Elephant in the Room

[WstateU]

[jimshocker]

I’ve already stated I DO actually have an axe to grind. Keep posting it! It really has nothing to do with anything.

Wether I’m grinding an axe or posting and asking questions about the nonsense that has gone on with WSU volleyball over the last 4 years, this thread is about “the elephant in the room.”

The elephant in the room is not really being discussed. ANY questions about Lambo and Sean and how they have failed the last four years is met with, “axe to grind”, “we need a sand program”, ANYTHING but the actual elephant in the room.

WSU and Chris Lamb have no more issues than any other program in the conference given they WON the inaugural season, had the National COY, HUGE fan support, and two great recruiting classes after the conference championship.

Now, after paying Chris a rediculous sum of money to stick around on top of his negotiated bonuses, he has nothing to show for that momentum.

Loses like never before.
Complete roster turn over.
Multiple assistant coaches gone.
Now two recruits this season.

And the hope that 2-3 years from now things turn around.

3 years ago, Houston hired a new head coach. After being terrible.

They won the conference last year. No excuses. Just a solid turn around.

Our COY had buried is program and has you all believing it’s by design.

Maybe that’s the elephant in the room?

[Veritas]

I think you guys are wrong about Jimshocker.
I’m reminded of a plane ride I had with the mother of a very successful and popular Shocker VB player who told me at the time that Chris is not the successful story behind the program but rather its his wife, and without her the program will be in trouble. She said he doesn’t relate well to players.

There is certainly something wrong with the program. Jimshocker very well could have much stronger insight than nearly all of us (especially me). Perhaps he does have an axe to grind and perhaps it’s valid.

The program is not in good shape and has lost its way.
You can’t sugarcoat that!

How many more years of “young players” and “rebuilding” will he be given? He needs to get his **** together. I hope he does.

[shoxlax]

This is an interesting debate. Ignoring the sour grapes personna cast by Jim, there are still some trends that can’t be overlooked. Has he lost his way? It happens, even with great coaches.

[Shock Top]

How about another elephant in the room…

When will WSU get a legitimate volleyball court??

Having to live with the taped down lines with all the success and fan support the program has had is a bit embarrassing.

[WstateU]

[ShockTalk]

As a note, the 2020 volleyball roster on goshockers.com has been repopulated.

[jimshocker]

Seriously- I wish the Shockers a successful season.

Round House article and Preseason Hype 2021 style!

More rinse and repeat.

If you read close you might notice there are even similar words grouped together in all four articles.
Maybe that is not coaches fault but, more of the writers fault for not understanding what Chris was saying?

If you believe the 9/12/19 article, you'd really have to think about what's being said in the 8/11/21 article, and ask for more of an explanation?

Even more questions if you add in the 9/10/20 and 3/27/21 article.

I pasted the last three season's PRESEASON hype articles and last springs look forward article below, I didn't want to misquote or leave room for questioning.

I wonder how close we will come to meeting any of the @$&%#!#)(*& written in the latest article.

Read or don't read. Accuse me of axe grinding.

There is no way all four of these articles, read together in chronological order, would lead any logical person to believe that WSU is following a plan. They are starting the 4th year of a total program scramble. Is this the year it ends? Wait, sorry, the plan is 2 years from NOW? Maybe? I'm not quite sure? Never mind, Chris will let us know after the season.

Peace and Go Shockers!!!



Round House: 9/12/19

Nicole Anderson had to convince some of her previous coaches that sand volleyball didn't hurt her indoor volleyball skills.

The early return on her freshman season should do the work for her.

Anderson, an outside hitter from Richardson, Texas, is tied for the team lead in digs (66) and ranks third with 52 kills with an attack percentage of 226. Teammate Sina Uluave – also a freshman with a big role – thinks she knows why Anderson is a six-rotation force.

"Her hand is super-good," Uluave said. "I probably can't do half the shots that she can take. She can turn it and put it in a spot that's wide open and the block doesn't cover. I think it's because she plays beach. Beach, they tell you, it's a lot more about shots."

Indoor volleyball rewards power; sand can produce skills and versatility. The games are different enough some coaches don't want their indoor players on sand. Anderson is volleyball all the time – she never seriously played another sport – and that means playing both.

"I've had contradicting opinions from coaches on whether it helps or not," she said. "Beach, though power is important, it is not nearly as important as in indoor. You do a lot more shots. With beach volleyball, you're touching the ball with every rally, so you need to be pretty well-rounded."

Shockers coach Chris Lamb said he first saw Anderson at a tournament in Texas and noticed her all-around skills and smarts while playing for a top-level club. He figured in three years of improvement while playing for that club and knew she could help the Shockers, probably early in her career.

"All she's done is play volleyball all year long," he said. "She seems like the kind of kid who's never said no to the opportunity to play volleyball. It's produced a player that has good volleyball I.Q. She's good in so many volleyball situations. For her age, she's been there, done that."

Anderson joined a volleyball club at 9 and the sport took over. She credits her enduring affection to the fact she's never had a bad experience with the sport.

"Ever since I started volleyball, it's kind of been volleyball, volleyball, volleyball," she said. "I did some brief track and field in middle school, but I don't count that. It's kind of been my life and I haven't gotten sick of it. I always want to be touching a ball, and I think that's a good sign."

Those skills are what Lamb saw as he recruited her and those skills are why she can play such a big role as a freshman. Earlier this week, he adjusted her serving duties in an attempt to produce more points and make up for some of Wichita State's scoring struggles.

"We're asking Nicole to serve tougher, because we trust her and her hand," he said. "We're going to back her up and let her serve more aggressively. We're asking her to do a little more. Today she's in the gym, trying to make more bomb serves."

Anderson and Uluave consider each other role models. Uluave admires Anderson's shot-making creativity. Anderson said she is learning from Uluave's level demeanor and serious approach to practice and matches. Uluave is second on the team with 53 kills and carries a .196 attack percentage. Her 55 digs are third.

Together, Lamb is putting more responsibility on two freshmen attackers than at any time since his earliest days rebuilding the program.

This week's Shocker Volleyball Classic adds to the challenge. The Shockers (3-3) play No. 13 BYU (5-1) on Thursday (7 p.m.), defending Atlantic-10 champion VCU (4-3) on Friday (7 p.m.) and No. 3 Texas on Saturday (7 p.m.)

"I'm very thankful to (Lamb) for the opportunity to play such high-level teams," Anderson said. "We're excited, we're eager, we're hungry for it. One of my favorite things is playing as an underdog. You can go out there and play with nothing to lose."


Round House: 9/10/20

Brylee Kelly traded Twizzlers for shrimp and broccoli and she thinks Wichita State volleyball fans will notice the difference.

"I cut out junk food all quarantine," she said. "It was terrible, but I set my mind to it because I was so bored. It really paid off."

Twizzlers – the cherry pull and peel variety – are her favorite. She eliminated candy and added more vegetables to her diet.

"I'm saving money, I'm not going out and I'm not buying junk food," she said. "My body feels good. My brain feels good. I'm going to stick with it."

The Shockers will scrimmage at 6 p.m. Saturday at Charles Koch Arena. Admission is free and attendance is limited to 2,000 due to COVID-19 capacity limitations. Earlier this month, the American Athletic Conference postponed volleyball to the spring to align with NCAA championships.

Wichita State coach Chris Lamb proposed the scrimmage as way to break up the grind of practices and motivate the Shockers. His approach is to treat fall practices like the Shockers would treat the spring during a normal school year.

He plans to play five sets and spent the latter part of the week dividing the team as equally as possible in practices. He said he talked to coach who saw a drop in intensity when the fall schedule was postponed.

"I haven't felt that, but it makes you wonder," Lamb said. "Coaches should always be talking about process. Baby steps. Take what they give you. They didn't cancel our season, they just moved it."

Kelly, a sophomore outside hitter, said the opportunity to play in front of fans is a big motivator for the Shockers.

"It's a struggle not being able to compete against other teams," she said. "This team this year, we have a better atmosphere. We're grittier in practice, we're scrappier. We haven't got the chance to show anyone that. We're all looking forward to giving fans a look at what our practices look like."

Last season, Kelly played in 22 matches as a redshirt freshman. She hit. 145 with 131 kills on 406 attempts. She recorded a career-high 14 kills in a 3-2 win at Memphis. Lamb sees her making significant progress this fall.

"She is making herself very, very relevant to a lot of decisions (about lineups)," Lamb said.

Kelly, from Monee, Ill., used the quarantine to work in a friend's weight room.

"Things are starting to click for me, both the mental and the physical game," she said. "I'm jumping a lot higher. I'm hitting the ball harder and it's showing in scrimmages."

Some other Shockers to watch on Saturday:

• Middle blocker Emma Wright may consider Saturday's scrimmage her senior farewell, Lamb said, depending on her plans for graduate school in the spring. Wright, who redshirted in 2016, played 26 matches last season and hit .237.
• Lamb is pleased with freshmen Morgan Weber (outside hitter), Marriah Buss (outside hitter) and middle Morgan Stout.

"(Weber) is a complete player and a competitor," Lamb said. "You can tell it matters to her and she's doing everything we're asking her to do."

• Middle Chinelo Ogogor, like Kelly, is in her third season in the program after redshirting in 2018. Ogogor played in 23 matches and hit .217 last season.

"I'm bullish on Chinelo right now," Lamb said. "Chinelo seems more comfortable. Less things are surprising and, physically, she's got all the tools she needs."

• Sophomore Sina Uluave is practicing at libero after spending last season as an attacker. Her 178 kills ranked second on the team.

"Her passing numbers have been as good or better as anybody else," Lamb said.


Wichita State 17 volleyball matches this spring, more than most of its American Athletic Conference rivals. Those 17 matches give coach Chris Lamb plenty of data points to calculate over the next week or so as he meets with his Shockers and plans for the fall.

He is confident Wichita State showed it could return to a standard of defense that it wants. Scoring points, however, is an area in need of improvement. The Shockers started the season 8-0 with attackers such as Sophia Rohling and Nicole Anderson shining. When conference play began, teams adjusted and the Shockers struggled to score.

"Something that reared its ugly head here down the stretch is 'Where's scoring going to come from on the pins?'" Lamb said. "During that seven-game losing streak, when the middles weren't scoring, we were in trouble."

The Shockers (9-8, 4-6 American Athletic Conference) finished the season on Saturday with a 3-0 loss (25-21, 25-23, 25-18) to Houston.

On Friday, the Shockers handed Houston (13-5, 9-1) its lone conference loss (3-1), a result that showed the Shockers the value of consistency. Wichita State started the season 8-0. Then it lost seven in a row, three of those in five sets after leading 2-0 or 2-1.



Round House: 3/27/21

"We have to learn how to be on in all areas," outside hitter Brylee Kelly said. "That's one of our downfalls. We need to do two things good in a game, instead of only one thing."

Senior middles Emma Wright and Brooke Smith and setter McKayla Wuensch said their farewells. The rest of the Shockers – with a rotation heavy on sophomores and freshmen – can start thinking about the lessons of the up-and-down season and what that win over AAC West champion Houston might say.

"It shows the potential that we can play at," setter Kayce Litzau said. "We never stopped fighting. I think it's eye-opening for everyone on our team to realize that if we keep working hard and keep buying into the system, we are going to be so good."

Lamb said statistics show the Shockers are probably a bit better than their record. They entered the final weekend of the regular season ranked fifth in hitting percentage (.209) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.161). Wichita State's blocking and back-row defense improved significantly from the 2019 season. The foundation of a winning team is there, once the Shockers clean up mistakes.

"What Houston's good at it is winning," Lamb said. "When you out-hit teams, you out-dig teams, you out-assist teams and you don't win, like Memphis here, like Tulane there . . . I'm glad of the production, but what about all these crazy little errors that occur? Those are all worth points. When those go away, we will be on the good side of 22-25, not on the bad side."

There are several candidates to help Wichita State's scoring. Freshman middle Natalie Foster came on strong in March to hit .385 in a loss at Kansas and record 17 kills in Friday's win over Houston.

"Natalie Foster has great arm talent," Lamb said. "And she wants to be good. When she gets stronger, and a little more experience as a blocker, we probably have a four-year starter. Way ahead of schedule."

Freshmen outside hitters Morgan Weber – who had 18 digs on Saturday – and Marriah Buss are expected to fill bigger roles in the fall season. Freshmen setters Lauren Phillips and Hailey Plugge will join Litzau next season as options to run the offense.

Freshman middle Morgan Stout sat out the spring with an injury.

"She's the most talented, by position, of any of the freshmen," Lamb said. "I would like to say in a year or two there's nothing on the volleyball court she shouldn't be able to do – she's just that fast, she's just that physical."





Round House: 8/11/21

Lily Liekweg and Brynn Stansberry made Mondays their day of recovery and bonding last season.

They talked a little volleyball before moving to other subjects at Stansberry's apartment. They studied and did laundry. They watched "The Bachelor." They ate a bit of ice cream from Crumbl Cookies. Most of all, they helped each other through 2020-21.

"It was our regrouping day," Stansberry said. "Last year was really hard on everyone, with all the COVID stuff. That Monday, for me and Lilly, was to take our mind off of all that. Those days were really good for us."

They are not sure about their Monday plans for this season. They do know that their friendship and work together is part of a strong start to the fall for the Shockers.

"At the end of the day, we're there for each other," Stansberry said. "She's made me the player I am. I wouldn't be here without Lilly."

Wichita State coach Chris Lamb is thrilled with his liberos and defensive specialists, plotting ways to get them on the court to give the Shockers a ball-control edge he feels they lacked in recent seasons.

"Our entire group is giving 110-percent," Liekweg said. "We're always hitting the ground. Lambo is always hitting balls at us; we're always diving. We're always getting back up and doing more."

Liekweg is in her third season with the Shockers, who went 9-8 last spring in the COVID 19-delayed schedule. She ranked second on the team with 179 digs and took over as libero late in the season. Stansberry played in seven matches last season, her first as a Shocker.

Kyle Marneris returns after redshirting and newcomers Annalie Heliste and Lara Uyar complete the group. After several years set back by injuries and inexperience, Lamb said he believes this group can compete with the best in the American Athletic Conference.

"We've been trying to get caught up, but you've got to put seeds in the ground," Lamb said. "Now, as I'm working with them, I finally, finally, get to say we're back. We're relevant at that position now."

Liekweg and Stansberry see a difference with this group of littles. Lamb looks forward to running systems that emphasize the strength of his defense and passing.

"We put a lot of time in during the off-season," Stansberry said. "We're very competitive with each other, but at the same time, we're such a close-knit group and we want each other's success."

On Wednesday morning, Lamb directed the group that the "In and out" drill designed to teach digging and pursuit. The effort reminded him of past strong groups.

"That's as good as we've done that drill since 2017," he said. "They're running."

Liekweg recorded a career-high 28 digs vs. Kansas late last season and has continued her improvement.

"She works really hard and wants to be good," Lamb said. "She's never going to look unbelievably smooth or polished – she sort of does it her own way – but she does it really well. She's just such a gritty warrior that she works her way to production."

Stansberry transferred to Wichita State from Iowa Western Community College last season. Stansberry credits associate head coach Sean Carter with help on serve-receive.

"I feel like I have a confidence this year that I didn't necessarily have last year," Stansberry said. "Last year was a lot of trial-and-error for me on serve-receive. I was trying to fix things and do things a little bit differently. Those things are finally clicking for me."

That improvement puts Stansberry in competition with Liekweg.

"Brynn Stansberry is a completely different volleyball player than one year ago," Lamb said. "She is so much better, so much more aware, anticipating, ranging."

[Wuzee]

Go

[Wuzee]

Away.

[boyshocker]

I think we get that your not happy. For your mental health you need to move on. Probably would help those close to you too.

[WuDrWu]

I realize as we age, most of us change our perspective on things at least a little bit.


I've always believed that sports were an important part in the development of young people. I probably believe that even more staunchly today. If nothing else, learning to be competitive and what it takes to win, and lose, and what it feels like to win, and lose, is hugely important to being a successful adult. Winning and losing matter and they always will.

Perhaps winning doesn't mean quite as much as it once did, for me at least.

Because I wouldn't give one moment from the Volleyball event last night, seeing those young ladies interact with fans, coaches and parents, watching them have fun and listening to them talk about where they're from, what's unique about them, saying their first few words of English in front of 400 people they don't know or hearing about how they are fulfilling their life long dream...even if it's just being on the team knowing you're likely never going to play a meaningful point, as is the case for the completely adorable Lexi Hogan from Garden City.......not one of those moments I personally would sacrifice for one more win.

I'd be willing to wager quite a bit that each one of those young ladies will be successful adults, by just about anyone's measure, and that a good bit of that success will be attributed to the Lambs when it's all said and done.

I'm sorry some others are disappointed or feel slighted or cheated by the program. I am proud to continue supporting them, and I hope I never have to stop.

[1972Shocker]

That's an award winning post WuDrWu. That doesn't mean the program and coaches are above criticism and questioning. That is also part of sports. But it does perhaps put things into the proper perspective and for the most part the good the Lambs have done over the past two decades clearly outweighs any shortcomings we fans can point out from time to time. And it is not really even close.

Thank you for being such a great supporter of all things Wichita State and helping me keep things in proper perspective.

[Veritas]

I realize as we age, most of us change our perspective on things at least a little bit.


I've always believed that sports were an important part in the development of young people. I probably believe that even more staunchly today. If nothing else, learning to be competitive and what it takes to win, and lose, and what it feels like to win, and lose, is hugely important to being a successful adult. Winning and losing matter and they always will.

Perhaps winning doesn't mean quite as much as it once did, for me at least.

Because I wouldn't give one moment from the Volleyball event last night, seeing those young ladies interact with fans, coaches and parents, watching them have fun and listening to them talk about where they're from, what's unique about them, saying their first few words of English in front of 400 people they don't know or hearing about how they are fulfilling their life long dream...even if it's just being on the team knowing you're likely never going to play a meaningful point, as is the case for the completely adorable Lexi Hogan from Garden City.......not one of those moments I personally would sacrifice for one more win.

I'd be willing to wager quite a bit that each one of those young ladies will be successful adults, by just about anyone's measure, and that a good bit of that success will be attributed to the Lambs when it's all said and done.

I'm sorry some others are disappointed or feel slighted or cheated by the program. I am proud to continue supporting them, and I hope I never have to stop.

Is Nostradamus going retro?

Did you copy and paste your post from one of your past frequent nauseating posts supporting Todd Butler? Now we know what you did with all of that kool-aid you had left over.

Did you and your pals who plagiarize each other’s thoughts get a participation trophy when you ran onto the field 70 years ago? I bet you didn’t.

It is not just about developing student athletes into wonderful young adults but to provide THEM the opportunity to compete for championships. Lamb used to do that. What happened?

Keep supporting the student athletes but stop giving a participation trophy for losing coaches.

Didn’t you learn anything during your blind support of the Butler fiasco?
Back to school for WuducWu.

[Kung Wu]

Is Nostradamus going retro?

There he is!