Shockers v Tulane

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers wrap up their home weekend with a match against Tulane on Sunday at noon (per the schedule) or 1 pm (per the tickets). The Green Wave are now 8-5 in the AAC after a sweep of Tulsa on Friday. That record puts them in a four-way tie for third with the Shockers, Cincinnati, and SMU. Tulane won this matchup 3-1 the first go-round when the match was played in Houston because of Hurricane Ida.

I am going to miss all of this one, both in-person and LiveStats.

Oh, and since you asked, Pablo had Houston as a 58% favorite and has the Shocks as a 66% favorite over Tulane.

[flyingMoose]

Set One

Starters are up, so I assume this is a noon start time.

Brylee, Lily, Kayce, Natalie, both Morgans, and Bryn are the starters.

At 6-2, Sophia subs in. Two service aces by Lily and two kills by Brylee in a 5-0 run.


Okay, now I am gone for the duration.

[1972Shocker]

Set One

Shocks got off to a good start afte an opening attack error by Brylee but could not sustain it. Shocks lead 15-14 at the media timout. Tulane's starting setter went out 15 points with a sprained ankle.

Not sure what is going on with Kailin. But Morgan Weber has gone all the way for the Shocks and so far has been the best weapoin for Tulane.

The Shockers have 9 kills at this point but also 7 attack errors (only 1 Tulane block) as our attackers continue to have trouble keeping it beteen the lines.

Shocks fall behind 17-19 but rally to take a 22-19 lead and force a Tulane timeout.

Shocks extend the lead to 24-19 and then Tulane scores 3 in a row to make it 24-22 and force a Shocker timeout.

A nice Morgan Stout kill gives the Shocks a 25-22 win to go up 1-0.

I wonder how many sets over the years the Shockers have won when they hit .062 which they somehow did in this set hitting 13-11-32.

The Shocks picked up 5 points at the service in with 2 aces (by Lily) and no errors vs 0 aces and 4 errors for Tulane and outblocked Tulane 4-3.

Tulane hit .114 in the set.

[1972Shocker]

Set Two

Shocks fall behind early 5-2. Tied at 5-all. Still tied at 8-8 when Tulane went on a 7-3 run for a 15-11 lead at the media timeout.

Kayce is 1-4-5 = -.600. Maybe she needs to be a lot more selctive with her attacks.

Shocks score 5 straight out of the media timeout on 3 kills, a block and a Kayce service ace. The Shockers make it 18-15 with 7 straight all with Kayce at the service line.

Shocks make it a 10-1 run after the media timeout to lead 21-16 and force a Tulane time out.

Shocks up 24-19 as in set in and as in set 1 Tulane closes to 24-22 to force a Shocker timeout.

After the timeout Tulane scores to make 24-23 before a Morgan Stout kill on slide give the Shockers a 25-23 win.

Shocks hit .353 in this set but Tulane hit 375.

Kayce continue to attack unsuccessfully.

The Tulane defense is nowhere close to what the Shockers faced against Houston on Friday. But that Houston match may have zapped some of the energy out of this team. Still no Kailin but she is on the sidelines.

[1972Shocker]

Set 3

Tulane jumps out to 7-2 lead. The Shock narrow the lead to 2 at 15-13 at the media timeout.

Other than Bryn Stansberry the Shocker passing has left a lot to be desired in this set. And Bryn only plays limited rotations.

The Shocks take their first lead of the set at 19-18 on a Morgan Weber service ace.

Tulane takes a 21-20 lead followed by a Natalie howitzer and a Kayce service ace gives the Shocks 22-21 lead. Tulane takes a timeout.

Tulane gets a kill and a Natalie attack error to take a 23-22 lead and the Shocks call a timeout.

A blast from Sophia makes is 23-all.

A back-row attack by Brylee into the middle of the net gives Tulane a set point at 24-23.

Natalie with a soft kill right on the right sideline saves the set point. 24-all.

Kailin come in to serve for the 2nd time in the set.

A Tulane attack error gives the Shocks a 25-24.

A tip by Morgan Weber finds the floor and the Shockers close it out 26-24 and complete the sweep.

Can't say the Shocks played great but all they had to do was play just a little bit better than Tulane anf

for 3 sets they managed to do that.

Tulane hit .243 to .221 for the Shockers. However, the Shocks picked up 8 points at the service line with 7 aces vs 6 errors while Tulane had 2 aces and 9 errors. The Shocks picked up a couple more with 8 blocks to 6 for Tulane.

Morgan Stout with a very nice match hitting 8-1-14 = .500 plus 3 block assists and Natalie hit 7-3-19 = .211 plus 4 block assists in the middle.

Sophia finished strong and hit 9-2-20 = .350 plus 2 block assists. while Brylee hit 11-5-29 =.207 plus 3 block assists on the outside.

So pretty could attack balancce today.

The only other players with kill attempts were Kayce and Morgan Weber who combined to hit 8-9-22 = -.045.

MorganW did lead the Shock with 13 digs althouhg she had around 4 or 5 overpasses. Bryn had 8 digs and was probably the most consistent passer for the Shocks today. Lily only managed to dig 4 balls today which is an unusually low number for a Libero. Perhaps Tulane was deliberately going away from her

Brylee, Kayce and Lily each had 2 service aces and MorganW added 1 service ace. Very nice service game for rhe Shocks. Probably the key differnece in the match.

Even though I did not think it was a particularly artistic game (by either team) this was a good win for the Shocks against a team they were tied with in the standings. But this Shocker team still has a lot of things they can improve on.

[flyingMoose]

Other Sunday Matches

UCF 3-0 ECU
20, 11, 22

Houston 3-0 Tulsa
17, 26, 22

USF 1-3 Cincinnati
(17), 14, 12, 20

SMU 3-1 Temple
(23), 19, 16, 20


UCF (13-1) have a two-game lead over Houston who have a two-game lead over the Shockers, Cincinnati, and SMU.

[WuDrWu]

To my untrained eye, I didn't really feel Tulane lost a lot with their setter going down. Her replacement stepped right in and performed admirably imho.

I think you have to look at the way this team has grown in a short time. They are almost as good as Houston, they're better than Tulane. We should finish at least 20-9, 14-6. Probably missing the tourney by the Friday loss to Houston.

The girls weren't anywhere near at their best today and I never felt threatened by Tulane. I hope they can continue to improve because there's a high ceiling with this group.

[ShockTalk]

Thought the Shocks showed a lot of moxie and grit, particularly in the 3rd set. Throughout the match, Tulane kept making comebacks where the Shocks did bend, but didn't break. No doubt, however, that Tulane's service game errors helped. I, too, don't think that losing their setter made much of a difference. Felt that our offense attack played too much off the left pin, but who am I to question a 3 set sweep.

[1972Shocker]

To my untrained eye, I didn't really feel Tulane lost a lot with their setter going down. Her replacement stepped right in and performed admirably imho.

.
I agree. In fact, that may have been net positive for Tulane.

[flyingMoose]

RPIs of interest -

24 - UCF
49 - Houston
62 - Cincinnati
68 - Shockers

[flyingMoose]

The Bracketology for today has Houston as one of the first seven out. The "candidates" are listed in alphabetical order, so there is no notion about how close Houston might be. "Not very" is my guess.

[WuDrWu]

Am I reading this correctly? Our RPI dropped after losing at UCF (sometimes just playing good teams helps) then dropped again losing to Houston, then dropped again beating Tulane.

I am not a fan or do I totally understand the RPI....clearly.

[flyingMoose]

I am not a fan or do I totally understand the RPI....clearly.

I don't understand RPI either. I do know that it is not only who you play now, but how those teams that you played in the past fare. And the teams they played also. ... I think.

[1972Shocker]

Sophia Rohling Secures Spot on Weekly Honor Roll

https://goshockers.com/news/2021/11/8/volleyball-rohling-secures-spot-on-weekly-honor-roll.aspx

Rohling put together arguably her two best matches of the season in the last three days, piling up a season-high 19 kills on 44 swings Friday against Houston and adding nine kills on just 20 attacks Sunday against Tulane. All told, Rohling hit .344 in the two matches combined, committing only six errors in 64 total swings while helping the Shockers to a weekend split.

The former Neodesha High School standout had five kills in three different sets on Friday night (2nd, 4th, and 5th) despite hitting against one of the American's stingiest defensive units in Houston.

Rohling's outing on Sunday was her most efficient match of the season, with a .350 hitting percentage that helped WSU complete the sweep against Tulane.

In a "Does the Sun Rise in the East" announcement Houston's Kate Georgiades is the Defensive Player of the Week.

[flyingMoose]

Ok, kids, here is the latest from VT.

RPI Futures

21 - UCF
51 - Houston
58 - Cincinnati
69 - Shockers


Top 45 Chances

100% - UCF
22% - Houston
8% - Cincinnati
0% - Shockers


No real surprises.