Volleyball @ Beavercreek Invitational

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (4-5, 0-0 American)

Friday, Sep. 16 (5:00 p.m. CT) at Dayton (6-4, 0-0 A-10)
Dayton, Ohio (Frericks Center)
Live Stats // Watch

Saturday, Sep. 17 (10:00 a.m. CT) at Wright State (5-3, 0-0 Horizon)
Dayton, Ohio (CJ McGlin Gymnasium)
Live Stats // Watch

SCOUTING THE FLYERS:

• Dayton brings a 6-4 record into the weekend despite a challenging non-conference schedule. The Flyers have already played two ranked teams (#5 Georgia Tech, #25 Illinois) and two others receiving votes (Florida State, Ball State).
• On Tuesday night the Flyers picked up a gutsy five-set win on the road at Ball State, overcoming an 11-10 deficit late in the fifth set to steal a win against the preseason MAC favorites.
• Dayton was picked to repeat as Atlantic-10 champions in the league's preseason poll after a dominant run through the circuit in 2021. The Flyers went 16-0 in A-10 play on their way to a 26-6 overall record and a trip to the NCAA tournament. Dayton defeated Marquette in the opening round and took the first two sets against region host Purdue before ultimately falling in five.
• The Flyers are one of the most talented blocking teams in the country, ranking 12th nationally with 97.5 total blocks. Amelia Moore leads the nation with 59 total blocks and 1.44 per set.
• Notre Dame transfer Grace Dynda leads the Flyers with 105 kills. The senior has notched six double-doubles already this season.
• Head coach Tim Horsmon is in his second stint at the helm of the Flyers after leading the program to unprecedented heights in the early-to-mid 2000s. He moved on to Maryland for six seasons before returning to Dayton for the 2014 campaign.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS:

• Wright State began the season 5-0, sweeping through the Marshall Invitational and Western Michigan Invitational. The Raiders found the going much tougher at the Cardinal & Gold Challenge in Ames, Iowa, dropping all three contests to Iowa, Drake, and previous Wichita State opponent Iowa State. Wright State will play Dayton to open the Beavercreek Invitational on Thursday night.
• The Raiders were picked third in the Horizon League preseason poll behind Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee. Wright State is coming off a 23-8 (14-3) season in 2021, one that ended in the Horizon League semifinals against Northern Kentucky.
• Wright State has posted strong defensive numbers across the board through the first eight matches of 2022, ranking ninth nationally with 17.24 digs per set and 96th at 2.27 blocks per set. Libero Jenny Story led the nation in total digs last season and ranks fourth in digs per set this year.
• Veteran setter Lainey Stephenson is off to an excellent start, posting more than 40 assists in five of her first six matches of the season. She enters play on Friday averaging 10.48 assists per set, tops in the conference and 29th nationally.
• Head coach Travers Green is in his first season in Dayton after four seasons as the associate head coach at Mississippi State. Green has experience in the American Athletic Conference after a previous coaching stop at South Florida. Wright State is his first head coaching position.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks pickup a nice, hard fought, 4 set road win over Dayton Friday night, 25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 23, while hitting a season high .317.

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/9/1...rs-dayton.aspx

Brylee Kelley had by far her best and most efficient attack line of the season hitting 21-2-44 = .432 as did Morgan Stout at 7-2-10 = .500. Sophia Rohling was a very solid at 12-4-25 = .320. Natalie Foster was a somwhat pedestrian (for her) 9-4-19 = .263.

The Shocks kill percentage was a very good 45.2% and there attach error rate was a decent 13.5%.

The Shocks held Dayton to a .180 attack percentage. Blocks were even at 7 each but the Shocks had 59 digs to 45 for the Flyers.

Dayton was helped by 9 service aces to 4 for the Shocks while both teams had a somewhat high 15 service errors. Brylee had 5 those service errors and Natalie had 6 but did have 3 of the Shocker's 4 aces.

Let's see if the can continue that level of play today against Wright State?

[WuDrWu]

Jekyll and Hyde.

Difficult to explain this team.

[1972Shocker]

Let's see if the can continue that level of play today against Wright State?

I am going to say the anwer to that question was no. But that was largely due to Wright State being a very good volleyball team that has better volleyball players and athletes than do the Shocks as the Shockers finish their non-con schedule at 5-6 with a 17-25, 25-20, 25-14, 21-25, 10-15 five set loss at Wright State. I was very impressed with Wright State's ball control and defense. Their libero was very good.

The Shocks had a size and power advantage and outhit Wright State .134 to .057 but Wright State just seemed scrappier, tougher and more in control. However, the service line was a key factor in this one. Wright State had 8 service aces and 6 service errors vs the Shocks who had 5 aces to 16 services aces for a 13 point advantage. Wright State largely targeted Brylee and MorganW with their serves. Natalie and Lily each had 4 service errors and Brylee had 3.

Their were a lot of blocks in this game. 18 by the Shocks which good but not quite as good as Wright State who had 20. The kill totals this set were very poor with the Shocks getting 55 kills (30.7%) but Wright State only 42 (24.1%). You should not be losing matches when your opponent only has a 24.1% kill rate. .

As good as Brylee was against Dayton she was bad against Wright State hitting 11-10-59 = .017 plus 3 service errors and generally struggling whith her ball control.

Sophia led the Shocks hitting 18-7-35 = 0.314, MorganS was 10-4-25 = .240 and Natalie was 9-5-24 = .167. MorganW continues to find it tough going on the attack hitting 6-4-25 = .080 which is right at her season average.

Certainly a match the Shocks could have won and perhaps mostly beat themselves in this one.

My assessment of this team is the they have shortcomings both individually and as a team that can be exploited. They are also inconsistent. Hard to really predict what you will get out of them from set-to-set, let alone match-to-match.

Right now my expectations for the AAC season FWIW are that the Shocks will do just okay but NCAA Tournament play seems like a long-shot. Expect plenty of ups and downs.

[1972Shocker]