Shocks Host Jayhawks in PreSeason Exhibition Match

[1972Shocker]

Taylor Eldridge: ‘Trying to put the pieces together:’ WSU volleyball experiments in exhibition against KU

WSU looked promising when it played its top players in the first two sets, as the Shockers took the first set, 25-23, and led 24-21 in the second set but failing to close it out in a 28-26 loss. That’s when Lamb pulled his top hitter, Megan Taflinger, and pivoted the team’s focus.

The focus from there was trying to gain as much experience as possible for the newcomers. To that end, Lamb said the match was a success regardless of the end result.

“We knew we were taking the foot off the gas after two sets one way or another, so we just threw some lineups together and had fun with it,” Lamb said. “We just told them to go get some digs and get some big approaches. We definitely didn’t want to win that fourth set because we wanted to get more action. We weren’t too concerned about the outcome, we just wanted to get two hours of volleyball.”

Lamb said that freshman libero Arianna Arjomand, freshman outside hitter Nicole Anderson (six kills), and redshirt freshman outside hitter Brylee Kelly (five kills) were all pleasant surprises to him on the day.

[SuSHOCK]

I wish we had the cash to build a 4000-5000 seat arena for Woman's Volleyball. It would be awesome to develop this program into a consistent sweet 16 contender. Tier 1 facilities would go a long ways to getting us there and it seems to be the missing link. We have the coach, budget, and the fan base to pull it off. We just need the Kimmy and Kate's to get it done. A purpose built arena with a Volleyball specific floor that could be removed and used for Woman's basketball games would be tremendous.

I can tell you from a first hand perspective, keep coming to the games and bring friends. Tell your friends about volleyball. This will help the program more than a new arena. Parents and kids already love the coaches and the attendance get their attention.

A couple things...
1. The new conference has gotten recruits attention. We are recruiting at a very good level right now. 2020 recruits are gonna be very good in addition to the 2019 kids.

2. Outside of the top 100 recruits in the nation (which are going to Nebraska, Texas, Stanford, etc) the field levels out and the kids become even. It becomes about development and finding hidden kids because of location or other mitigating factors.

This program is gonna be a top 25 program more years than not. This is right where we want to be. A chance to make runs in the tourney. This year we will take our lumps but in the next year or 2 they will be back to where we were 2 years ago. This years group needs to reestablish the competitive culture that was lost last year and then continue to build on it.