Volleyball: Shocker Volleyball Classic (Sep 7-9)

[1972Shocker]

Bylee makes an appearance to open set 3.

[RoyalShock]

The 2nd set was embarrassing.

[RoyalShock]

Promising start to the 3rd.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like Lambo has switched to a 6-2 in the 3rd set.

[RoyalShock]

I spoke too soon.

[1972Shocker]

Colorado pulls out a 25-23 win in Set 3 to finish off the sweep.

A couple of ill-timed service errors late including match point weren't helpful.

I will often watch a replay of the matched on ESPN but that won't happen with this one.

May or may not look at the stats.

[BAShocker]

I turned it off after set 2. Couldn’t watch anymore of that crap.

Not trying to be mean, but I’ve seen many, MANY, high school teams (not club, high school), who could have competed and won against this group of D1 volleyball players.

I get it that teams have off nights. I also get it that WSU’s recruiting budget has been curtailed. However, that performance was inexcusable, imo.

[1972Shocker]

Glanced at the stats. Natalie was the only positive hitting 6-1-10 =.500 with six block assists. Just not very busy.

Perhaps the ugliest number I saw was the Shocks only managed 3 kills in set 2. Beyond bad.

Will be interesting to see if Lambo takes a longer look at the 6-2.

[RoyalShock]

I know Lamb likes to be aggressive on the serve, but when you're already down 4 or 5 you can't afford to give away serves. And when the other team has 23 and 24 and you're at 22 you have to get your serves in.

[Critter's Pa]

May or may not look at the stats.

Don't do it. Oops, too late.

What a horrible game. I guess I was way too optimistic about how well I thought the Shocks would play. That game stunk out loud. I wouldn't re-watch that game, might give your TV a virus or malware or void the warranty. It seemed like nothing went our way.

Serve receive was a mess. Shocks played like Micha Hancock was CU's designated server. 1972Shocker, I get what you were saying about Lambo wanting to serve tough to KU and CU, but I wonder why he didn't have BA come in as a serving specialist with her topspin jump serve? I understand why Sophia doesn't do it at the moment. Maybe Ba also has something going on physically?

Gabi seems to be slower or at least restricted in movement and range. I couldn't tell if her leg was still taped or not.

Was good to see Brylee warming up before the game and getting some playing time. She looked like she was taped up. Don't need to reaggravate that injury, especially when she wasn't going to carry the team to victory. There were too many things going wrong for that to happen, it wasn't a just a lack of firepower (or experience or leadership).

#31's cut shot was killing us all night long. #4, their opposite, had a negative hitting percentage, not sure how much was defensive and how much was her errors, but she did better (and was set more than twice as much) against KU.

[Aargh]

The pre-season hype was that this was going to be an up year. Right now I'm more confident in the baseball team having an up year than the volleyball team.

[1972Shocker]

The pre-season hype was that this was going to be an up year. Right now I'm more confident in the baseball team having an up year than the volleyball team.

KU is a very strong team and Colorado is a pretty solid team as well. Even if totally healthy the probability was that they would would lose both of these matches although Colorado was the best shot they had at a win.

The Shocks actually played quite well against KU but against Colorado the Shocks admittedly played poorly in Set 1 and extremely poorly in set 2. They played much better in set 3 after switching form a 5-1 to a 6-2. In sets 1 and 2 Colorado hit 24-9-54 = .254 to the Shocks 13-14-51 = .020 which is admittedly very poor. In the 3rd set the Shocks outhit Colorado ..345 (14-4-29) to .247 (14-5-38). That should win you most sets but somehow the Shocks found themselves trailing 16-20. At that point the Shocks went on a 6-2 run that included 5 kills (2 by Sophia and 1 each by Brylee, Morgan-S and Natalie) to tie it up at 22-all. Perhaps the Shocks best stretch of the match offensively. Unfortunately Gabi overhit her serve on the next point followed by a Colorado kill to give the Buffs 2 match points. Emerson delivered a kill to save 1 match point but the but Lauren Wheeler ended it when her serve also was hit long.

Probably, the more troubling weekend was the opening weekend although the Shocks definitely felt the absence of a healthy Sophia Rohling in the losses to Notre Dame and Texas Tech. Then Brylee was injured against Houston Christian before returning to the lineup in Set 3 against Colorado.

Personally, I think it is a little early to write off the Shocks but they definitely need to get and stay healthy. Not something they have been prone to do in recent seasons.

If the Shocks struggle at the Northern Colorado Invitational this weekend against Bradley, Omaha and Northern Colorado then we have an issue. Now the host, Northern Colorado looks to be pretty solid this year and I expect them to be a tough challenge especially on their home court.

That is our last set of non-conference games so the Shocks need to find some answers and some consistency. The volleyball team and the baseball team do seem to have one thing in common and that is questions marks about the pitching. The volleyball team has 28 aces to 58 service errors on the season. We know that in 2 or 3 matches they appeared to be trying to serve tough to keep the opponent out systems as much as possible but we simply are not producing much in the way of service aces.

[1972Shocker]

I missed Lambo's radio show last night but found archive of it here:

https://www.audacy.com/stations/kfh/...entId=101-1015

Starts at around 06:02:30. However, it cutoff after the 1st break. So it only has about the first 10 minutes of the show. Not sure how long even that will be accessible.

My notes:

Has not really had the lineup that he trained in the Spring and in the Pre-season intact.

Thinks Colorado will prove to be better than KU by the end of the year.

Did not have enough firepower to combat what CU was doing to them defensively.

Changed up some things in practice on Monday in response to this weekend but did not go into any detail.

Thought they had a lot their serve and pass issues resolved after the Illinois tournament but we reverted back to square one this past weekend.

Essentially conceded that the Shocks simply don't have the talent to stay with teams like KU and Colorado and that SMU and Rice will present similar challenges. Maybe a lot of that is me reading between the lines but that is how I perceived it.

[jimshocker]

I missed Lambo's radio show last night but found archive of it here:

https://www.audacy.com/stations/kfh/...entId=101-1015


Essentially conceded that the Shocks simply don't have the talent to stay with teams like KU and Colorado and that SMU and Rice will present similar challenges. Maybe a lot of that is me reading between the lines but that is how I perceived it.

Good perception.

Even with all the off and preseason hype, WSU will finish .500 in non-con and hopefully 3rd in division by end of season.

This is because, “insert 2023 Lambo excuse or analogy here”.

Near as I can tell, Brylee is the only real non playable injury from the preseason hype.
If you listen carefully to the 1st coaches show, maybe Brylee was butt hurt about being moved to RS opening weekend after preseason POY on OH? And that butt hurt moved to other parts of the body. It was a COACHING decision that led to that.
Just a thought.

Will she come back full strength? Will she come back into the position she has played her entire career? Who knows?

So, here we are. Again. In 2023.

The coach has essentially said no NCAA this year unless a miracle happens. BEFORE conference play even starts.

Will an NIT volleyball bid be celebrated AGAIN as some sort of achievement at the end of this season?

Or, will you all go back and read your posts for the last 9months and ask for a reality check?

What is WSU Volleyball now? NCAA caliber or NIT caliber moving forward.
What is HEAD COACH Chris Lamb doing to change the narrative? We are now heading into the 5th consecutive ground hog day of a season?

I guess SMU is leaving soon! So, Lambo has figured out how to get to #2? Oh wait, #2 is what he’s been selling for a while now.

[flyingMoose]

... SMU and Rice will present similar challenges ...

Current Pablo numbers (which still have some of last year in them - that should disappear after this upcoming weekend) are -

5960 Rice
5795 SMU
5585 Shockers
5330 Tulsa
5295 East Carolina
etc