Volleyball: Northern Colorado Classic (Sep 14-16)

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (3-4, 0-0 American)

Thursday, Sep. 14 (4:00 p.m. CT) vs. Bradley (7-3, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
Greeley, Colorado (Bank of Colorado Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

Friday, Sep. 15 (4:00 p.m. CT) vs. Omaha (0-7, 0-0 Summit)
Greeley, Colorado (Bank of Colorado Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

Saturday, Sep. 16 (7:00 p.m. CT) at Northern Colorado (3-5, 0-0 Big Sky)
Greeley, Colorado (Bank of Colorado Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

As a whole, the American Athletic Conference has struggled mightily in true road matches this season. The conference has combined for a record of 5-22 in true road contests, and no single school has won more than one road match yet this year. At home, conference members are 34-21.

Middle blocker Natalie Foster ranks second in the American Athletic Conference with 1.32 blocks per set, a half-block more per set than her previous career high.

After an excellent serve-and-pass performance in Illinois, the Shockers were unable to generate points from the service line against the Jayhawks and Buffaloes. Wichita State totaled just three service aces in 147 service attempts over the course of the two matches, compared to 15 aces from their opponents.

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SCOUTING BRADLEY:

• Bradley arrives in Greeley with a record of 7-3 following a Tuesday night loss against former Shocker opponent Illinois. The Braves swept through the CEFCU Invitational in Peoria to open the year, lost two of three in St. Louis, and swept the Southern Indiana tourney prior to Tuesday's defeat.
• The Braves are coming off a 10-21 campaign a season ago, including a 6-12 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.
• Bradley was picked eighth in the 12-team MVC preseason poll.

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SCOUTING OMAHA:

• Omaha enters the tournament winless at 0-7, but the Mavericks have played one of the nation's most challenging schedules. Omaha's defeats come at the hands of Texas A&M, Kansas, Nebraska, Kansas State, Long Beach State, Creighton, and Iowa State. Four of the seven are currently ranked and a fifth is receiving votes.
• The Mavericks are coming off a 20-11 season in 2022 that ended in the first round of the NIVC. Omaha finished second in the Summit League but was swept in the conference championship by South Dakota.
• Omaha was picked third in the 2023 Summit League preseason poll behind South Dakota and North Dakota State.
• First Team All-Conference selections Shayla McCormick and McKenna Ruch return for Omaha in 2023, along with reigning Freshman of the Year Kali Jurgensmeier.

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SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO:

• Northern Colorado checks in at 3-5 entering play on Thursday following a pair of defeats at the Northeastern Tournament this past week. The Bears have losses to #3 Stanford, #10 Kentucky, and common opponent Colorado.
• The Bears reached the NCAA tournament for a seventh time in program history in 2022, claiming both the Big Sky regular season and tournament championships. They were eliminated in the opening round by San Diego, finishing with a 22-9 overall record.
• Northern Colorado was picked to repeat as Big Sky champions in the league's preseason poll, projected ahead of Weber State and Portland State. Setter Syd Cole orchestrates the UNC attack as the reigning Big Sky Player of the Year and the first player in program history to earn AVCA All-American honor.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks are up 2-0 on Bradley winning 25-21 in the 1st set and 25-17 in the 2nd set.

.Nice balanced scoring. Sophia and Emerson with 8 kills each, Morgan-S with 6, Natalie with 5 and Morgan-W with 4.

There stats look like they may be screwed up. Looks like the Shocks are hitting around .340. Brylee did not play in the first two sets.

[Critter's Pa]

Shockers looked much improved.

Middles were 17 2 28 for .536. MorganS hit 8 1 15 .467. Frosty hit 9 1 13 .615.

Emmerson lead with 13 kills (13 5 27 .296). Sophia also broke double digits with 12 kills (12 3 19 .474). I like Izzi setting Sophia out of the back row.

Gabi had a total of 4 digs. She didn't get her first dig until the second set. Izzi lead in digs with 11. She also had 34 assists. Katie, instead of Reagan, was in the rotation and played all three sets. Both she and Annalie had 7 digs.

Natalie had 4 block assists, continuing her >1 block per set streak. Emerson had 3 block assists. Izzi, MorganW, and Sophia all had one block assist. No blocks for MorganS?

The stats were kinda screwed up, but I think the Shockers were 49 12 100 for .370 and Bradley was 33 19 100 for .140.

Wish the broadcast would have gone off on time. We almost had sound about halfway through the match, but it didn't happen.

[flyingMoose]

Other Thursday

Northern Colorado 3-2 Omaha
21, 20, (17), (19), 11

[1972Shocker]

So the video I was able to find was a silent youtube video that started at 21-21 toward the end of the 1st set. I was only able to watch from there until late in set 2.

I don't know if I can totally agree that the Shocks looked much improved taking into account the level in competition. The Shocks stats were quite good but it is hard to assess how much that was due to improved play by the Shockers and how much to Bradley's level of play.

In fact, it seems to me like Bradley was very feisty in this one and hung right there with the Shocks until the latter stages of each set.

In Set 1, the Braves lead 21-20 before the Shocks closed out the set on a 5-1 run. In Set 2, the Braves scored 4 in a row to close a 19-12 Shocker lead to 19-16 before the Shocks closed out the set with a 6-1 run. Set 3 the Shocks jumped ahead 5-1 but Bradley battled back to tie it up at 10-10 with the teams trading the next 20 points to make it 20-20 at which point the Shocks closed it out with a 5-2 run. Overall the Shocks outscored Bradley by 15 with 12 of those points coming in these closing runs.

Just looking at the stats you probably would not have guessed that. The Shocks out hit Bradley .370 to .140. The Shocks had a very slight edge in blocks at 5 to 4 which is not a particularly high number. The Shocks dug 53% of Bradley attacks that weren't blocked or hitting errors compared to Bradley's dig rate of 35% vs Shocker attacks.

Quite a few service runs for both teams. The Shocks had 7 runs of 3 or more points and Bradley had 6 with the Shocks outscoring Bradley 27-21 during those runs.

About the only place Bradley fared well was in the service game where that had 6 aces to only 1 error whereas the Shocks had 3 aces and 8 errors giving a 10 point advantage at the service line. This continues to be an issue for the Shocks.

Omaha is 0-8, but that can be a bit misleading as the Mavs have played a very tough schedule losing to Texas A&M, Kansas, Nebraska (in front of 92,000 fans outdoors), K-State, Long Beach State, Creighton and Iowa State before losing to host Northern Iowa in a 5-setter after losing the first 2 sets.

If nothing else, I don't think the Mavs will be intimidated in the least bit by the Shocks.

[Veritas]

Good for the Shox beating Bradley for the 29th straight time with 24 of those sweeps

[Critter's Pa]

First set 25-10 for the Shocks

Natalie has 6 kills on 6 swings and one block assist
Sophia is also hitting 1.000 with 2 kills on 2 swings.

End of the 2nd. 25-19 Shocks.

Nat is 8 kills on10 swings, Sophia is 7 on 10 and Emmerson is 3 on 9, all without an error.

[WuDrWu]

I watched Omaha in their outdoor spectacle vs Nebraska. They were competitive at times (clearly outmatched though) vs the Huskers.

I'm not sure what the first set says about either team, but WSU dismantled Omaha 25-10. 7-1 timeout, another Omaha timeout at 12-4 or something like that and the Shocks run away with the first set.

Shocks hit .524 to -.150. Omaha's 10 points came from 3 WSU serving errors, 1 reception error, 2 blocks and just 4 kills.

On to set 2.

[WuDrWu]

Not a fan of this "new to the 2nd set corner view" but they just changed it.

2nd set starts off with a couple of Omaha blocks but 2-2 after exchanging sideouts. Sophia is really tough on the right these days. 6-0-6 1.000 so far today.

Frosty is 7-0-8 .875.

No Brylee so far, stats say Haley Wolfe has played, and I don't believe that's correct. Shocks with a 5 point run to force an Omaha timeout at 10-4.

[WuDrWu]

Omaha scores twice out of the timeout. Morgan Stout ends that little run on a perfectly timed slide then a block assist restores the lead.

Shocks getting their hands on a lot of swings today.

Frosty on the slide then Sophia with another kill and another Omaha timeout at 16-8.

Sophia and Natalie continue their stellar match numbers.

[WuDrWu]

Shocks hitting .600 and Omaha up to -.047 as they are finally getting some swings in. 17-10 Shocks

Webby makes a great adjustment to a tight set and tools the block to score. Looks like Reagan is in to serve.

19-11. First really bad set by Izzy leads to a Stout error.

20-12. Sophia's serving is getting better and better even if the aces aren't there.

Omaha's setter has made 3 or 4 dynamite tight sets that most setters couldn't make 1 out of 3 times without making an error.

Izzy called for a double contact that I didn't care for so much. Shocks getting a little sloppy towards the end of the set and Lambo takes a timeout 22-17.

[WuDrWu]

Izzy makes a great set to score off a poor service reception to make it 23-17.

Omaha scores twice on some good play 23-19 before putting one in the net. Set point.

3 DYNAMITE digs, 2 by stud transfer Gabi Maas gives the Shocks the set. There's a brief conversation on a touch, but Shocks take the set 25-19.

More competitive, mostly due to good play from Omaha, but the Shocks are in control.

Shocks hitting .511 to Omaha's .034

[WuDrWu]

Omaha ran off the court after set 2 so I did the same expecting the long break in between sets 2 and 3. I was wrong.

Came back at 5-4 Shocks with a Stouty kill for 6-4 then Omaha really scrambles and makes some big saves before scoring, then nets the serve.

Sophia serving at 7-5. Another block and it's 9-5. Shocks don't put down (great dig) an overpass and it's 9-6.

Webby blocks 10-6. By the way, the smoked Norwegian salmon from Sam's is delightful.

Another block and it's 11-7.

Shocks with a rare hitting error (just long) and it's 11-9 then a poor reception leads to an Izzy error and it's 11-10. 3rd set getting unnecessarily dicey.

Another hitting error and we're tied.

Sounds like someone is personally coaching one of the Morgans from the stands.....more cheering, less instruction.

Sloppy play continues for the Shocks and Lambo takes a timeout at 12-14, Omaha with their first lead of the match as far as I can tell (may have led early this set).

[WuDrWu]

Omaha continues their run to 16-12 out of the timeout before a service error which the Shocks immediately return the favor.

Brylee has been in for a bit here in the 3rd but hasn't done anything either way. Both teams missing at this point.

15-17. Morgans block for 16-17 and Omaha takes a timeout.

Just an awful set so far. 16-21 and Lambo takes his last timeout. That sequence was horrible.

[WuDrWu]

A poor return and it's 17-22. Stout scores. Omaha scores. 17-23 and a 4th set appears inevitable.

Omaha digging some tough balls this set and very full of themselves right now. Webby scores. 18-24.

Stout appeared to stumble and maybe tweak something but she stays in....Stout buries one, Shocks celebrate but they play on for a bit before the point is given to WSU.

Omaha scores and takes the set 25-19. I didn't see the Colorado match, but that was not a good set at all, especially given how well the ladies played the first 2 sets.

On to set 4. Shocks hit .032 to .152 for Omaha in set 3. Certainly credit has to be given to the Mavs for improving their play, substantially so, in all facets of the game.