Volleyball: Kansas Invitational

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (3-2, 0-0 American)

Thursday, Sep. 8 (12 p.m. CT) vs. UNLV (5-1, 0-0 Mountain West)
Lawrence, Kansas (Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena)
Live Stats

Thursday, Sep. 8 (6:30 p.m. CT) at #19 Kansas (6-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Lawrence, Kansas (Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

SCOUTING THE REBELS:

• UNLV arrives in Lawrence with a 5-1 overall record following a 2-1 showing at the Rebel Challenge in Las Vegas. UNLV nearly swept through their home tournament without a loss after comfortable defeating Weber State and St. John's, but saw a 2-0 set lead against Miami (FL) slip away for their first loss of the 2022 campaign.
• Earlier this season, the Rebels rolled through the North Texas Invitational, downing a talented UTRGV squad in five sets before sweeping host North Texas and Jacksonville.
• Following the Kansas Invitational, UNLV will next do battle with Idaho State, a program led by former Wichita State assistant coaches Sean Carter and Chelsea Scott.
• The Rebels claimed the 2021 NIVC championship with a sweep of Valparaiso, completing a 28-9 season that established a new program record for single-season victories. UNLV won all five of their NIVC matches on the road.
• Longtime Iowa State assistant coach Dawn Sullivan is now in her fifth season at the helm of the Rebels. A former player at Kansas State, Sullivan was named the 2021 Mountain West Coach of the Year after leading UNLV to an undefeated regular season title.

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS:

• Kansas is off to a blistering 6-0 start in 2022, having dropped just a single set over the course of their first six matches. The Jayhawks are ranked #19 in the latest AVCA poll after sweeping their way through the Black Knights Invitational in West Point, New York. Kansas defeated fellow American Athletic Conference foe Temple, then followed with sweeps of host Army and UConn.
• The Jayhawks boast one of the nation's most balanced units on both sides of the ball, with a hitting percentage of .323 that ranks sixth nationally and an opponent hitting percentage of .123 that checks in 12th in the country.
• The Jayhawks were picked fourth in the 2022 Big 12 preseason poll after an 18-12 campaign a season ago that ended in the Sweet Sixteen. Kansas knocked off Oregon and host Creighton before falling to third-ranked Pittsburgh in the round of 16.
• Kansas is led by decorated head coach Ray Bechard, who is now in his 25th season at the helm. Under Bechard's direction, the Jayhawks have reached ten NCAA tournaments, including the Final Four in 2015. Originally a basketball player at Barton County Community College, Bechard won more than 700 games with the Cougars and left the program with the highest all-time winning percentage among two-year college coaches (.923).

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/9/6...itational.aspx

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Looks like the Shocks will have the hands full on Thursday. A split of these two matches would be perfectly acceptable to me. But that will not be easy.

Live stats only for the UNLV match. The KU match will be on ESPN+.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers v UNLV


Set One

Starters: Brylee, Kacy, Lara, Natalie, Lauren, Morgan, Lily

A 4-0 run by the Rebels gives them a lead at 4-6.

Another 4-0 run makes it 7-12. TO Shockers.

A 3-0 run brings the score back to 10-12.

Another 3-0 and the set is tied at 14.

And then it starts getting ugly. 15-19 before a kill by Natalie.

The Shocks tie it at 22 on a kill by Brylee. TO UNLV.

Attack error by Brylee, her only one of the set.

23-25 UNLV.


.167 v .302

Three kills each for Brylee and Natalie.

Sophia was the only sub.

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Sophia starts and Lara does not.

2-2, then 2-8 before a TO by the Shockers.

Kills and a ace by the Rebels; errors by the Shocks.

The beating goes on. 2-13!! and the second TO for the Shocks. Three kills and two errors in this run.

Any subs are not being reported, but we know Sophie is on the court because she got a kill. Analie and Katie have also been in.

15-25.


.182 v .351

Six kills for Brylee, five for Natalie, and four for Kayce.

Sophia and Morgan are both negative.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

Starters are Brylee, Kayce, Sophie, MroganS, Sophia, MorganW, Lily.

A 6-2 this time? Hailey serves after a Kayce kill following a Rebel serve.

If so, not helping. 3-3, then 3-8, then a Shocker TO.

UNLV hitting .367 at this point in the match. That is not going to win many matches. Too much height? Not enough defense?

At least one ball handling error by Kayce in each set. That sounds like questionable passing. Also, some of the UNLV kills do not have an assist which normally is overpassing.

Two blocks and a kill by Brylee bring the score to 10-14. TO Rebels.

11-19 and a Shocker TO.

Long delay at 14-22. A challenge?

Yep, overturned. Now 13-23.

Four UNLV attack errors bring it to 17-23.

18-25.


Shockers 0-3 UNLV


.185 v .305
Blocks 5 v 3
SA/SE 4/7 v 3/5

Natalie is 8-0-15 for .533
Brylee is 8-1-29 for .241
Kayce!! is 5-1-11 for .364
Sophia hit .042 and Morgan hit .000

[1972Shocker]

Final score is 25-15 in set 2.

Sophia and MorganW struggling on the attack hitting a combined 4-6-34 = -.059 and taking 45% of the teams attacks, Need Sophia to get going and Morgan to find someway to convert.a few more of those attacks as well.

[1972Shocker]

Isabel Martin, a 6-0 OH from Gemany via Hillsborough CC in Tampa, Florida, just gutted the Shocker defense hitting 21-3-42 = 0.429

The Shocks were really never in Sets 2 and 3.

Natalie was good again hitting 8-0-15 = .533 and collectively the Shocks' 3 middles hit 12-0-23 = .517. Brylee was okay on the outside at 8-1-29 = .241 but Sophia, Sophie and MorganW struggled combining to hit 9-9-52 = 0.

Shocks' attack error rate at 10.1% was pretty good but the kill percentage of 28.6% was pretty poor. UNLV had a similar attack error rate but had a kill percentage of 40.7%.

UNLV had a side-out % of 67.2% to 50.7% for the Shocks.

Lambo and his charges have some work to do.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers at Kansas


Set One

Starters: Brylee, Kacy, Natalie, MorganS, Sophia, MorganW, Lily

Emerson Wilford, a freshman who has yet to play, is an early sub for the Shocks for MorganW? I wonder if the jersey number was mistyped. Lara and Katie have also subbed in. Emerson has an error and a kill.

3-3 has moved to 3-7.

MorganW is back in. Back row, front row combo?

9-15 at the Media TO. The Shocks have yet to string even two in a row.

Yea, two in a row. 11-15.

KU counters with three in a row. 11-18 and a Shocker TO.

15-20, 16-23. TO Shockers.

18-25.


.158 v .234

Three kills each for Natalie and Sophia.

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Same starters.

KU is all over these subs. They even report the libero swap-a-roo.

A challenge and an overrule on a Sophia swing. 2-3 is 3-2.

Same subs as Set One. Emerson, Lara Katie. I wonder if Emerson has been dinged up until now. I haven't heard her name at all before.

Four in a row for the Jayhawks: kill, error, block, block. 6-9.

10-11, 10-15 and the Media TO.

[My window to pay close attention to this is soon coming to an end.]

13-20. TO Shocks.

From 13-20, the set goes to 15-20, 15-22. Another Shocker TO.

15-25.


.137 v .329

Five kills by Natalie, Sophia, and Emerson.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three


[I am basically gone for the duration.]

23-25.


Shockers 0-3 Kansas


.094 v .288
Blocks 4 v 14

Nine kills for Natalie, six for Sophia.
Emerson was 5-5-26. No worse.

[SubGod22]

That was a horrible day of volleyball for the program.

[flyingMoose]

That was a horrible day of volleyball for the program.

Getting swept by Temple - now that would be a horrible day. But, yes, it would be nice to at least challenge the higher quality programs.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks hung in there in Sets 1 and 2 for the first 20 points or so and then KU pulled away. The 3rd set was much more competitive until KU closed out the set on a 6-1 run.

But yes, after a hopeful opening weekend things are trending in the wrong direction for the Shocks.