2018 NIVC

[flyingMoose]

Shockers are in this thing!

They play Central Arkansas at North Texas on Thursday at 430pm with a match between Tulsa and North Texas to follow. Winners play Friday at 530pm.

The Sugar Bears were swept by SFA in the Southland Conference Tournament championship match.

There are 32 teams playing in the NIVC with Tulane being another of the host sites.

[ShockTalk]

WOW!! I didn't think they had a chance. Guess there is a lot of schools who's volleyball program can't afford to go.

[1972Shocker]

Same here. Since their are 32 automatic invites I wonder how many of those were turned down to allow the Shockers to squeeze in.

Maybe the Shockers will follow the example of the Shocker men's basketball team in 2011 and bloom where they are planted.

[WuDrWu]

If they are dialed in, this team is certainly capable of advancing far in this tournament, but they didn't seem to be particularly focused at the end of the season. I would love to see them find their stride, especially for the seniors and others that may be wrapping up their careers.

[WuDrWu]

Central Arkansas didn't challenge themselves much in the non conference schedule for sure. The did sweep Memphis early and were good enough to beat SIU and Artk-Little Rock, 2 usually proud teams. They lost 9 of 10 sets to a really good SFA club. Certainly a match we're capable of winning. We know we can beat Tulsa and North Texas. I would be surprised if anyone could get Iowa State in our quarter though.

[1972Shocker]

SiU was 5-26 overall and 1-17 in the Valley this year so that one doesn't count for much this year.

That doesn't mean the Shocks are a lock to beat Central Arkansas. Not sure how motivated this Shocker team will be to have more volleyball to play.

[WuDrWu]

I'm sure it's just my advanced age, but I forgot that Justin Ingram, former SIU head volleyball coach, left SIU to take a similar job at UIC. I believe he was the coached that arrogantly commented that he and SIU were going to knock WSU off their collective perch.

[Rixtoy1]

Thinking about going.
Tickets through WSU or somewhere else for best opportunity?

[WuDrWu]

North Texas is right off 35. They had a good crowd in their high school gym. I could see tickets being a bit of an issue. It's a small high school gym too (size wise) but it's their volleyball facility. I imagine Shannon will know.

[1972Shocker]

So who has any idea what to expect from this team against Central Arkansas come Thursday? On top of the team closing out there season losing 5 of their last 6 matches Lambo announced a few other issues on his radio show Monday. Alex Koon missed the final 3 games of the season with an undisclosed health issue for which she has not be cleared to play yet. Even if Alex is cleared hard to say how effective she could be at this point. Abby Pugh has a foot contusion and was in a boot on Monday. She is day-to-day. Kara Bown who has played better lately has a broken rib and may or may not be able to play. Perhaps none of these are critical losses the way the Shockers have been playing this year but it sure doesn't help the cause any.

It is a bit hard to get much of a read on Central Arkansas looking at their schedule. Unlike the Shockers UCA finished the season strong winning 10 of their last 11 with the only loss being against a good Stephen F. Austin team in the Southland Conference Tournament Championship game. This was UCA's 3rd loss of the year against SFA who also beat the Shockers earlier in the year when we still had Kali Eaken and Emma Wright pre-broken thumb.

The SFA matches may be the best measuring stick. The Shockers lost to SFA in 4 close sets by scores of 21-25, 24-26, 25-23 and 24-26. UCA was swept at SFA 24-26, 22-25 and 25-27, UCA lost in 4 sets to SFA at home 23-25, 19-25, 25-20 and 23-25 and they were swept by SFA in the Southland Tournament played at Northwestern State by scores of 25-21, 9-25 and 23-25.

So looks like UCA, with the exception of the 2nd set in the Southland Tournament played SFA every bit as tough as the Shockers played them.

All things considered I am hard pressed to consider the Shockers the favorite in this match. It is a winnable match but it may boil down to what kind of attitude the Shockers bring to bear this week in practice and on Thursday. That would seem to be anybody's guess. Another key may be how well Megan and Emma play. Tabitha and Regan each had one of there better performances of the season in the finale against North Texas. Abby and Grace also played pretty well in that match but with Abby questionable Grace may have to handle most of the M-1 duties. Megan really struggled against North Texas hitting a -.045 on 6-7-22. That's a very low kill rate and very high error rate. Perhaps that indicated her abdominal strain is bothering her again. If she is hurting and Alex is still on the shelf Lambo is kind of out of options. Emma who was playing quite well before breaking her thumb seems to be having difficulty developing any rhythm and timing with Kora and Jordan as is Brooke and as a result our quicks to the M-2's have been very poor since Kali went down. Not sure there is a quick fix for that.

All the Ladies can do is give it the good ol' college try and see what happens.

Shocker Match Notes and Links

[flyingMoose]

Not in the Notes, but UCA has an RPI of 103.

Pablo has all of these teams very close.

5490 - North Texas
5410 - Tulsa
5340 - Shockers
5230 - Central Arkansas

[joeydog]

Does anybody know the status of Chase Jackson?

[1972Shocker]

Does anybody know the status of Chase Jackson?

Good question. I don't think Chase has played in the last 11 matches. I have not heard of any injury issues with her. She had her chances earlier in the year but could not get it going consistently. She had 39 kills and 34 errors on 142 attacks for a .035 hitting percentage, 27.5% kill rate and 23.9% error rate which were team worsts among our outsides and middles. So if she wasn't injured she apparently played herself onto the bench. Chase was on the sidelines in full uniform against North Texas. It appears Chase is 5th on the outside hitter depth chart behind Tabitha, Megan, Alex and Regan. So if Alex and Megan are unable to go or be effective against UCA maybe Chase will get a shot against UCA.

[WuDrWu]

We're in deep if that's the case. Chase has a cannon for an arm, but whatever the reason(s), it hasn't not equated success on the court yet.

[flyingMoose]

Pablo has all of these teams very close.

5490 - North Texas
5410 - Tulsa
5340 - Shockers
5230 - Central Arkansas

I finally found my Excel error. We have the chances of winning the pod as:

39.4% - North Texas
22.2% - Shockers
21.6% - Tulsa
16.8% - Central Arkansas

[1972Shocker]

So does that mean you'll give me 4.5 to 1 odds?

[flyingMoose]

Uh, no. But only because I am not a betting man? Or because ... :)

I am very anxious to see the outcome of these game(s). I think it will be an indicator of how much heart this group has and whether it may be awhile before we get the right group together.

[1972Shocker]

Anyone else able to get the audio stream. I get a technical difficulties message.

[1972Shocker]

Starting lineup for the Shocks: KAULING, Kora; WRIGHT, Emma; PUGH, Abby; BROWN, Tabitha; BOWN, Kara; TAFLINGER, Megan; libero CIVITA, Giorgia.

[flyingMoose]

Me too on the audio. LiveStats is finally going.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks starting out in the 6-2.

[flyingMoose]

Alex is in the Box Score but not in the Play-by-Play as a sub. I assume she is not really playing.