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**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 03:12 PM

One player who does seem to be making good progress in the player development area is Redshirt Freshman Brylee Kelly.

RH: Kelly Coming Off Big Scoring Weekend

Hopefully, the progress will continue for Brylee.

I think Arianna is developing as well and hopefully will give us a good young DS to go along with Giorgia next year (assuming Giorgia fully recovers).

Chinelo and Sophia are two youngsters Lambo was most counting on to be key contributors this year but so far that just hasn't worked out. He did say he thinks Chinelo is just starting to get back to where she was before her shoulder injury in terms of having the confidence to really cut loose. But generally Chinelo and Sophia are just not quite ready for the speed of the game at this level.

So as we head in the final 12 matches of the season the Shocks are nowhere near to having a relatvely set lineup or even approach (6-2 vs 5-1, for example). I suppose that may not change this year but at some point do you just load up witht he youngsters you most need to develop and let them learn under fire. The downside of the that is you can damage some psyche's as well.

I'm just guessing but I think we will see the Shocks back in a 6-2 this weekend after going with the 5-1 last weekend. I expect Mckayla will share the setting duties but not sure whether Lambo will go with Kora or Kayce opposite Mckayla. Maybe both will get a chance although I think iot is more important to develop Kayce at this point.

Hopefully, the Shocks are and will get a bit more practice time in over this week and next week with being at home on back-to-back weekends for the first time this season. Perhaps that can make a significant difference.

**flyingMoose** · October 11, 2019, 03:39 PM

Originally posted by 1972Shocker View Post

To be honest my expectations for this weekend are not very high in terms of winning either of these matches.

To my surprise, Pablo has the Shockers at 62% v Houston. Part of that is home-court advantage - this match would be a toss-up at Houston. Tulane is at 67% on Sunday. But you are right - with so much still unsettled for the Shockers at this point in the season, it is hard to have much confidence in any analytical approach to a possible outcome.

I should note that Pablo assumes you have the same team all year long. So there is no adjustment for injuries, for example. Or a team in a state of flux all season with consequent highs and lows.

**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 08:18 PM

As per usual I'm wrong again. Shocks in a 5-1 to start with against Houston.

Shocks leading 14-9.

Megan leads the Shocks to a 25-21 win in set 1. Megan had 9 kills and no errors in 10 attacks. By far her best set of the year.

Still need to get more than one player at a time having success.

**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 08:48 PM

Shocks down 10-15 in set 2. Back to making too many errors, poor execution and decisions.

Shocks drop set 2 20-25. Played poorly.

**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 09:17 PM

Shocks' poor play continued into set 3.

Houston leads 17-10.

25-15 Houston to go up 2-1

**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 09:44 PM

Shocks switch to a 6-2 in set 4 with Kora and Kayce serving.

Not helping.

Shocks trail 9-15.

Houston 25-16, 3-1.

Glad it's over.

**BAShocker** · October 11, 2019, 10:06 PM

Watching on TV. Yes, understand they are young. But that’s not very good volleyball. (Good high school club vball though). Hopefully they’ll get past this year and be better the following years. Got to trust Lambo.

**flyingMoose** · October 11, 2019, 10:17 PM

I commented to someone: They did not outplay us; we underplayed them.

**WuDrWu** · October 11, 2019, 10:28 PM

No doubt. We've been outplayed several times this year, but tonight ugh.

Never thought we'd struggle this much. We just are not competitive in the passing game nor the setting game. Feel bad for this program right now.

**1972Shocker** · October 11, 2019, 10:46 PM

Starting to affect attendance. The quality of play tonight after the 1st set certainly won't help that.

Lambo may have misjudged his talent last spring.

One problem for Lambo is he doesn't know what he is going to get from one set to the next let alone from one match to the next and that is pretty much true across the roster. I suspect this applies to practices as well as matches.

Hopefully the Shocks will be better next year but I'm thinking this will take a little more time and recruiting success before we get a lot better.

**1972Shocker** · October 12, 2019, 12:17 PM

Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post

I commented to someone: They did not outplay us; we underplayed them.

I totally agree. I made a similar comment to my wife that the Shocks were beating themselves as much or more than Houston was beating them.

Houston only hit .229 for the match but the Shocks were an anemic .132 for the match. Both teams had similar kill rates. 32.6% for Houston and 32.2% for the Shocks. Both of which are just a little lower than you would like. However, Houston's attack error rate was a very good 9.7% while the Shocks attack error rate was a rather poor 19.1% Part of the discrepancy in the attack error rate was the Houston out-blocking the Shocks 12-4. Blocking has been perhaps the one area the Shocks have more less done reasonably well this year. Not against Houston. In a bit of an oddity all 4 of the Shocker blocks were solos. The Shocks had no block assists.

The Shocks managed only 1 service ace for the match against 12 service errors. A really bad ratio. Houston also has 12 service errors but cashed in on 5 service aces.

First contact and setting as WuDrWu pointed out continue to be a real issue and there is probably no quick fix for that.

Outside of Megan's hot first set when she was 9-0-10 = .900 nothing went right for the Shocks last night. Megan hit 11-6-41 = .122 over the final 3 sets.

Hopefully, the team is not becoming demoralized by the lack of success at this point. Lambo seemed to indicate he thought their attitudes were still good. OTOH confidence levels cannot be very good at this point in time. If you don't believe you can do something chances are you won't.

Tulsa beat Tulane last night 20, (20), 20 and 28. Tulane will be motivated Sunday.

**ABC** · October 13, 2019, 12:03 PM

Is thre any light at the end of the tunnel? Next year, year after?

**1972Shocker** · October 13, 2019, 12:28 PM

Originally posted by ABC View Post

Is thre any light at the end of the tunnel? Next year, year after?

We appear to have a very good recruiting class coming in next year and if Giorgia makes something close to a full recovery that will give us a bit boost as well.

We need for Chinelo and Sophia to start living up to their hype and we need to find some quallity setting.

I'm thinking next year will be better but probably not great. I am hoping that the year after next we get back to playing at the level we have been accustomed to.

The thing is there is a ton of volleyball talent spread around the nation and the parity in women's volleyball probably far exceeds that of any other women's sport. The AAC this year is a much tougher conference top to bottom than anything we ever had to deal with in the Valley.

But yes I think there is some light at the endd of the tunnel but it is not a short tunnel.

**1972Shocker** · October 13, 2019, 12:34 PM

RH: Shockers Face Tulane - Wichita State Athletics

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/10/13/the-roundhouse-rh-shockers-face-tulane.aspx

"This league is a tough place to start learning volleyball," Lamb said. "Nobody wants to go through what we're going through."

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Shocks Host Houston and Tulane

Shocks Host Houston and Tulane

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