Shocks Head to Tulane and Houston

[1972Shocker]

Road Tests at Tulane, Houston Await Shockers

The Wichita State volleyball team continues American Athletic Conference play with a pair of matches at Tulane and Houston Friday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 3. The Shockers will play Tulane in New Orleans Friday at 7 p.m. before heading to Houston, Texas, for a 1 p.m. contest vs. Houston Sunday.

Match Notes and Links

About Tulane
The Tulane University Green Wave enter the weekend at 16-7 overall and 6-4 in The American after splitting two matches in Florida Oct. 25 and 27, sweeping USF, 3-0, in Tampa Oct. 25 prior to falling to UCF, 3-1, in Orlando Oct. 27...Through 23 matches, Tulane is paced by junior outside hitter Lexie Douglas (250 kills, 2.75 kills/set, 28 aces, 243 digs, 2.67 digs/set, two block solos, 45 block assists), sophomore setter Amanda Giardina (459 assists, 5.16 assists/set, 11 aces, 165 digs), senior libero Kaylie McHugh (406 digs, 4.51 digs/set, 28 aces, 115 assists) and sophomore middle hitter Kayla Dinkins (12 block solos, 115 block assists, 1.46 blocks/set, 189 kills, 2.17 kills/set, .312 attack pct.)...Dinkins leads the conference in blocks per set, and ranks fifth in the nation in total blocks (127)...The Green Wave were picked third in The American preseason poll...Tulane is under the direction of fourth season head coach Jim Barnes.

About Houston
The University of Houston Cougars enter the weekend at 14-11 overall and 8-2 in The American after splitting two matches in Florida Oct. 25 and 27, losing at UCF in Orlando, 3-0, before downing USF, 3-2, in Tampa Oct. 27...Through 25 matches, the Cougars are led by freshman outside hitter Abbie Jackson (278 kills, 3.43 kills/set, 25 aces, one block solo, 18 block assists), junior setter Abby Irvine (909 assists, 8.42 assists/set, 22 aces, 268 digs, 2.48 digs/set, one block solo, 21 block assists), senior DS/libero Katie Karbo (538 digs, 5.08 digs/set, 15 aces, 95 assists) and freshman middle blocker Rachel Tullos (48 block solos, 86 block assists, 109 kills)...Karbo leads the conference and is third in the nation in total digs...The Cougars rank second in the country in total attacks (4,007), third in digs (1,642), and seventh in kills (1,280)...Houston was picked to finish 10th in The American preseason poll...The Cougars are led by first season head coach David Rehr.

Hard to see a win this weekend. Not impossible but not very likely.

[flyingMoose]

Hard to see a win this weekend. Not impossible but not very likely.

Pablo: Favorites are Tulane at 79% and Houston at 60%

[1972Shocker]

McKayla tried to practice on Tuesday but had some symptoms after that and is back in concussion protocol and will not play this weekend.

Megan also did not make the trip for personal reasons.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers at Tulsa

Pre-match comments

Two Shockers are out this weekend: McKayla (headaches after Tuesday practice, so back into concussion protocol) and Megan (personal reasons - back to practice on Tuesday).

Continues to like the practices.

Tulane are not complicated but are consistent. Their record is better than their stats - setting, libero, defense make the difference.

V Tulane last time, the Shockers had the errors under control. Tulane block is good because of experience.


Set One

Shocker starters: Kora, Emma, Arianna, Sina, Chinelo, Brooke, libero Kara

Kayce (Emma) and Sophia (Kora) rotate in at 3-2.

Brylee (Arianna) rotates in at 4-5.

First to fifteen (no media TO) is Tulane at 14-15. Two-point leads are the largest: 14-12 for the Shocks and 3-5 for the Green Wave.

18-16 and Tulane takes the first TO of the set.

Kill by Emma, Tulane attack error, Arianna ace and kill by Sina. 23-20 and another TO by Tulane.

24-20 on a kill by Emma.

24-23 and a Shocker TO.

Kill by Chinelo, 25-23.


.242 v .273

4 blocks v 2

Chinelo with four kills, Emma and Brylee with three

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Same starters for the Shocks: Kora, Emma, Arianna, Sina, Chinelo, Brooke, libero Kara

Same rotations as Set One.

First to fifteen are the Shockers at 15-13, their first two-point lead. Tulane's biggest lead was 1-5.

16-13 and the Green Wave takes a TO.

16-16 and now back and forth.

19-20 and a Shocker TO.

Solo block by Brooke finally gets a tie at 23. TO by Tulane.

Shockers maintains the mini-break but cannot get the winning point on service until 28-26 on an attack error.


.184 v .192 in Set Two

.207 v .224 on the match

Five kills for Brylee, Chinelo, and Emma. Four kills for Sina and Brooke.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

Same starters - why not? Kora, Emma, Arianna, Sina, Chinelo, Brooke, libero Kara

3-5 eventually becomes 11-9 and Tulane takes a TO.

15-14 at the "first-to"

17-14 and another TO by the Green Wave.

Alternating points to 21-18 but Tulane has a challenge. ... The call stands.

More alternating points: kill by Sina, block by Chinelo, kill by Sina, attack error and the Shocks win the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.

A major upset.


.216 v .180

Blocks 11 v 4

Emma 7-1-20 for .300
Brylee 7-1-19 for .316
Sina with 8 kills

[ShockTalk]

WOW!! Good for the lady Shockers. They needed this. Straight sets, on the road, against a good opponent.

[flyingMoose]

Post-match comments

Although played well, the different spirit was more important. A good practice this morning.

Outblocked Tulane 11-4.

Happy for several players.

[WuDrWu]

Good for these ladies. You guys called it early with the inconsistencies we'd face. How did the team tonight get swept by a bad Temple team?

If we could find any consistency at all we could finish 500 in conference. If not getting that match point here against Tulane doesn't keep this team from the tourney, the mess in Philly last weekend definitely will.

[1972Shocker]

Good for these ladies. You guys called it early with the inconsistencies we'd face. How did the team tonight get swept by a bad Temple team?

If we could find any consistency at all we could finish 500 in conference. If not getting that match point here against Tulane doesn't keep this team from the tourney, the mess in Philly last weekend definitely will.

.
Some of it I think is that some teams are better match ups for the Shocks than others. I don't think we matched up with Temple very well. OTOH, the Shocks have played well against Tulane in both matches. We will have to see what happens Sunday but not sure we match up very well with Houston. Last year Houston only won 3 AAC matches, 2 of those wins were over the Shocks and they beat the Shocks convincingly earlier this year in Koch Arena.

As far as tonight's match the outcome seems to have been largely due to the Shocks playing cleaner volleyball than Tulane. 13 attack errors to 24 attack errors for Tulane a good of part of which was the Shockers 11-4 advantage in blocks with Tulane being one of the better blocking teams in the AAC. The Shocks also had 5 service aces against only 4 service errors while Tulane had 4 aces and 6 service errors. That 14 points advantage for the Shockers in these areas overcame Tulane's 10 point advantage in kills.

Lambo seemed pretty disappointed with the leadership of the team last week although he mentioned no names. In any case, really good to see the ladies staying focused and determined for an entire match. Hopefully, they can conitnue that for the remainder of the season.

One thing tonight's match probably did was it probably seriously damaged Tulane's already iffy chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

[1972Shocker]

Shocker vs Tulane:

Total Points Scored: Shockers 25+28+25 = 78; Tulane 23+26+20 = 69; Shocker +9

Earned Points (Kills + Blocks + Aces): Shockers 37+11+5 = 53; Tulane 47+4+4 = 55; Shockers -2

Unearned Points (Opponent Attack Errors - Blocks + Opponent Service Errors + Opponent Infractions) Shockers 24-11+6+6 = 25; Tulane 13-4+4+1 = 14;
Shockers +11

Other Friday AAC Results:

UCF over USF 3-0
Cincy over Temple 3-0
ECU over UConn 3-0
SMU over Memphis 3-2
Tullsa over Houstion 3-1

[1972Shocker]

In the Shockers 4 AAC wins they have only outscored Memphis in earned points. The last 3 wins against USF, UConn and Tulane the Shockers had fewer earned points than their opponent. The biggest differential was -7 to USF.

Correction: The Shocks also outscored USF by 7 in earned points but outscored them by 16 in unearned points.

[flyingMoose]

Shocker vs Tulane:

Total Points Scored: Shockers 25+28+25 = 78; Tulane 23+26+20 = 69; Shocker +9

Earned Points (Kills + Blocks + Aces): Shockers 37+11+5 = 53; Tulane 47+4+4 = 55; Shockers -2

Unearned Points (Opponent Attack Errors - Blocks + Opponent Service Errors + Opponent Infractions) Shockers 24-11+6+6 = 25; Tulane 13-4+4+1 = 14;
Shockers +11

I can tell - you have been listening to the coach's show.

[1972Shocker]

I can tell - you have been listening to the coach's show.

Bingo. Plus Lambo has talked about this stuff a lot in his pregame chalk talks with Match Club Members this year.

9 unforced attack errors in 111 swings (8.1%) was very good, as was the 4 service errors in 3 sets (1.33 per set vs the Shocks season average coming in of 1.77) was also solid. Only 1 infraction, a ball-handling error, in 3 sets also was quite good.

On the season the Shocks have a deficit vs their opponents in earned points of 2.52 points per set but are almost dead even in unearned points with a deficit of .029 per set (2.5 points over 86 sets). Against the deficit in earned points was only 0.67 per set and the Shocks had an advantage of 3.67 points per set in unearned points.

Obviously, you would prefer to beat teams with more fire power and more earned points but his year's Shocker teams is somewhat limited in their ability to deliver earned points outside of perhaps blocks. So playing clean gives them a far better shot at taking home a victory.

[1972Shocker]

Set 1 goes to Houston 25-19.

Tough to win when you have to depend on the other team playing bad. The Shocks simply lack firepower and are pretty limited on offense. Their blocking is decent but they are pretty average, if that, on defense otherwise.

The Houston video stream is not very good.

More of the same in Set 2 as Houston prevails 25--20.

Shockers a little better offensively in Set 2 but the Shocks gave Houston 10 unearned point while Houston only gave the Shocks 5 unearned points which accounted for Houston's winning margin.

In Set 3 the Shockers switched to a 5-1 offense with Kayce doing the serving. The promptly fell behind 1-6 before steadying the ship and tied the set at 10-all. It was back and forth until 20-20 but Houston got the next 2 points to make it 22-20 and then ended up winning 25-23. Both teams had 18 earned points in the set so Houston again won on giving up 2 fewer unearned points.

The Shocks did exceed my expectations on this weekend's matches coming out with a split.