Lambo Announces 2019 Volleyball Schedule

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Unveil 2019 Volleyball Schedule

The Shocks open up with an Exhibition match against Kansas (48) on August 17th, a week before the Volleyball Dinner & Auction.

If you are a fan of tough schedules you will love this one which includes matches at Penn State, at Cal Poly, at Creighton, and at Nebraska and home matches vs BYU and Texas. Wow!

The Shocks RPI ranking last year was #86. The opponents' RPI ranks are shown after their name:

Aug 30 - Aug 31: Penn State Classic - Holy Cross (270), Hofstra (58), Penn State (12)

Sep 5 - Sep 7: Cal Poly Tournament - San Jose State (130), Cal Poly (23), North Texas (124)

Sep 12 - Sep 14: Shocker Volleyball Classic - BYU (5), VCU (64), Texas (3)

Sep 19 - Sep 20: Bluejay Invitational - Creighton (13), Wyoming (87)

Sep 21 - at Nebraska (11)

Sep 27 - Nov 17: A 16 game AAC schedule beginning at Tulsa. Shocks play home and away against Tulsa (80), Memphis (197), SMU (126), Houston (146), and Tulane (61). The Shocks host Cincinnati (24), UCF (10) and USF (98). The Shocks play on the road at UConn (147), Temple (164) and ECU (205).

Nov 22 - Nov 24: The inaugural AAC Volleyball Championship in Orlando. Will have to check to see what the format for that Tournament is. Not sure those details are published yet.

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Lambo continues to schedule fearlessly and to give his team a chance to build an at-large worthy resume. Lambo also was a proponent of shortening the regular season schedule to 16 matches and adding the AAC Tournament.

[1972Shocker]

UCF, as defending champions, is hosting the AAC Tournament. According to the article on their website announcing there schedule the league will be split into two divisions for the 2019 season. Six teams will qualify for the tournament, with the top team from each division receiving a first-round bye.

So the top 3 from the "East" Division (Cincy, UCF, USF, UConn, Temple and ECU) and the top 3 from the "West" Division (WSU, Tulsa, Memphis, SMU, Houston and Tulane) will match up in a single elimnation Tournament with the top seeds in each division receiving a first round bye. Not sure how the will match up the other 4 teams.

The American has not officially announced the tournament as of yet.

[WuDrWu]

Guess I'm going to Florida twice a year now. Thank goodness the basketball tournament moved to Ft. Worth.

[1972Shocker]

I think UCF is hosting this year as a reward for winning the AAC Championship last year. Whether or not they will continue that is hard to say.

[WuDrWu]

Geez, it's entirely possible we're going to play the top 4 teams in the country next season.

It's like learning to catch a cannonball....how do you do that? You roll one, toss a couple....okay, this one's coming a little bit faster.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks have 6 of last year's 16 national seeds on their schedule.  BYU (4), Texas (5), Nebraska (7), Penn State (8), Creighton (9), UCF (13).

Penn State and Texas advanced to the Elite 8, BYU made the Final Four and Nebraska lost to Stanford in the Championship game.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks certainly appear to have a full plate. Hopefully, it doesn't cause too much indigestion. I'm looking forward to seeing how this still pretty young Shocker team will hold up against this schedule.

[flyingMoose]

I think Cal Poly, North Texas and the Shockers have a rotated-host arrangement for that tournament. It was hosted by North Texas last year, and I would think the Shockers will host next year.

It appears Iowa State has dropped from the rotated-host arrangement with Creighton and the Shockers. Perhaps Wyoming is replacing the Cyclones in the next generation of that arrangement.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Schedule Set and Announced - Check

Shocker 2019 Roster Released - Check

Shocker Volleyball Dinner Tickets Purchased - Check

Shocker Season Tickets Ordered - Check

Shocker Match Club Membership Submitted - Check

I'm locked and loaded for the start of another season of Shocker Volleyball, which is right around the corner, to kick off another season of Shocker sports. I see this as a very challenging season for the Shocks but also one with a lot of development opportunities to set the team up for better things going forward.

The Shocks Match Club Meet & Greet is scheduled for August 9^th at 5:30 p.m. in the Champions Club at Charles Koch Arena. You do not need to be a Shocks Match Club member to attend the Meet & Greet. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make this event but sounds like a fun event. Please R.S.V.P. with Linda Lindsly at llindsly@goshockers.com and Tori Miller at volleyballga@goshockers.com if you want to attend.

Exhibition match against KU at Koch Arena is on Saturday, August 17th at 3:00 pm.

Shocker Volleyball Dinner on tap for Saturday, August 24th at 5:30 pm.

Shocks open the season on the road on August 30th at the Penn State Classic.

Shocks host BYU, VCU and Texas at home at the Shocker Volleyball Classic on September 12th, 13th and 14th respectively with all matches at 7:00 pm.

:poster_shocks:

[WuDrWu]

8 returning players from last year...…. one of those is out for the year. 2 others redshirted. 2 more fought injuries all last year. This is going to be an interesting season and I suspect an exceedingly difficult one.

[ShockTalk]

What do you think on whether Giorgia comes back next year. She lost most of her first year to injury, but got a medical redshirt and now she's out again in her 4th year at WSU and for the season. She would be very key for the team to take a big leap up for next year.

[1972Shocker]

You really never know for sure how a player will do coming back from an ACL surgery. Giorgia has been there done that but that doesn't guarantee anything. You also never know how much a foreign player desires to return home.

OTOH I can see Giorgia playing 2 more years for the Shocks if she can get a "Grant Gibbs" clock extension for a 6th year to complete her eligibility. Not sure where she is at academically but she could get a good part of her graduate degree, or finish a grad degree, while on a full ride.

Maybe Doc or someone else has a better feel for this. I guess I can see it going either way.

[WuDrWu]

I have no idea or knowledge about her plans. I know she enjoys it here, but she's lost a lot of teammates and that has to be a factor for someone 10000 miles from home. That being said, Giorgia has a wonderful personality and a dry wit that has to be experienced to believe. She can get along with anyone and is a fierce competitor. I would speculate, and that's all it is, speculation, that a surprisingly (to me at least) successful season might keep her around.

[WuDrWu]

Preseason poll is out. The Shocks are scheduled to play #2 (Nebraska), #4 (Texas), #8 (Penn State), #9 (BYU), #18 (Creighton) & # 23 (Cal Poly). VCU is really good too.

6-6 non conference would be super.

6 ranked teams. Also receiving votes UCF and Cincinnati. Cincinnati is going to be better than people think.

[WuShock16]

Do you mean Stanford instead of Nebraska?

EDIT: Never mind. The GoShockers app was showing last year’s schedule when I checked. I double-checked and it showed 2019. Weird.

[flyingMoose]

Based on the end of last season, the SOS for the Shockers is 12. Given the teams they are playing this year, that won't be too far off at the end of this season.

[WuDrWu]

Thoughts on non conference predictions? 4-8 to 7-5 seem to be realistic landing areas (admittedly, 4-8 is far more probable than 7-5).


My guess is 5-7 probably but I'm going to predict 6-6. Maybe it's too much hope and prayer for me right now, but I just think this team is a lot better than many people think.

[1972Shocker]

Thoughts on non conference predictions? 4-8 to 7-5 seem to be realistic landing areas (admittedly, 4-8 is far more probable than 7-5).


My guess is 5-7 probably but I'm going to predict 6-6. Maybe it's too much hope and prayer for me right now, but I just think this team is a lot better than many people think.

Doc, you are a bit more optimistic than I am. I have several concerns. We will be a pretty inexperienced team this year with a ton of newcmers and we will miss Gio for sure this year. The injury to Chinelo doesn't help matters any. Will the Shocks be able to find and produce enough scoring to move the scoreboard in their favor? I don't know. In any case, this is a very challenging non-con schedule. I see one match, Holy Cross to open the season, as one I can look at and say with some confidence that I see a win.

I think 6-6 is about the best outcome I can see for this team against this schedule and I would be very happy with that. But it could easily be worse than that. I'm not sure 4-8 is the floor of possible outcomes. The key matches IMO will be the matches vs Hofstra, San Jose State, North Texas, VCU, and Wyoming. If we can get those 5 plus Holy Cross we can get to 6-6. But I don't think that will be easy. I just don't see the Shocks winning against Penn State, Cal Poly, BYU, Texas, Creighton and Nebraska. Maybe if we had Cal Poly or Creighton at home we might have chance at an upset but we get them both at their places. Any win against this latter group of teams would be a really postive sign though.

Not going to make a prediction because it would just be a wild guess anyway. I do agree that 4-8 is far more likely than 7-5 (or 6-6 for that matter). What I mostly want to see is a team willing to compete and a team that will show some growth and development over these 12 matches. In any case, the AAC won't seem all that daunting after working our way through this schedule.

[1972Shocker]