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Making the jump from incredibly successful junior college head coach to a first-year boss at the NCAA Division II level left Drury Volleyball coach Jenifer Bahner with little idea what to expect at this time a year ago.

And now she knows ... which means opponents of her Panthers perhaps should be quite leery of a team whose coach went 177-16 in five seasons at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College, with two national juco titles and two runner-up finishes, before her first DU squad posted a 16-11 final mark last season.

"I think it's more a difference of having a better understanding of the competition within the (Great Lakes Valley) conference," says Bahner, whose Panthers open their season Friday and Saturday in Topeka, Kan., with four games in the Washburn Invitational. "And while we only have five fall returners from last season, and three who joined us in the spring, it's just about having a better experience level of knowing those girls and their levels and how far we can continue to both push them and nurture them along the way.

"I think the GLVC is very interesting in the fact that it's very evenly matched ... you can step on the court and either team can win it any time. It's nice to know if we come out and execute our game plan and do what we're supposed to do, we can be successful."

Bahner and assistant coach Trish Henry will put a DU Volleyball squad on the court Friday morning against Missouri Southern that features a nice mix of veterans and new faces, particularly up front with returning senior outside hitter BJ Specht and senior middles Laynie Timmons and Chloe Foster.

Specht, the national tourney MVP for Bahner at Cowley two seasons ago, led DU with 261 kills (2.58 per set) and 24 service aces, finishing second on the squqad with her 342 digs. Her 302 points also topped the squad, but Bahner expects to see Specht take her game to another level this season for the Panthers.

"I think last year she really used her time early on to find her place here at Drury and really settle in," Bahner said of Specht. "It's just a different level of comfort and confidence I'm seeing from her on the court this season. She has the power, the commitment and the desire like no athlete I've seen."

Specht combines with 5-foot-11 junior setter Brooke Antenen to give the Panthers one of the best 1-2 punches in the GLVC. Antenen, entering her third season as a starter, led Drury with 1,016 set assists (fifth in the GLVC, and the 11th highest single-season total in DU history), and showed her all-around skill set with 175 kills, 21 service aces (second behind only Specht), 323 digs (third) and 80 blocks (second), joining Specht and Timmons as the only Panthers to play all 101 possible sets last season.

"I think Brooke's going to surprise some people this season because we've been working a lot with her on attacking," Bahner says. "Having Katelynn (Slade) come in this season allows us the possibility of running a two-setter system. That gives us an opportunity for a different look that some teams aren't used to seeing."

Slade is a versatile, senior transfer from NCAA Division I Wofford who was a two-time All-America selection for Bahner at Cowley, joining Specht and junior McKenna Poynter as former Tigers who won national championships for and with the now-DU coach.

The 6-foot-3 Foster and Timmons give DU a talented and experienced duo in the middle. Timmons led the squad with 100 blocks, while Foster added 78, including a team-high 15 solos.

"Both bring great experience," Bahner says. "Middle is a tough position to play in volleyball because you are constantly on the go, attacking and blocking. Both of them have the experience behind them and have the understanding of how to play the position, and that has made them invaluable to this team. Their blocking has greatly improved this spring and that's something we're excited about, having the ability to shut down some teams defensively with those two blocking in the middle."

Senior Mallory Long, a fourth-year member of the program who played in all 27 matches last season, is battling Poynter for the starting nod at libero, which gives Bahner great flexibility at a key position.

"It's an awesome thing to have two kids who are both very hungry for that position," she says.

That summarizes the veteran nucleus returning for the Panthers, with several new faces now competing for time at the right outside hitter and right-side attacker spots. Transfers Mary Maerz (6-0 sophomore from Missouri State) and Kylie Pfaff (5-9 sophomore from Mid-America Nazarene) are in the mix, but Maerz has been slowed by a preseason injury. Freshmen Sarah Kite and Emmalee Chrest have shown great promise in the preseason, and "both bring great club experience and have a lot of power to their swing, so it's going to come down to how quickly they pick up the other parts of the game."

Freshman middles Carlie Fangman and Tori Foster bring talent and size to the squad, and have the chance to learn their position quickly at the collegiate level working behind Chloe Foster and Timmons. Same with freshman libero Sidnee Newman behind Long and Poynter. Freshman Bentley Mara possesses as much skill and talent as anyone in the incoming class - she's "super athletic," Bahner says - but has been slowed in the preseason by an ankle injury. 

Altogether, it's a mix for the Panthers that has them quietly believing the GLVC coaches might have undershot a tad with their collective pick of a fifth-place GLVC West finish for DU in the preseason poll. And that's just fine with Bahner.

"What matters is when you step out onto the court to compete," she says. "Personally, I don't think there's a reason we can't make it to the conference tournament this year and be one of the top two or three teams in our (West) division. We hope that (snub) gives them a little extra push and motivation to show these teams the kind of work we've been putting in.

"I think these girls have an incredible work ethic. They have been pushing themselves from spring into summer and into this preseason. We set a lot of goals for them in terms of physical fitness and testing, and we accomplished every single one of those goals. I think their drive is a huge factor right now. They are working hard for each other. It's really become a team mentality of 'we want to be better for our teammates, more than ourselves individually."

This DU squad will be put to the test from the get-go, with its first 10 contests away from the O'Reilly Family Event Center. The Panthers will also be looking to improve upon a 7-11 mark in GLVC play last season that included a 2-4 record in matches decided in five sets.

"Honestly, in a five-set match when you lose it, it's some of those intangibles we talked about that come into play - the fight, the desire to continue to compete," Bahner says. "I think we have those intangibles with this team, and I think that's really going to help us with those four- and five-set matches. It's really not always the better team that wins a five-set match, but it's sometimes the team that puts it all out there and plays with some heart. I think we've got more of that with this group."

The Panthers will be looking to get back to the eight-team GLVC post-season tournament field for the first time since 2011, when it won its first-ever GLVC tourney match by upsetting No. 7 seed Wisconsin-Parkside as the 10 seed before losing to Lewis in the quarterfinals.