Volleyball Offseason/Roster Changes

[WuDrWu]

Anyone else getting the feeling that the addition of Coach Zimmerman has paid off already and is just going to keep paying off?

[jimshocker]

Anyone else getting the feeling that the addition of Coach Zimmerman has paid off already and is just going to keep paying off?

Coach Zimmerman was added last season


I understand for obvious reasons off the volleyball court (Her and her Husband Alums) why some might hope and assume she is the heir to Lamb.


What have you seen based off one scrimmage in March, to say "has paid off already"? She was around last season.

I'm not being combative. Just asking.

Someone has to replace Lamb.

What attributes does Zimmerman (or any other option) have that the program has been missing for half a decade?

[WuDrWu]

Coach Zimmerman was added last season

Really?! Thanks for that, I had no idea. I thought Friday was her first appearance.

I understand for obvious reasons off the volleyball court (Her and her Husband Alums) why some might hope and assume she is the heir to Lamb.

My comment had nothing to do with the next coach. We have a head coach. I do realize your obsession though. FWIW, and it's only my opinion, I have never considered that Katie would be interested in the big chair.

What have you seen based off one scrimmage in March, to say "has paid off already"? She was around last season.

I didn't see the scrimmage. My comment was based on other observations.

I'm not being combative. Just asking.

Neither am I.

Someone has to replace Lamb.

Yes. At some point Coach Lamb will retire or die. I hope neither occurs for a very long time, but when one does, yes, we will have to replace him.

What attributes does Zimmerman (or any other option) have that the program has been missing for half a decade?

I think Katie has brought some different ideas to Lambo and she seems to have some leadership qualities that include being not afraid to voice her opinions.

[jimshocker]

I think Katie has brought some different ideas to Lambo and she seems to have some leadership qualities that include being not afraid to voice her opinions.
[/QUOTE]

That was thorough. Nail on the HEAD with this one in particular. Let's hope that doesn't change.

[SubGod22]

WSU - Meet a Shocker: Kayce Litzau

Kayce Litzau is a senior setter on Wichita State University’s volleyball team and an engineering major. She is one of 10 students to earn Senior Honor recognition, the highest honor awarded to WSU students who demonstrate outstanding scholarship, leadership, involvement and service to WSU and the surrounding community. Litzau ranks in the top 10 for career assists at Wichita State with 3,052 and was a second-team All-AAC selection after her sophomore season.

Kayce is one of more than 1,500 students eligible for spring 2023 graduation. Learn more about her time at Wichita State and what's next for the grad.
Hometown


Greendale, Wisconsin
Degree


Bachelor of Science in product design and manufacturing engineering with a minor in mathematics
What made you want to attend Wichita State?


I was drawn to the community that Wichita State has. Within athletics, it is obvious that people care about you and want you to succeed, making it easy to see myself playing volleyball and furthering my education here.

How are you feeling leading up to graduation?

I am very grateful for my time here at Wichita State and excited for the future. I have learned a lot throughout my past four years and am confident that it will make me successful in my future endeavors.

Cool little Q&A

[WuDrWu]

A good question and a flipping fantastic answer:

What advice would you give other Wichita State students?


My advice is to put yourself outside of your comfort zone frequently and fail often. Learning and growing doesn’t happen when you aren’t challenged. Go make mistakes and learn from them!



Student athletes like Kayce are why I adore Shocker volleyball.

[SubGod22]

A good question and a flipping fantastic answer:

What advice would you give other Wichita State students?


My advice is to put yourself outside of your comfort zone frequently and fail often. Learning and growing doesn’t happen when you aren’t challenged. Go make mistakes and learn from them!



Student athletes like Kayce are why I adore Shocker volleyball.

Great and terrifying advice. I still struggle with it even though I enjoy it when I do. The comfort zone thing. The perfectionist in me struggles with the failing part still.

[1972Shocker]

Kind of flying under the radar today but the Shockers went up to Central City, Nebraska today to play a Spring match against the always powerful Huskers. They played in front of a crowd of 2,096.

Nebraska swept the Shocks, which is not a surprise, but they didn't blow them away. Score were 20-25, 21-25 and 21-5.

Here is a link t the live stats:
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broad...g4NzU5LjAuMC4w....

Not sure how long this will be available.

Kayce Litzau did not play in the match. Looks like the Shocks played a 5-1 with Izzi Strand handling the setting duties.

Izzi was on the attack today a she hit 7-1-11 = .545. As I mentioned in my previous post after watching the KSU spring scrimmage that Izzi seems more comfrotable and more capable of scoring from the setter position than Kayce has exhibited in the past.

The other bright spot for the Shockers was Barbara Koehler who hit 10-2-18 = .444

However, Nebraksa pretty much shut down everyone else. Nebraska outhit the Shocks .318 to .178

The Shock had 4 service ace and only 4 service errors. Nebraska had 4 aces and 7 service error.

Nebraska outblocked the Shocks 8-6.

[1972Shocker]

Speaking of Nebraska Volleyball. Looks like they will be demolishing the all-time NCAA volleyball attendance records in August.

Volleyball Day in Nebraska Tickets Sold Out

https://huskers.com/news/2023/4/27/volleyball-day-in-nebraska-tickets-sold-out.aspx

Nebraska will host Omaha at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 in a regular-season match in Memorial Stadium. As part of a local doubleheader celebrating the impact of volleyball on the state, Nebraska-Kearney will play Wayne State in an exhibition match at 4:30 p.m.

Approximately 82,900 tickets were claimed between the season-ticket holder on-sale on Tuesday and the general public on-sale on Wednesday and Thursday. Approximately 17,900 of the tickets were claimed in the season-ticket holder on-sale on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday and Thursday. That number does not include field-level seating or indoor club seating.

"Nebraska fans never cease to amaze me," Nebraska Vice Chancellor, Director of Athletics Trev Alberts said. "We knew the interest in this match would be extremely high, but to sell out Memorial Stadium is truly remarkable. I've heard lots of talk about breaking the NCAA volleyball attendance record, but given the incredible demand for this event we want to explore every avenue to see if it's possible to challenge the record for the most attended women's sporting event in this country. We are truly grateful!"

The largest crowd to attend a women's sporting event in the USA was 90,185 for the 1999 Women's World Cup Final between USA and China at Rose Bowl Stadium. That remained as a world record until 91,553 surpassed it when Barcelona played Real Madrid in Spain in a UEFA Women's Champions League match on March 30, 2022. Barcelona broke their own record a month later on April 22 as 91,648 gathered for a match in Camp Nou against Wolfsburg in a Women's Champions League semifinal.

In order to count as an official NCAA volleyball record, the official attendance must be counted at the conclusion of the second set of the Nebraska-UNO match. Anyone entering Memorial Stadium after that point will not count toward the total attendance. No doubt most will be their far before that.

Nebaska's fan base is pretty amazing.

[Critter's Pa]

Here is the Nebraska game on youtube, might be something to watch as a filler after softball season.

I watched it a few days ago, so I might misremember something or everything.

Nebraska brought their home floor and packed the house. For Nebraska, Harper Murray was impressive, as was Laney Choboy. As usual, Nebraska has another NCAA title contender.
Overall I think we played well. If Nebraska had not made several great saves, all of the sets may have been a little closer.

Maas started at libero wearing #19. I checked on the Shockers roster, the transfers were on the page now, and she is #23. Maybe the ran out of 2s or 3s at the jersey factory. It looked like she may have tweaked a knee making a dig in the first set, but stayed in the game. Annalie Heliste replaced her at libero in the third set. Maas did play DS in the third set. MorganW played only DS, I do not remember her in the front row. Her only attack, from the back row, she boomed one off the Nebraska block. Well, it was not really a "boom" as an awkward hit while coming down to the ground that glanced off the block. She may have thought she jumped in front of the 3m line and needed to be on the ground before hitting the ball over. Annalie got a kill off a dig that went over the net.

Passing was okay. There were many nice passes to Izzi. There were many nice passes to the scorekeeper. Setting was okay, wish we would have gone to the middles more, but you have to have consistent, decent passing. Too many times we were hitting the ball into their block. Kohler did have some success at tooling blocks. Sophia played a good all around game.

Only 23 attempts for our middles, 82 attempts for everyone else. Was surprised that we only played 3 middles the whole match- Foster, MorganS, and Maddie Wilson.

Barbara and Sophia both hit their top-spin jump serve. MorganS seemed like she had the most and longest service runs of any shocker. That rotation must be good for us. I cant recall right off who was on the court and where they were when she was serving. Even the commentators noted it toward the end of the game.

Why not play 5 sets? It's a scrimmage, right? Might as well get the most out of it if someone traveled. I don't know if there were other teams there to play, I don't remember the announcers mentioning it.

I wonder who is going to take the libero position? MorganW had 10 digs (as did Izzi), Maas had 5, Annalie 3, and Katie had 1. I could see MorganW staying at DS to maybe be a back row attacking threat.

[Shockm]

Nebraska needs to take spring volleyball a little more seriously.

[WuDrWu]

Freshman Harper Murray for the Big Red is a total beast.


Trying to be fair, but that group is one of the best all around groups that WSU has had....ever. I don't know if N played their best people or not, but they're good. Gotta think they're top 10 if not top 5 preseason.

[1972Shocker]

Not a bad effort at all by the Shocks.

I liked the Shocker pullover jersey Lambo was wearing. Thought that was a good look for him.

Too bad that Kayce was injured this Spring. OTOH, that gave Izzi a bigger opportunity to learn Lambo's offense and work with her attackers. I guess we will have to wait unitl the fall to find out whether Lambo want to run a 5-1 or a 6-2. Having Izzi on the front row is not a terrible thing as she is a pretty good attacking setter.

[Critter's Pa]

Freshman Harper Murray for the Big Red is a total beast.


Trying to be fair, but that group is one of the best all around groups that WSU has had....ever. I don't know if N played their best people or not, but they're good. Gotta think they're top 10 if not top 5 preseason.

Harper Murray is like a quicker, more talented McKenna Melville. We had no answer for her. She hit .391 (12 3 23) and only played 2 sets. She did have 3 reception errors.

I think we saw what will likely be their starting rotation except I think Bergen Reilly will be the starting setter as a freshman. I think they said she was MVP of the U18 championship tournament. Note that the Shockers have an MVP on the team- Barbara Kohler. Hope she has a great career here.

[WuDrWu]

Not a bad effort at all by the Shocks.

I liked the Shocker pullover jersey Lambo was wearing. Thought that was a good look for him.

Too bad that Kayce was injured this Spring. OTOH, that gave Izzi a bigger opportunity to learn Lambo's offense and work with her attackers. I guess we will have to wait unitl the fall to find out whether Lambo want to run a 5-1 or a 6-2. Having Izzi on the front row is not a terrible thing as she is a pretty good attacking setter.

Unless I'm missing something (and that's certainly possible) given the fanfare Kayce has received graduating, Shannon's twitter tenses, and now the fact that Kayce isn't listed on the 2023 roster, I think it's safe to assume that Kayce is moving on with her life after volleyball career and the keys to the Shocker van are squarely in Izzi's pocket for the fall 2023 season.

I have no doubt Kayce's career, whatever direction it may take, will be incredibly successful. Thank you Kayce!