Dustin Sahlmann is confident his Kansas Wesleyan men's volleyball team will be improved in 2024 – perhaps much improved.  
 
 
Sahlmann, though, offers a word of caution after the Coyotes finished 11-19 during his first season – a huge improvement over the 2-18 record KWU posted during the program's inaugural season in 2022. 
 
"People have asked me all the time 'are you ready?' he said. "Honestly, I really don't know and the reason I give that answer is we are very, very young. We have a lot of guys that have been stars for their respective programs but haven't really done it as a collective group at a different level.  
 
 
"Just because you did it your senior year of high school, you're coming in and starting from scratch again as a freshman and we have that. We have that puppy dog mentality where we don't know what we don't know because we don't know." 
 
Viet Nguyen, an outside hitter who has been part of the program from day one, agrees with his coach's assessment. 
 
 "It's really nice being around all these guys that are super talented but one thing I think could hold us back a little bit is the age and maturity level a lot of these guys are coming in," Nguyen said. "They're coming in as superstars on their teams in high school or whatever and it will be super important that we find a way that we can play for each other and not for ourselves and just be able to be a team." 
 
 
That said, Sahlmann likes what he has seen during the Coyotes' preseason practice sessions in advance of their four season-opening matches Friday and Saturday in St. Louis. KWU plays University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy and Graceland on Friday, then takes on Missouri Baptist and Culver-Stockton on Saturday. 
 
Sahlmann and his team is ready. 
 
"I think the reason we're going to excel this year over last year is the guys I brought in in this recruiting class have more experience," he said. "We are bigger, we're more athletic and I think we're more physical than we were last year. 
 
 
"I think where we are right now from a culture standpoint is night and day different from what it was last year. We've got more humble individuals than we did last year and what I've seen just last week practice has been more competitive than it ever was at any point in time last year." 
 
 
Nguyen earned All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Second Team honors last season along with returning outside hitter Justin Burras. Libero Jeremy Lapeze and middle blocker Kahlib "Pucky" Lawrence were Honorable Mention and return as well. 
 
 
Sahlmann said the improvements will be obvious. 
 
 
"I think what you're going to notice is we're better offensively," he said. "I feel like we're going to be better defensively at the net and I think what that is going to allow us to be defensively better off the net as well.  
 
 
"We struggled mightily in the service part of the game last year and I think we're probably going to struggle there again as well from what I've seen from a practice standpoint. But I think the other areas that allow men's teams to be successful, we're going to be successful in those areas." 
 
 
He points to the improvements he has seen from the returning players. 
 
 
"Jeremy Lapeze has gotten better and he's more mature," he said. "What I've seen just this week Pucky Lawrence is going to be better from a mental and maturity standpoint. Justin Burras looks like he added about 15 pounds so that's going to help him. He took an incredible number of swings last year and I don't think his body was ready to handle that as a freshman." 
 
 
Assistant coach Julianna Yanez returns for a second season as well.
  
 
Sahlmann beefed up the frontline during recruiting. 
 
 
"We brought in couple of middle (blockers) in Cooper Stepp (6-foot-6) and Ryan Wagner (6-9)," he said. "Those two guys will help us throughout the year. Zayin Martinez was a guy that I found in the middle of the summer by accident and is probably the most dynamic guy in the conference. He's 6-7 so that's going to help us quite a bit.  
 
 
"We got two semester additions in (outside hitter) Tyler Vanderplas and (setter) Tyler McUne from Utah who I think will make some contributions for us as we move forward." 
 
 
The Coyotes play Missouri Valley in their home opener at 6 p.m. February 2 inside Mabee Arena. 
 
 
Sahlmann believes the program is heading in the right direction in his second year. 
 
 
"I wanted to have the opportunity to build a program from the ground up and that's what I got the opportunity to do," he said. "I'm going to make sure that it's done the right way, I'm not going to try to cut corners. We're going to build this thing for the long term."