA All-American in TCU program history, with third-team honors. Her 534 kills on the season were second-most in the Big 12 and 10th-most in Division I volleyball. 

BYU Cougars 

Placed seventh, the trio of Brielle Kemavor, Alex Bower, and Claire Little Chambers are back on the preseason team after landing on the list in 2025. 

Bower, the 2025 AVCA All-West Region Honorable Mention and All-Big 12 First Team member, posted eight double-doubles last season, second most on the team.  She led the Cougars in digs and finished with 1,265 assists. 

Little Chambers was also an AVCA All-West Region Honorable Mention in 2025. She finished tied with Bower's eight double-doubles for the year and posted 26 double-digit kill matches.

Keamavor, also an  AVCA Honorable Mention All-American last season, led the Cougars in blocks in 19 of their 31 matches, while recording nine double-digit kill matches. 

Big 12 teams kick off action on Aug. 22 with non-conference play, while league matchups open on Thursday, Sept. 24. 

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Nicole Reitz
NICOLE REITZ

Nicole Reitz graduated from Indiana University Indianapolis with a degree in sports journalism in 2022 and has been writing about softball and baseball since 2018. Her work has been published in various publications like Softball On SI, Softball America, the Indianapolis Star, and SoxOn35th.

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