Jam The Gym vs UNI ($3 Tickets)

[1stThings1st]

I agree we have continued to give away sets with poor serving and average back row defense. I am not for singling out individuals we have 16 on the team and three coaches. Also sets are so predictable - where did the last 3 of 4 sets go in the third match last night. Every time we are backed against the wall sets go outside? Watching last night I didn't see the fire or leadership we have had in the past. I still think we have a very good program and great student athletes.

[flyingMoose]

The back row defense I doubt anyone will challenge. We are average at best back there. At best....and we seem to be a lot better for whatever reason with Church in at libero.

Just an informational comment from Lambo and the Chalk Talk: liberos win their job with their passing ability (as opposed to their digging ability, I assume.) My assumption may well be incorrect and even if correct, I won't presume to completely understand the passing/digging distinctions.

[1972Shocker]

I thought the Shocks were destroyed in 3 areas last night, and they are not unique to last night. Serving, back row defense, and setting the middles. The frustrating thing is these are 3 areas that are mostly correctable, meaning the ability is there to overcome most of the shortcomings.

Am I the only one that thinks we serve soft and short far too often, and that we get a lot less movement on our serves than our opponents?

Am I the only one that thinks we've missed far too often with our middles? Even Bradley seemed to be at least as successful lining up their middles, whether they finished or not.

The back row defense I doubt anyone will challenge. We are average at best back there. At best....and we seem to be a lot better for whatever reason with Church in at libero.

Does anyone else think there was a hint of panic inserting Kelsey for Emily at the end....for just one point I think?

The short tear-drop serves have been effective at times this year, but UNI seemed to have that scouted out pretty well and they simply ate them up. I agree that those soft, tear-drop serves are effective as a change-up, but not as a primary pitch. We have been very inconsistent in the serving game this year. At times serving tough and at other times getting nothing out of the serve game. We certainly seem to commit our fair share of service errors. We have a 1.81 errors to aces ratio vs a 1.57 ratio for our opponents.

If there is a chink in Hoop's armor as a setter it is the diffucult time she has syncing up with our middles. How much of that is on Hoop and how much on our middles I can't say, but it is noticeable. I know Lambo is very high on Elizabeth Field but she has yet to show me that she can consistently bring it in match play. Ashley Andrade, while not terribly athletic, seems to be more consistent and has better instincts at this point.

No doubt that our back row defense, and I'm not ready to lay that solely on our Libero play, is average at best. However, it seemed like that UNI not only did not try to avoid serving our Libero but they were targeting their serves at our Libero.

With that said UNI is the kind of team that can expose a team's weaknesses and last night they certainly did that to the Shocks last night. Even our blocking which has been a strength lately didn't seem to be up to par last night.

Not sure what was behind the insertion of Kelsey Banwart at such a critical point in that 3rd set but it did seem like an odd thing to do.

[SpanglerFan316]

I had to listen on the Internet radio broadcast and so I missed most of the action. I'm really looking forward to being able to watch the Shocks in person next fall.

We have wonderful student-athletes in the WVB program and great coaches. My level of frustration with the team's performance this year makes it advisable to remain silent.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks are still in the hunt for an NCAA bid and still have their fate in their own hands. They still have a good chance of going 8-1 in the MVC second half. If they do that and make to the Semi-finals of the MVC Tourmament I think they have a good shot at an NCAA at-large bid. Finish 8-1 and make the finals of the MVC tournament and I think they are pretty much a lock for an NCAA bid.

Creighton in Omaha this coming Friday will be the biggest obstacle remaining for the Shocks. Not saying it will be clear sailing if we can get by the Bluejays on the road, but we will have the toughest part of our schedule behind us at that point. If we lose to Creighton on Friday then we probably have to win out and make the MVC Tournament finals to have a shot at an NCAA bid.

I am a little concerned about how this team performs in pressure situations and managing mental make-up of this team may be as important as the techinical aspects for Lambo.

I agree with Spangler that we have absolutely outstanding young women and student-athletes representing WSU and our community lead by a strong coaching staff and we are fortunate to have them.

[flyingMoose]

I agree with Spangler that we have absolutely outstanding young women and student-athletes representing WSU and our community lead by a strong coaching staff and we are fortunate to have them.

Hear, hear!!

[1stThings1st]

I agree with Spangler that we have absolutely outstanding young women and student-athletes representing WSU and our community lead by a strong coaching staff and we are fortunate to have them.

We have a great program, great coaches, great facilities, and great student athletes. I just like hanging banners in CKA!

[boyshocker]

Dr. Wu you got it right, I must add one other thing that drives me a little crazy. We might be one of the few schools that have are setter block middle. Very tough assignment for a setter to accomplish. Okay, I am going to add two..... the UNI coach very rarely got up from the bench, granted things were going well but even in set three her team adjusted well and never showed any sign of panic. We seem to have to call every play and every defense. Maybe someone will little more knowledge can explain.

[JayJ79]

Coach Petersen and the rest of the UNI coaches sit 99% of the time, and rarely do much yelling, even when the team is down. They'll send in signals between plays (serve location, and whatever else coaches relay in), but even then they're usually sitting down.

Don't think that makes them better or worse necessarily, just different coaching styles (though personally, as a fan, I like their method better, as the coaches that are constantly standing halfway up the court get on my nerves b/c they block my view. haha)

[1972Shocker]

We might be one of the few schools that have are setter block middle. Very tough assignment for a setter to accomplish. Maybe someone will little more knowledge can explain.

First let me say that I very much doubt I have more knowledge then you (less would be a good bet) when it comes to Volleyball strategy. I would point out that the Shocks are at or near the top of the MVC in blocking statistics. In overall statistics CU is 2.52/set, UNI is 2.49/set, WSU is 2.46/set and ILS is 2.27/set. In conference matches WSU is 2.91/set, UNI is 2.71/set, CU is 2.53/set and ILS is 2.31/set. So apparently the blocking schemes they use are relatively effective, although I did not think we blocked that well against UNI (which may have had a lot to do with UNI and Bre Payton finding the one-on-one matchups).

I also suspect how you use your setter in your blocking schemes has a lot to do with the height of the setter. A 5'10" setter like Mary Elizabeth Hooper will no doubt be used differently than a 5'8" or shorter setter. Next year we will have Chelsey Feekin at 6'1" at the setter position so I would expect her to be very active in the blocking schemes also. Perhaps it is not an accident that Lambo has recruited taller setters lately or maybe he is just adjusting to the qualities of the setters he has at this time.

I'm sure Lambo has very specific ideas and reasons behind his blocking schemes although I'm nowhere near knowledgable enough to know those specifics.

[boyshocker]

I think we have been successful, I guess my point was that if a team is successful hitting in the middle you might want to mix things up little. The other night we got into a rotation at the end without our best blockers and there wasn't much that could be done. Nobody on the bench that could help.

[1972Shocker]

UNI brings a pretty formidable set of middles to have to deal with. 6'1" Sr Michelle Burow and 6'2" Jr Krista DeGeest were both 1st team All-MVC members last year and 6'3" So Shelby Kintzel was on the MVC All-Freshman team last year. On top of that UNI has the soon to be 3-time MVC POY, Bre Payton, doing the dealing.

Statistically we actually didn't do too bad agaisnt this trio. Burow (11-2-33 = .391) had a good match but we did contain DeGeest (6-6-19 = .000) and Kintzel (6-3-16 = .188) pretty well although Kintzel hurt us late in Set 3. May boil down to picking your poison with this group. So that group combined to go 23-11-68 = .176 which is actually pretty good work by the Shocks considering the quality of opponent. Fields and Andrade were a combined 9-4-35 = .142 for the Shocks. UNI was much more active in the middle plus I thought the timing between Hooper and our middles was off pretty much the whole match.

OTOH the Shocks are much more active at the pins. UNI really did a good job on Emily forcing her into 11 attack errors. The Shocks are probably better than UNI on the outside. Unfortunately, UNI was better everywhere else, plus they won the serve and passing game and the were better defensively than the Shocks.