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The Shockers end their weekend road trip with a match against Houston at 1 pm on Sunday. This one is on ESPN+. I won't be around for any of it, but, Hey.
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SCOUTING HOUSTON:- UH is out to a 10-2 start (3-0 at home). Its only losses have been on the road to Texas A&M and Alabama. Signature wins include five-setters over Oklahoma and Mississippi State and a four-set win vs. Oregon State.
- Third-year head coach Dave Rehr has led a volleyball renaissance at UH. Last spring he guided the Cougars to a 13-6 record and the AAC's West Division title (9-1).
- Divisions are gone this year, and the Cougars are picked second in the AAC preseason poll behind unanimous favorite UCF.
- Houston returns a trio of first team all-conference picks in sophomore setter Annie Cooke, junior outside hitter Abbie Jackson and senior outside hitter Kortlyn Henderson. Cooke was the league's setter of the year.
- Jackson takes an average of 11.4 swings-per-set (34th nationally) and ranks fourth on the AAC kills chart (3.60-per-set) after leading the league last spring (4.7).
- Rachel Tullos averages a team-high 1.23 blocks-per-set. She set a conference record last year with 17 in a five-set win over Cincinnati.
- As a team, Houston is averaging a league-best 1.87 aces-per-set.
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Other AAC
Cincinnati 0-3 UCF
23, 19, 13
East Carolina 3-1 USF
26, 21, (25), 30
Three of the four sets required extras
Temple 1-3 Memphis
18, (18), 23, 23
Tulsa 0-3 Tulane
14, 14, 17Last edited by flyingMoose; September 26, 2021, 05:09 PM.Comment
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Houston takes out their loss to Tulsa on the Shockers winning in straight sets 25-20, 25-18 and 25-18.
Houston outhit the Shocks .279 to .181 and had 9 service aces to 6 service errors vs 1 ace to 4 errors for rhe Shocks.
Sophia led the Shockers in kills with 9 but also had 7 attack errors on 24 attempts to a poor .083 hitting percentage.
Kayce at 4-0-8 and Skylar Goering, who made her first entry into the match at 6-9 in Set 3 and hit 3-0-6, were the most efficient Shocker attackers allthough on a small number of attempts.
In the loss against Tulane the Shockers were bad on the pins and good in the middle. Today against Houston they were bad on the pins and bad in the middle.
I will need to watch the replay to see how much our serve receive and passing contributed to the poor hitting. With 9 Houston service aces I guessing it was probably a factor.
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Watching a replay of the Houston match.
At 5-8 in Set 1 a soft Houston tip cross court was called in. Replays show it was clearly out by about 6 inches. The line judge and up-ref both had good views of it. Even the Houston announcers agreed that the ball was clearly our on replay. Not sure what the down ref was looking at but they let the call stand. Kind of brings in to question whether Houston's replay system is adequate if they can't get such an obvious call correct on review.
I did not catch it when I looked at the box score earlier today but Kailin Newsome did not play today. Apparently, she was injured against Tulane.
I didn't think the Shockers' passing was too bad in Set 1 but the Shocks were getting a lot of really good swings. In Set 1 Brylee was filling the 6 rotation role in place of Kailin and that seemed to me to have a big impact on the Shocks. Brylee simply is not a 6-ro player.
The passing wasn't very good in the 2nd set but not much else was very good either. Kayce and her attackers could just not get in sync. Houston's attack far more aggressive than the Shocks and Houston's defense also much better than the Shocks.
Like most opponents Houston is targeting Brylee with their serves and with Brylee playing 6 rotations there were quite a few her way.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Skylar came in at 6-9 in the 3rd set but that was incorrect. Skylar started the 3rd set in place of Brylee. Houston immediately targeted Skylar with their serves. Houston jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Skylar did struggle with her serve receive but she wasn't the only one. Skylar did have a few very solid kills and she had the Shockers' only ace of the match.
Not quite sure what to make of this, I continue to be unimpressed with our littles and with our defense. I give Houston some credit for serving well today but the probably should have had closer to 4 or 5 aces in the match instead of 9. The Shocks never really did get much going on offense. May have missed Big Mac a bit today as Morgan Stout was kind of invisible today. But the big hole in the line up was Kalin's abscence. That may have just thrown the Shocks totally out of their comfort zone. Hopefully, Kalin's injury is not too serious. Plus Houston just has better volleyball players. Maybe better coaching as well. Houston's defenders always seemed to be perfectly positioned. Not so for the Shocker defenders.
The Shocks won't win many AAC matches if the level of play in this match becomes the norm. Hopefully, we will get Kailin back soon and that won't be the case.Last edited by 1972Shocker; September 26, 2021, 10:59 PM.Comment
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I thought we'd be more than competitive IF we could stay healthy. We have talent, but not depth. Without Kailin, Mac & Weber (and in those 3, our only reliable 6 rotation player along with her back up) it's a tall order against anyone, to say nothing of the 2nd best team in the league and in my opinion, the best player in the league.
Like 1972Shocker hopefully we can get healthy soon.Comment
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Chris Lambo 09-27-21 radio show.
Overall how did you play?
There are some factors that fans need to understand. This is a season a lot of programs have super seniors. Tulane had 1 and went and got another super senior tramsfer. Houston has a couple as well. Kailin has a sprained ankle and Big Mac has a foot injury.
The Tulane match got away from them. This season there are the haves and have nots when it comes to rosters.
This year is a young team with a lot of upside but with a much more difficult schedule to deal with.
Natalie Foster is day-to-day with an elbow issue.
His focus is on player development.
Brylee, Skyler and Sophie all had opportunities to play 6 rotations this weekend.
The Shockers weren't given to opportunity to bring seniors back and exceed scholarship limit.
Morgan Weber is finally out of quarantine.
Lambo says he know what it looks like when you have a young, inexperienced team. Unfortunately, AAC teams are pretty old.
Basically, the Shockers are just not there yet and the injuries and Covid protocols are not helping.
Big Mac's foot injury, sustained in practice, will be a while.
Kailin's injury is a typical step on someone's foot ankle sprain (2nd degree). But she will probably be out for a couple of weeks.
Natalie will have her elbow evaluated this week. Was really bothering her late in the Houston match.
Morgan Weber has bee out about a month. Hopefully, Morgan can adequately step in to Kailin's role until Kailin returns.
Need the kill % for Brylee and Sophia to be better. Just not getting the production they need from those two spots. No explanation as to why that might be.
They are both talented and capable enough.
Morgan Stout hasn't played volleyball in about 3 years so she is getting a baptism under fire.
Said he feels like they are pretty much equal to most of our opponents at the setter and libero position. Not sure I am buying that but Lambo far more likely to be correct than I am.
Where do you go from here with the lack of depth in the middle. Having scrimmages with no middle blockers. Sean Carter and the volunteer assistant or filling in those spots at practice. Can't run the risk of another injury. Probably where they are going to be the rest of the year.
Talked about the amount of max-jumping that goes on at volleyball practice and volleyball matches.
Once reason we ended up with 4 setters was that they could not attract any middles although tried with a dozen or so in the transfer portal so they just ended up taking the two best players they could get.
Might try to use Sophie and Skylar in the middle. Skylar's size puts her at a significant disadvantage but he thinks they could side out with her in the middle. Sophie's size in and of itself at least present something for opponents to deal with.
Talked about tempo of sets. Basically, just a matter of how many strides does the hitter have left when the ball is on the setter's hands. Zero, 1, 2 or 3.
Shocks 37th in digs per set but that isn't always a good thing. Part of that is because we do not terminate on offense at a high enough rate. But Lambo seems happy with his defense. Again I'm not seeing it although I think we are much better when both Kailin and Morgan are available to play.
Another reason he recruited 4 setters he wasn't convinced he had a setter that could get the job done. Thinks Kayce has really stepped up since the beginning of the year and is playing her best volleyball as a Shocker.
Going to train more for USF this weekend than for UCF. He knows what UCF can do and will do but he's not going to try to do anything special to deal with UCF.
We have long droughts of non-production and they need to figure out how to minimize those.
Talked about the importance of having Morgan Weber back. Would like her to get 3.5 digs per set and around 2.7 kills per set even though she is not really built for scoring. I guess so. Seem like a lot to ask. Currently here are the top Shocker players in kills per set and digs per set:
Kills per set:
Brylee Kelly 2.97
Kailin Newsom 2.87
Sophia Rohling 2.17
Lauren McMahon 2.14
Natalie Foster 1.90
Digs per set:
Lily LIkweig 4.71
Kayce Litzau 2.71
Kailin Newsom 2.61
Morgan Weber 2.25
Lara Uyar 2.13
Until we have a mostly healthy roster available to play including Big Mac, Kailin, Natalie and Morgan I think the Shockers will find the going tough.
My key take away from all this: Lambo's focus is on player development. I just sensed that wins are not at the top of Lambo's priority list at this point and not sure that will change this year and not sure it should with what the team is dealing with.Last edited by 1972Shocker; September 27, 2021, 08:15 PM.Comment
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FWIW, the Projected RPI dropped a ton after the weekend. Doubtless, no surprise to anyone.Comment
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One of the most interesting parts of Monday's radio show was Lambo's comments on the Super Senior situation.
Lambo said that he was under the impression that you would have the option of bringing back your own super seniors and not have that count against your scholarship limit but it ended up that you could not only bring back your own super seniors but you could bring in super senior transfers and not have that count against your scholarship limit.
However, if I interpreted his comments correctly in his case it really didn't matter because he was not allowed to bring back or bring in any super seniors unless he wanted to use one of his 12 scholarships for them. I took this to mean that Wichita State voluntarily capped Lambo at the 12 scholarship limit. Another indication that finances are really tight in the WSU athletic department at this point in time.Comment
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'72 I respect your passion for Wichita State and undying support of all things WSU. I also am trying to stay focussed on the Elephant in the Room thread. However, you are starting to get a bit desperate for excuses for Lambo.
Super Seniors.
WSU didn't have any because they all left the program BEFORE their regular senior year. Budget or no Budget, WSU Super Seniors were not on the roster either way!
A group mind you that was recruited at the time by the National COY! The fact that many transferred OUT and not IN, is not a budget issue. It's an issue of kids not wanting to put one more Super Season in under Lambo.
Budget issues.
Not big enough issues that Lambo was not afforded a $160,000 BONUS on top of his already negotiated salary and bonuses, after that COY award in 2017. To follow up that financial support with 3 of the worst seasons of his tenure and what is heading for a 4th terrible season. And then complaining about finances. Nonsense!!!!!!
If you read the articles and listen to the radio shows over the last several years, Chris is scrambling to make up things that sound good. Look left one week, look right the next week, when does production start again?
Enough excuses.
He's built the program, and took full social and financial credit. Conference and competition have changed. Now he's not responsible for anything? Just a victim of the crazy new landscape, 4 years in a row?
BTW as it concerns one of your other points, Female College Volleyball players are making some of the most compensation through the new NIL deal. They have incentive to be Athletes, Students, and Women now. Please remove that excuse from the bucket.Last edited by jimshocker; September 28, 2021, 09:34 PM.Comment
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You quoted the wrong dude, but whatever.Comment
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Wed 29 Sep
Houston 3-1 Tulane
(23), 21, 17, 20Comment
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