Rumble in the Rockies

[1972Shocker]

Volleyball Preview: Rumble in the Rockies

https://goshockers.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule

The Shocks open up their season with probably their biggest challenge of the non-conference season. We'll find out early on what the Shocks might have in the tank this year.

Friday, Aug. 26 (1 p.m. CT) at Wyoming (0-0, 0-0 Mountain West)
Laramie, Wyoming (UniWyo Sports Complex)
Live Stats // Mountain West Digital Network

Friday, Aug. 26 (6 p.m. CT) vs. Creighton (0-0, 0-0 Big East)
Laramie, Wyoming (UniWyo Sports Complex)
Live Stats // Mountain West Digital Network

Saturday, Aug. 27 (2 p.m. CT) vs. Iowa State (0-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Laramie, Wyoming (UniWyo Sports Complex)
Live Stats // Mountain West Digital Network

SCOUTING WYOMING:

• Wyoming returns eight players from a squad that finished 16-14 in 2021, including an 8-10 mark in Mountain West play.
• The Cowgirls were picked seventh out of 11 teams in the Mountain West preseason poll.
• Outside hitter KC McMahon provides the firepower in the Wyoming offense, returning as a graduate student after ranking tenth in the conference with 3.01 kills per set in Mountain West play. McMahon was an All-MWC selection in 2019.
• Wyoming seeks to fill a void at setter following the departures of Payton Chamberlain and Abby Olson, who combined for more than 1,000 assists a year ago. Transfers Macey Boggs and Kasia Partyka are the two leading candidates for the position.
• Head coach Chad Callihan returns for his tenth season at the helm of the Cowgirls. He arrived in 2012 from Georgia Southern to inherit a program that had just seven 20-win seasons all time, and has since produced five such seasons during his stay in Laramie.
• The Cowgirls play their home matches at the UniWyo Sports Complex, a facility dedicated to volleyball and wrestling. Official capacity for the venue is 1,200.

SCOUTING CREIGHTON:

• Creighton is ranked #18 in the the AVCA preseason poll following a 31-4 season a year ago that ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament with a loss to future Shocker opponent Kansas.
• The Bluejays maintained their dominance of the Big East, rolling to an eighth consecutive conference championship with a 16-2 mark in league play. Creighton swept six consecutive matches to end conference action, breezing through DePaul and Marquette to secure the Big East Tournament Championship.
• Creighton is picked to repeat as Big East champs in 2022, with three players earning a spot on the preseason all-conference team. Sophomore Norah Sis is the preseason Big East Player of the Year, while teammates Kendra Wait and Jaela Zimmerman also secured recognition.
• Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth enters her 20th season at the helm of the Bluejays. She owns an impressive 414-179 mark, good for a .698 winning percentage, and has taken Creighton to the NCAA tournament in 11 of the last 12 years.

SCOUTING IOWA STATE:

• Iowa State was picked third in the Big 12 preseason poll after a 16-12 campaign in 2021, including an 8-8 finish in Big 12 play. The Cyclones reached the NCAA tournament a season ago, but were bounced in the opening round by Stanford.
• Fifth-year senior Eleanor Holthaus leads the charge for Iowa State, a three-time honoree on the All-Big 12 First Team. The talented outside hitter led Iowa State with 291 kills at 3.23 per set in 2021.
• Second Team All-Big 12 setter Jaden Newsome has several other offensive weapons to choose from, most notably outside hitters Annie Hatch and Kenzie Mantz, plus returning middle blocker Alexis Engelbrecht.
• Head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has led Iowa State to the NCAA tournament in 14 of her 17 seasons in Ames, producing a 330-179 overall record. Under Johnson-Lynch's direction, Iowa State reached the Regional Final in both 2008 and 2011.

[JayPak]

Only the matches involving Wyoming will be on the Mountain West Network app.

Other matches will supposedly be on the Wyoming Volleyball facebook page. However, for the first match the stream was up and down. Not frozen, just completely down at times.

Creighton sweeps Iowa State in the first match, -21, -20, -22. Iowa St didn't get their offense going until S3. Creighton started 2 newcomers, while Cyclones started 3 freshmen and 3 super seniors.

Wichita State vs Wyoming up next at 1:00.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers at Wyoming


Set One

Starters: Brylee, Lily, Kayce, Natalie, Lauren, Sophia, Morgan.

Streaming video

13-9 and a Cowgirl TO.

Lara is the only sub for the Shocks to this point.

13-12 but the Shockers get four in a row. 17-12 and another Wyo TO.

25-15.

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Was away during this one.

Same eight players in this set.

25-22.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

0-6 and a Shocker TO.

11-20 before the next TO for the Shocks. Never closer than five.

15-25.

[flyingMoose]

Set Four

As this set starts, Sophia, Morgan and Natalie are above .300. Lauren and Brylee are .000 or below.

3-8 after another Brylee error and Katie Galligan in for Brylee. But Brylee is back in quickly.

Finally a tie at 13.

Galligan in again to play back row.

15-14 and a TO. Media? Wyoming?

Four-point run by the Cowgirls and a Shocker TO. 15-18.

Tie at 19 and 20 and 21 and 22 and 23.

Block by Sophie Childs who just subbed in. 24-23 and a Wyoming TO.

Service error. 24 all.

Tip by McMahon. Service Error. 25.

Sophia kill. Sophia error. 26.

Wyoming kill. Sophia kill. 27.

Sophia error. Natalie kill. 28.

Wyoming kill appealed and touch is overruled! Wyoming block. The ball was being blocked out, but Natalie could not get out of the way. 29.

Two Cowgirl kills.

29-31.

[WuDrWu]

We look tired and slow. Very disappointing play outside most of the 1st set. We’ll likely get pasted tonight and tomorrow.

[flyingMoose]

Set Five

4-1 and a Cowgirl TO. Some changes in the lineup, but the LiveStats are messed up, so not clear what they are.

Here they are. Morgan starts the set as does KatieG in the back row. Brylee subs in soon.

7-3 and the second TO for Wyoming.

8-3 and we switch ends. No more COVID rules.

10-8 and a Shocker TO. Stats are frozen again.

15-8.

Stats might be interesting, but ...

Shockers 3-2 Wyoming
15, 22, (15), (29), 8

[1972Shocker]

Needed that one. As Doc said, the Shocks are likely to get leveled in the next 2 matches. Hopefully, a replay will be available on the Wyoming match as I was not able to watch or follow.

Final stats not in yet but looks like Sophia, Natalie and MorganW carried the load on offense. Looks like Wyoming targeted Brylee and took her out of the match. She had a very disappointing match. Morgan Stout only played in 2 sets and recorded only a block assist and had no attacks. Lauren McMahon played in 4 sets but is apparently still rusty have missing pretty much all of last year.

[flyingMoose]

Final stats not in yet ...

Now they are.

.207 v .176
Blocks 11 v 7
Service aces/errors 8/11 v 5/16 Ouch!

Sophia: 20-4-41 for .390
Morgan 11-3 26 for .308
Natalie 12--527 for .259
Brylee 5-7-25 for -.080 Oof!!

[1972Shocker]

Now they are.

.207 v .176
Blocks 11 v 7
Service aces/errors 8/11 v 5/16 Ouch!

Sophia: 20-4-41 for .390
Morgan 11-3 26 for .308
Natalie 12--527 for .259
Brylee 5-7-25 for -.080 Oof!!

Looks like the blocks and the serving were the keys in this one.

Was really glad to see Morgan have what was very good match by her standards. Hopefully, she can sustain that.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like a replay of the Wyoming match is available.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers v Creighton


Set One

Starters: Brylee, Lily, Kayce, Katie, Natalie, MorganS, MorganW.


Sophia is an early sub - one assumes for Katie who appears to be a back row player.

7-10, then 11-11, then a six-point run by the Jays. 11-17 and a Shocker TO.

Lauren subs in shortly after the TO.

14-25.

-.027 v .310

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Sophia, not Brylee, has this start. I assume Brylee will be paired with Katie in this set.

Lara and Brylee are early subs.

15-15. Biggest leads are one point for the Shocks and two points for Creighton.

18-18 moves to 19-23. TO Shockers.

20-24 is now 23-24. Error, kill, error. TO Creighton.

Kill by Sophia, Jays kill, ball handling error by Kayce.

24-26.


.256 v .279 in Set Two.

For the match, .125 v .292. Blocks 3 v 4.

Brylee and Sophia lead the hitters.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

Brylee and Lara are the early subs.

10-10. Both teams hitting .467 in the set.

Three in a row for the Shockers (Sophia kill, error, error) makes it 17-13. TO Creighton who has yet to lead in this set.

Three more on a block, error, and service ace by Brylee. 20-13.

22-16 is followed by a kill by Sophia, an attack error, and a kill by Morgan.

25-16.


.379 v .152 for the set.

.193 v .248 for the catch.