Highlighting Tulsa Volleyball graduate Beth Bayless as she looks back on her career and previews the 2026 volleyball season.
Volleyball season is just around the corner, and excitement is running high at The University of Tulsa, which is looking to build on an incredibly successful 2025 season. The Golden Hurricane compiled a 25-7 record, going 10-1 on their home court in the Reynolds Center and 12-4 in conference play on the way to an American Athletic Conference Tournament championship and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament bid.
A major contributor to what was one of the best seasons in program history was outside hitter Beth Bayless. A product of Regent Preparatory in south Tulsa, Bayless only seriously took up volleyball during the last couple years of high school, but quickly morphed into a talented recruit. She played her freshman year at the University of Oklahoma before transferring back home in 2023, the very first roster addition made by then first-year head coach Lauren Ramatowski. Bayless was an elite outside hitter, recording 760 kills during her Tulsa career, an average of 2.49 kills per set, and played in 90 matches spanning three seasons. She also stood out academically as the Regent class Valedictorian in 2022, a three time AAC Academic all-conference selection and the only Tulsa student-athlete in the Honors College. Bayless kindly agreed to sit down for an interview with The Collegian this week, in which she highlighted some of the keys to Tulsa’s AAC title run last season, and some of the reasons she thinks TU volleyball will continue to succeed moving forward.
Thorpe: “Favorite memory from your volleyball career here?”
Bayless: “It’s a really close [decision] between winning the [2025 AAC] conference tournament — that was so fun and such a special moment for our team because it’s what we had been working towards for so long, and the culmination of so much effort and time and intentionality … but also fall of 2025 — I transferred from OU — we beat OU. We also beat Arkansas and Cal Poly in that same weekend, but beating OU was really special for me, because I had just been wanting to do that my whole career. And the reason why those two moments were so special as well is because our team just genuinely out-teams people, and we were probably not on paper better, but we knew how to play together.”
Thorpe: “Are there any road environments that you’ve played in that stand out to you?”
Bayless: “Playing at [Kansas University] was pretty crazy. Playing at Arkansas was fun. They have a fun environment and gym … you know what, whenever you go and play at Temple, their gym is kinda weird, kinda funky, and the weirdest part is that if you’re looking across the net, if you look past the players to the back wall, there’s just massive owl eyes staring at you, and it’s like that the whole game.”
Thorpe: “Who are some coaches or teammates who impacted you the most?”
Bayless: “Well coach [Ramatowski] is the stud of studs. She had a massive impact on me. She was hired, and then I was her first recruit, and she just sold me on her vision. The reason why she is so special is that she cares so deeply for us as people before even volleyball. She cares about who I am as a woman and as a Christ follower, and she has poured so much into me and still I talk to her all the time, and like, she doesn’t have to talk to me anymore. I’m out of the program, and we call all the time. She’s really good at investing in us as people, but at the same time she’s so good at what she does as a volleyball coach and genuinely made me a whole different player by the time I graduated, and [assistant coach Jacey Smith] and [assistant coach Kennedy Warren] have been there with her, and are just really, really special people who are bought into the vision. As far as players go, Brittany Bacorn, Olivia Vance — they are really leading the team, at least in the preseason I think they’ve been the main leaders for the team … Brittany’s stepping into a really cool setter role and [Olivia] had an awesome year last year and I think is going to have an even better year this year… But genuinely if there’s something to talk about with Tulsa Volleyball it’s who the team is, because we talk about commitment, love, and excellence every single day and it defines how we do things, and so I just think the team as a whole is really special.”
Thorpe: “While you were an undergrad, you were the only athlete to be in the Honors College. How do you sustain that kind of academic excellence?”
Bayless: “I don’t know — I just feel really blessed that I’ve been able to come to a university where I can do speech [pathology] and classical studies and honors, and be involved in some campus ministries, and play a sport. That’s rare you don’t get to do that everywhere, and so I think what made that possible — one, a lot of people in my corner, whether that be professors, or success coaches, or my coaches being like, ‘hey, you can go do this!’ and helping make that happen. Practically, you just have to manage every minute of your day and be really in control of how you spend your time, get enough sleep and communicate really well, but I just feel blessed that I got to do it. It was really fun.”
Thorpe: “What are some ways you’ve gotten involved on campus outside of athletics?”
Bayless: “I helped lead [Fellowship of Christian Athletes] for two years, and that’s been really sweet to have a community of athletes all coming together once a week to worship the Lord, no matter how busy or tired we are. [I am] super involved in [Reformed University Fellowship], and I loved RUF. That was a really sweet place to have community outside athletics, and to have people — even fellow athletes who were in it — who really care about me and who challenge me to be better in the Lord. I also did SAC, Student-athlete Advisory Council, all of the things.”
Thorpe: “Volleyball season starts on Friday…”
Bayless: “Yeah!”
Thorpe: “…with, I think they’re out in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and you touched a little bit on this already, but who are some players on last year’s team, or new freshmen, that you’re looking forward to watching or who you think might have a breakout season?”
Bayless: “You know, I really think anybody could, because I think we have such a talented team, and it could be the way [coach Ramatowski] sets it up is that any night could be anyone’s night, and if someone needs to step in for someone else and have a night, they’ll do that and cheer them on, so I genuinely think anybody could do great. I think I’m excited to see Brittany in the setter role, I’m excited to see Liv [Vance] go out there … I think Olivia Vance is going to have a great year, I think Jill [Hanson] is going to have a great year and a little shout out to Kat Cooper. I played with her, and she graduated with me, and then all of a sudden the five for five [NCAA ruling] has come about and she gets to play another year. I think she’s a total stud, but she’s killing it.”
Bayless has had an incredible impact on the Tulsa volleyball program as a foundational piece of the program that coach Ramatowski and her staff have built over the last three years, which will not soon be forgotten. She remains involved on campus as a graduate student pursuing a masters degree in speech pathology. By the time this is published, Tulsa Volleyball will have opened their season at the NMSU Volleyball Jamboree in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with a trio of games against New Mexico, New Mexico State, and Texas El-Paso. They are back in action this Friday, Sept. 4, at the Bluejay Invitational tournament in Omaha. They play Friday at 3 p.m. against Pepperdine, Saturday against Arizona at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. against the hosting Creighton Bluejays. The latter two games will be televised on ESPN+.
