Shocker VB at UCF and USF

[flyingMoose]

The AAC site has the Shockers match with UCF (Orlando) on Friday as Postponed, but the match with USF (Tampa) on Sunday is still on the schedule. Tulsa still has both matches of the Florida swing on the AAC schedule.

The stuff you really want to know I Ieave for '72 to provide.

[WuDrWu]

Based on a tweet from the UCF head coach, I'm speculating they are flip flopping the Florida weekends. He says UCF is going to Kansas.

[1972Shocker]

Based on a tweet from the UCF head coach, I'm speculating they are flip flopping the Florida weekends. He says UCF is going to Kansas.

I was thinking about that yesterday as making the most sense, although I wasn't sure the Florida teams could get in the air very easily.

[NCAABound]

Looks like Tulsa and UCF are coming to Wichita this weekend.

[1972Shocker]

Volleyball Match vs. UCF Moved to Wichita

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/9/2...o-wichita.aspx

Due to the impact of Hurricane Ian, Wichita State volleyball's schedule for this weekend has been altered. The Shockers will now host #24 UCF on Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm in Charles Koch Arena, and will also host a neutral site match between UCF and Tulsa on Friday, September 30 at 4:00 pm. WSU will not play South Florida this weekend, and the scheduled match with the Bulls will not be made up. All matches this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+.

There is no charge for admission to either match, though donations to the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund are encouraged. A link to donate online can be found HERE, and QR codes with links to the Relief Fund will be available at entrances to make donations. Fans may also make cash donations at the main entrance and the Shocker Ticket Office. For WSU matches, the Southwest and Ticket Office entrances will be open; for non-WSU matches, only the ticket office entrance will be open.

Parking will be open on a first-come, first-served basis.

[flyingMoose]

Wednesday/Friday AAC Matches

(Wed) Memphis 1-3 SMU
(19), 17, 13, 24

Tulsa 0-3 UCF
17, 18, 9
McKenna Melville, twice Conference Player of the Year, is a beast! 23-0-44 for .523.

Houston 3-0 East Carolina
23, 22, 19

SMU 3-1 Cincinnati
20, 17, (22), 17

Tulane 2-3 Temple
24, (21), (24), 22, 11

[1972Shocker]

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS:

• UCF has won four consecutive AAC championships, with a staggering 61-3 mark in conference play from 2018 onward. The Knights lost twice to Cincinnati during the 2019 regular season, and once at home to Houston in 2021. Only Houston, Cincinnati and Wichita State took more than one set from the Knights last season.
• UCF is off to a 10-0 start in 2022, including Power Five wins over Syracuse, Kansas State, Miami and Kansas. The Knights swept two home tournaments and then the Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence before picking up road wins at Memphis and SMU to open AAC play.
• The Knights possess one of the most potent offenses in the country, ranking second nationally with a .314 hitting percentage, seventh with 13.24 assists per set, and ninth with 14.27 kills per set.
• All-American McKenna Melville ranks second in the country in points per set (6.04), while middle Abby Hansen is 12th with a .427 hitting percentage. Melville is on pace to be a five-time honoree to the All-AAC First Team, and has been named conference Player of the Year in consecutive seasons.
• Head Coach Todd Dagenais is now in his 15th season leading the Knights, and is the program's all-time wins leader. He has guided UCF to five NCAA tournament appearances.

[1972Shocker]

WSU set the price appropriately for todays match as UCF overwhelmed the Shocks in a 16, 14, 16 sweep and made the Shocks look very average, if not worse, in the process. And the Shocks contributed to that as well as they just did not compete with perhaps the exception of Brylee and Brylee made her share of mistakes as well.

The Shocks only managed to 25 kills in the match (8.33 per set) including only 6 kills in Set 2 which may have been the worst set I have ever seen a Chris Lamb team play. UCF forged a 23-10 lead with 5 of the Shockers' 10 points coming via UCF service errors. The Shocks scored 4 of the final 6 points to make the score look more respectable than it really was, if you want to call 25-14 repectable.

The Shocks probably paid their best volleyball over the first half of Set 3. The were as close as 11-13 and trailed 12-15 at the mediat timeout. Coming out of the media timeout Lily totally botched a relatively easy serve receive opportunity, followed by 2 Claudia Dillon kills, then another botched serve receive by Lilly whick was followed by a misplayed service reception by Brylee extended the UCF lead to 20-12 and effectively closing out the match.

No sense reveiwing the stats in this one.

Not sure what Lambo found out about his team from this match but whatever it was is not good.

[WuDrWu]

I just don’t get it. No doubt UCF is really good, but it just feels to me we should be better.

[1972Shocker]

I just don’t get it. No doubt UCF is really good, but it just feels to me we should be better.

I was anticipating that UCF would sweep the Shockers but I was not expecting the Shocks to provide so little resistance and a level of play that was head-scratchingly bad.

Hopefully, the Ladies wiil take a good hard look at themselves and bounce back, but it is possible this group just doesn't quite have the goods.

[flyingMoose]

I was anticipating that UCF would sweep the Shockers but I was not expecting the Shocks to provide so little resistance and a level of play that was head-scratchingly bad.

The Shockers scored 46 points in their three sets against UCF, while Tulsa scored 44. Give our home court advantage, we may not have played as well against the Knights as Tulsa did.

[flyingMoose]

Other Sunday Matches

Houston 3-1 Temple
21, (23), 14, 21

Memphis 3-1 Cincinnati
24, (10), 20, 22

Tulane 1-3 East Carolina
(25), 21, 16, 19

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers scored 46 points in their three sets against UCF, while Tulsa scored 44. Give our home court advantage, we may not have played as well against the Knights as Tulsa did.

Perhaps I being too negative and not giving UCF enough credit. In any case, the Shockers certainly did not look like they belonged on the same floor with UCF. It will be interesting to see what Lambo has to say about the match on his radio show. Hopefully, I will have time to listen to it at some point.

[1972Shocker]

I listened to a replay of Lambo's radio show. Here are some of his comments:

Starting with the matches against Dayton and Wright State to close out the non-conference schedule the Shocks serve and pass game has been poor. Based on his statistical analysis of a couple of key stats that relate to this he puts his team at 9th (I am assuming he is talking about 9th out of the 11 AAC teams) in serving and passing.

He didn't mention any names but he referred to 6 rotation players and liberos that were near the top of the league in those stats who are near the bottom of the league this year. That would have to be MorganW and Brylee as they are our only 6-ro players and Lily at libero. My guess is Brylee is the 6-ro player he was referring to.

My comment: It doesn't take a volleyball genius to see that opponents target their serves at Brylee whenever she is on the back row and the Shockers often adjust their serve receive positioning to try to protect Brylee when she is on the back row which may leave them vulnerable for serves to other parts of the court. Brylee also has a lot of service errors (32 service errors vs 18 aces). Natalie has also struggled form the service line (28 service errors vs 14 aces). Both have very good serves when the get them in but the price is pretty high.

Lambo mentioned that at all levels that the a good serve and pass games directly correlates to winning.

Tuesday morning when they get in the gym it (S & P game) is going to have to matter. He will put some stats in front of his team that frankly they won't like and what are they going to do about it. He said they would they would certainly dedicate the time to it. Fortunately, the S & P game is not nearly as demanding physically as other areas, such as working on the transition offense, so you can put more time and effort into that without beating up your team.

Regarding the UCF match Lambo said that after seeing the results of the transfer portal he though it was a foregone conclusion that UCF would rule the roost in the ACC this year. Going in he was more concerned with his team's process goals but had hoped they would be more competitive. He thought the speed and power that UCF brought to bear got to his team. Natalie and Lauren in particular struggled to cover the net due to the speed and pace of UCF's sets and the UCF attackers from both antennas and the back row, led by McKenna Melville was more than the Shocks were used to or could handle well. Kayce wasn't very good but the Shockers poor passing has a lot to do with that. When a team has the talent depth of UCF it makes it easier to play when everyone around you is that talented. UCF is also very experienced. MIke said they had several 5th year seniors. Lambo thinks UCF is a sweet 16 team.

Talked about McKenna Melville's talent and whether she can make the U.S. National Team.

Brylee and Sophia were scoring okay but they couldn't really get any one else going. MorganW did not have a kill. They and an All-Conference caliber middle in Natalie but when you can't get the ball to your setter near the net their just are not enough opportunities. It all starts with the serve and pass game.

Lambo said service numbers this weekends opponents, Memphis and SMU, are both very good. Memphis will bring good defense and ball control. Memphis won't beat themselves. Against Mempis the Shocks need to have the kill % and swing % advantage. Shocks need to find a middle not named Natalie Foster to get on the scoreboard and they need to win the serve and pass game. SMU has a 3-time all-conference player, Rachel Woulfe who I think is a 5th year senior, who can't even get on the floor due to the talent SMU brought in from the transfer portal. When a team is more talented than you are, like SMU, you have to win the serve and passing game. That does not bode well for the Shocks if they can't get their S&P game on track. The Shocks have 3 days to catch up.

Talked about the RPI. UCF is #7, Houston is #19. The Shockers are currently #86. Some of the Shockers opponents Omaha, Northern Colorado and Northern Illinois have not done that well early on in their conferences. However, Lambo said his non-conference opponents still have a win percentage of 59% which is pretty good for a bubble team if the Shocks can just get to the bubble. To do that Lambo thought they would need to win 3-14 conference games (I am not sure I see that in the cards) and hope the non-con opponents can keep that winning percentage of 59% or perhaps even get it to the 60's.

You would have expected the Shockers with pretty much everyone back would be better this season but Lambo is not seeing it. Perhaps it is matter of the opposition improving more than the Shocks. Lambo said that the Shocks have lost a couple matches he was expected to lose but they won a couple he wasn't expecting also.

Talked about the new AAC post-reorganization. Rice is currently #11 in the RPI. Lambo thinks the new AAC can be a good volleyball conference and if they split into 2 divisions that the West division could be very good. The Texas teams don't even have to leave their cities to build a strong roster.

Talked about the transfer portal and the fact that they have a lot of movement between semesters. The question is can you have players graduate in December so you have scholarships available to take advantage of that. Lily does graduate this December, something Lambo said he hasn't had since the advent of the transfer portal. Now he needs the recruiting resources to take advantage of that.

[jimshocker]

‘72, so much detail to go over with the coaches show breakdown. Much of it a recycling of old show materials over the last 5 seasons just in ‘22 context. It’s a broken record.

I would like some clarification on one part of the breakdown.

Did Lambo say he hasn’t had scholarships available at the semester before?

Since the portal?

75% of his team has transferred out through that portal?

Is he saying that none of them left at semester?
Is he saying he didn’t know they were transferring after the second semester?
Is he saying that 3 years in he is still confused about the portal?

Whats so difficult to understand about more kid’s transferring out than in?

Or of course is some sort of funding issue preventing him from figuring things out?

Coach the team you recruited better.