Shockers at Shocker Volleyball Classic

[ShockTalk]

I'm not going to say that it was as simple as "being young" and "just learning the system", but it wasn't a flat lack of talent either. They certainly showed in set 3 what they can do on the plus side even as a young team. The first 2 sets were filled with what I thought were confidence problems by certain players. Things even as a high schooler they could handle, but they seemed to hesitate, then all was lost. Even though the 4th set had a similar score to set 1 and 2, I thought they played better as a team and individually.

On a side note: What the he*l did the Wyoming coach think he was doing with that green card at match point and a 9 or 10 point lead? That's how you wanted to win the match??? Really??? Just what kind of signal are you sending to your players having that big a lead and trying to win it with a green card. Sorry, but I thought it was a bush league move. Nothing against him, their players, or fans other than that.

[1972Shocker]

On a side note: What the he*l did the Wyoming coach think he was doing with that green card at match point and a 9 or 10 point lead? That's how you wanted to win the match??? Really??? Just what kind of signal are you sending to your players having that big a lead and trying to win it with a green card. Sorry, but I thought it was a bush league move. Nothing against him, their players, or fans other than that.

I had a WTH moment with that move as well. But since there is not penalty to a team for making a challenge that they lose there is not incentive for these coaches to be more selective with there challenges. I like the lose a challenge, lose a time out appoach.

[flyingMoose]

In my pre-tournament thoughts I was hoping the Shockers might be able to put up 60 points against Creighton. I think I will have to lower that to around 40. In the 3 sets we lost to Wyoming this morning the Shocks only managed 44 points.

I was about to ask what the over/under was on points against Creighton.

Right now, Brylee is the only outside threat. Sophia has left the building. It appears that Lauren sets Brylee better than anyone else, and I expect her to keep getting the nod.

As noted, there were long stretches where the Shockers were not playing young - they were playing badly. The third set may be as well as they can play at the moment.

[flyingMoose]

Creighton 3-0 South Dakota
17, 14, 18

The Shockers need to put a better team on the court soon, or KBB may lose interest in continuing the Creighton+Shockers+some_others arrangement.

[B&Gpassion]

[QUOTE=1972Shocker;n1310186]In my pre-tournament thoughts I was hoping the Shockers might be able to put up 60 points against Creighton. I think I will have to lower that to around 40. In the 3 sets we lost to Wyoming this morning the Shocks only managed 44 points.



This

[1972Shocker]

Right now, Brylee is the only outside threat. Sophia has left the building. It appears that Lauren sets Brylee better than anyone else, and I expect her to keep getting the nod.

Sophia is an interesting case. No doubt an intriguing project for Lambo as a 6-3, left outside hitter. Not sure you can say she is young anymore as she is in her 3rd years as a Shocker. My observations are that she is a bit limited athletically, Sometimes, when you have a player of her size, especially those from small towns, you get a player who is used to getting by primarily because of their size advantage and, as a result, aren't forced to develop more technical skills and finesse. Not really sure how challenging Sophia's club experience was. She played club volleyball for ShoMe (15s), Heartland (16s), Shockwave Volleyball Academy (16s and 17s) and Ravens Elite (18s). Whether or not that is what we are experiencing with Sophia is hard to say for sure, She hit .113 in 53 sets in 2019 and .260 in 65 sets last spring. So far this year she is .177 in 32 sets so far. Perhaps opponents simply have figured out her tendencies and have a defensive plan in place to deal with that. Lambo has always been very high on her. Let's just hope this is a bit of a Covid delayed sophomore slump.

At one time I thought someone on the coaching staff mentioned they might take a look at Morgan Stout on the outside because of her athleticism. Of course, for that to happen we would need Natalie and Big Mac healthy and probably need Addy Badley to be Addy Goodley and I would not think it would be anything you would try to implement during the season. At 6-0, Addy is somewhat vertically challenged in the middle unless she has Morgan Stout level athleticism which is unlikely.

However, I think the biggest weakness of this team is the play of their defensive specialists. All 5 of the Shocker DS's are on the smallish side at 5-2, 5-3 and 3 at 5-5. By comparison Wyoming has 4 DS's on their roster at 5-6 and 3 at 5-7. Some team will use Liberos as tall at 6-0. UNI teams always seemed to very good liberos that were on the tall side. I'm not seeing that our little littles are bringing anything special to the floor the other teams can't match, an in most case exceed, with bigger players. At this point, I think 5-11 Kailin Newsome is our best back row players and passer. Personally, I would have preferred that Lambo had stuck with 5-11 Sina Uluave at libero. How much not sticking her Sina had to do with her leaving the program I couldn't say.

It's not like Lambo has always had a love affair with mini-DS's and Liberos during his time at Wichita State. Not sure how tall Karen Augspurger was. I'm thinking maybe 5-5 or 5-6. Hanna Shelton at 5-2 was probably the first mini-little that played much but she was an average DS at best. Giorgia Civita was only 5-6 but had exceptional instincts for the game. Otherwise, Kelly Broussard and Sarah Waldorf were 5-7. Dani Mostrom, Melissa Granville and Kara Bown were 5-8 (as were Jenna Mak and Arianna Arjomand although hard to say how good they could have been). Jackie Church and Gabi Mostrom were 5-9. Not sure how the Shocks now find themselves with a handful of their smallest ever DS/Liberos whose skill level doesn't seem to be at the level of their longer and rangier predecessors.

Just some random thoughts most of which are worth exactly what you paid for them.

[1972Shocker]

SDS takes Set 1 vs Wyoming 25-22

Wyoming made it competitive despite hitting 8-7-39 = .026

SDS hit .171

Wyoming takes Set 2 25-23

Wyoming hit .139 to .091 for SDS

Wyoming goes up 2-1 with a 25-21 win in Set 3.

Wyoming takes set 4 (25-19) to close out a 3-1 win.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers very competitive in Set 1 vs Creighton. Save 2 set points to tie it at 24-all.

After a Creighton time out the Blue Jays get a kill and a stuff block to take the set 26-24.

Shocks played pretty clean. But best of all they competed.

A little bit of surprise is that Kayce Litzau is handling the setting duties so far. Thought maybe Lauren Phillips would get the call based on this morning's play.

The Shocks take a 20-18 lead in Set 2. Not tearing it up on offense, only hitting .069 in this set, but they are competing and finding ways to stay in points.

Shocks extend the lead to 21-18 but Creighton gets the next 3 to tie it up at 21-all. Shocks call a time out.

Creighton scores 2 more to lead 23-21 and Lambo uses his final time out. Shocks making some unforced errors and they have play clean to have a chance.

Shocks tie it at 23-all but Crieghton closes it out at 25-23 with the final 2 points of the set.

Mike Kennedy mentioned that Big Mac is out with an injury but did not specify what kind of injury.

[WuDrWu]

Boy we really let that slip through the fingers .......damn.

[1972Shocker]

At 5-5 in the 3rd set Lambo sums in little used Skyler Goering. Creighton scores the next 5 points not that Skyler was responsible for that. Seems like an odd time to insert a very inexeperienced player. Not sure if anyone is injured or just needing a blow.

Shocks appear to have hit a wall. Creighton on a 14-4 run to take a 18-9 lead..

Shocks not throwing in the towel. Have narrowed the lead to 5 at 19-14. Unlikely to overcome that but again good to see them compete.

Creighton closes out the set 25-18 to finish of the sweep.

I think the Shocks did show progress in this match despite being swept. 65 points against this excellent Creighton defense was a good effort. As I have mentioned a couple of times good to see the Shockers compete. Hopefully, the light bulb will come on as to how they need to bring it in matches.'

The highlight in the 3rd set was Sophia finally cutting it loose on a number of attacks with some serious heat. Natalie and Stout also had some pretty hard shots in that 3rd set. Brylee probably had the most consistent match overall. The Shocks finished the match with a hitting % of .150. Coming into the match I beieive Kennedy said Creighton's opponents were htting .118 against them on the season.

So I think this match is potentially something to build on. We'll see how it goes from here.

[WuDrWu]

While the effort and execution was clearly lacking this morning (not surprising to me after last night) the ladies certainly turned it around and at least battled this evening.

That CU team will lose at most 4 more matches the rest of the season, and possible a few less. Good fight in the Shocks tonight!

[ShockTalk]

At 5-5 in the 3rd set Lambo sums in little used Skyler Goering. Creighton scores the next 5 points not that Skyler was responsible for that. Seems like an odd time to insert a very inexeperienced player. Not sure if anyone is injured or just needing a blow.

Shocks appear to have hit a wall. Creighton on a 14-4 run to take a 18-9 lead..

Shocks not throwing in the towel. Have narrowed the lead to 5 at 19-14. Unlikely to overcome that but again good to see them compete.

Creighton closes out the set 25-18 to finish of the sweep.

I think the Shocks did show progress in this match despite being swept. 65 points against this excellent Creighton defense was a good effort. As I have mentioned a couple of times could to see the Shockers compete. Hopefully, the light bulb will come on as to how they need to bring it in matches.'

The highlight in the 3rd set was Sophia finally cutting it loose on a number of attacks with some serious heat. Natalie and Stout also had some pretty hard shots in that 3rd set. Brylee probably had the most consistent match overall. The Shocks finished the match with a hitting % of .150. Coming into the match I beieive Kennedy said Creighton's opponents were htting .118 against them on the season.

So I think this match is potentially something to build on. We'll see how it goes from here.

Great effort by our young team, especially after this morning. Now they should know what it takes and that they CAN compete, even against top opponents.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers need to put a better team on the court soon, or KBB may lose interest in continuing the Creighton+Shockers+some_others arrangement.

Hopefully, the Shockers effort against Creighton tonight was a step in the right direction. Moving forward The Shocks are going to have to rise more to Creighton's level because looking at this Creighton team and the recruiting class they have brought in they aren't coming down for the forseeable future.

[flyingMoose]

Where did *that* team come from!!

Except for the -8 Skylar experiment, we essentially played the Jays even. They just managed to get a few more balls to the floor. [Note: -8 according to the play-by-play. I recall her coming in at 5-5 also, so maybe it was a -7 experiment.]

Yes, good to see Sophia assert herself. Their libero may have a few bruises.

[flyingMoose]

... this Creighton team and the recruiting class they have brought in they aren't coming down for the foreseeable future.

Aren't coming down in talent, not geographically, I assume.