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Sure could have used a healthy Megan Taflinger today. She is out with a abdominal strain.
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Shocks overcome a couple of late brain cramps to steal Set 3 by a 31-29 score.
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Going to a deciding 5th set.Comment
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Cincinnati 3-2 Shockers
(23) 20 (29) 22 11
As noted above, when Tabitha was having a good set, the Shocks had a chance. Otherwise, not so much.
The Shockers hit .248 v .348.
Tabitha was 28-7-74 for .284, easily her best match this year. Brooke was 14-2-22 for .545, Alex was 9-1-32 for .250 and Kora was 5-2-11 for .273.
Jordan Thompson for the Bearcats was 44-8-89 for .404. The Shocks basically had no answer. A ton of her kills were simply hit over the block. And she is definitely a six-rotation player. Erica Kostelec was the other big contributor at 15-1-32 for .438.
An examination of the play-by-play confirms what I suspected during the match - a couple of three-point runs were the best the Shocks had all afternoon.Comment
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Other Sunday Matches
UConn 1-3 UCF
(18) 19 16 16
ECU 1-3 Tulsa
11 19 (23) 19
Temple 2-3 USF
(19) (19) 23 23 9
Houston 1-3 Tulane
19 (23) 23 13
SMU 2-3 Memphis
25 (23) 20 (22) 13
UCF and Cincinnati remain undefeated. Tulsa is next with two losses.
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Thompson did it all. Kills, digs, assists, blocks, serve.....except she (and the rest of the Bearcats) need to have Velcro on their shoes in place of laces.Originally posted by flyingMoose View PostComment
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Jordan Thompdon is just a force of nature with no one else in the AAC even close. You know what's coming but not much you can do about it.
Not sure anyone in the AAC can beat them.
Actually pretty pleased with the Shocks effort and play today.
Considering the Shocks were short Emma, Kali and Megan I think taking Cincy to 5 sets was ad good as or better than expected
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Lambo also noted that this had to be Kora's best weekend ever as a setter, not just as a Shocker. There are still things to work out, but perhaps not having to look over her shoulder is going to be good for her.
He also noted that in-set adjustments that the coaches make for the back row do not always get done. Gio gets it, but the less experienced struggle.
In noting the absence of Megan and Emma, he described them as the team's best left-side and best middle.
There is only one other Top 50 match and that is at Cincinnati. Always in the past, the Shockers have managed a Top 50 win sometime during the season.
[This is me now] If there a pool of candidates for the last at-large spots in the Tournament, not having that win will be a drawback to the hopes of the Shockers.
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Jordan Thompson's 44 kills were a Koch Arena and an AAC record. Her 89 attacks were also a Koch Arena record. I kept waiting for her arm to fall off but she was firing howitzers just as hard I Set 5 as she was in Set 1.Comment
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It was really good to see Tabitha finally look like the All-AAC player she was expected to be and she stepped it up when the Shocks found themselves shorthnaded due to injuries..
Brown totaled a career-high 28 kills in Sunday's 3-2 loss to Cincinnati. She hit .284 with seven errors on 74 swings. On Friday, she hit .238 with eight kills in a sweep of East Carolina.
"It was her best (weekend) all year," Shocker coach Chris Lamb said. "And it wasn't just front-row stuff. I really liked her in serve-receive. I liked her defensive effort."
Brown's weekend numbers look more like her previous two seasons. She hit .247 in 2016 and .268 in 2017 on her way to honorable mention All-American honors. This season, as the focus of much defensive attention and working with new setters, she slipped to .118 entering the weekend.
"What is better for me, personally, is connecting with the setters," she said. "I knew that it came down to me taking better approaches and thinking more about the shots that I'm taking and not playing with fear. Just going up and swinging how I knew how to swing."
The Shockers, down three starters to injury, need Brown's scoring. Lamb wants to get her more back-row swings to add to Wichita State's diversity.
"I saw those huge approaches . . . against a team that knew how to get in front of them and a pretty good libero back there," Lamb said. "She put up really good numbers. If she can do that to Cincinnati, she can do that to anybody."
I agree with Lambo that Tabitha was vey good on serve-receive thsi weekend. Now if she can just cut down on the service errors (she had 5 against Cincy). Hopefully, Tabitha has it figured out now and will play this way through the end of the season.
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