Shocker Volleyball vs ECU (Sept 20th)

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (6-4, 0-0 American)

Wednesday, Sep. 20 (5:00 p.m. CT) vs. East Carolina (9-2, 0-0 American)
Greenville, North Carolina (Minges Coliseum)
Live Stats // Watch

With the introduction of divisions into the conference in 2023, each team will play a pair of Wednesday games to open and close the AAC schedule.

SCOUTING THE PIRATES:

• The Pirates enter play on Wednesday with a conference-best record of 9-2, their best start to a season since the 2019 campaign. East Carolina knocked off previously unbeaten Virginia Tech on the road this past weekend for their fifth consecutive victory.
• ECU's hot start is largely due to a stingy defensive unit that leads the American Athletic Conference with an opponent hitting percentage of .129, the seventh-best mark in the country.
• Former Shocker defensive specialist Lara Uyar is the Pirates libero, coming off a career-best 21 digs in the win at Virginia Tech. Uyar played two seasons at Wichita State, recording 332 digs.
• Talented sophomore outside hitter Angeles Alderete spearheads the Pirates offensively, averaging a team-best 2.89 kills per set and 0.42 aces per set. The reigning AAC Freshman of the Year was a preseason all-conference selection in 2023.

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Alderete was very impressive as a freshman last year vs the Shocks.

Virginia Tech was a decent win although both ECU and Virginia Tech have what appear to be pretty weak non-con schedules.
See https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita...63#post1407263

Middle blocker Natalie Foster was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after hitting a combined .608 in three matches at the Northern Colorado Classic. Foster leads the conference with a .421 hitting percentage and is third on the circuit with 1.22 blocks per set.

With the Shocks coming off a late match Saturday night at Northern Colorado followed by a long bus ride home and with short rest and short practice then a long road trip to ECU sets up as a bit of a trap. The Shocks will then have to turn right around for the long trip back to Wichita followed by short rest and short practice before facing Charlotte in Wichita on Saturday. Hopefully, they can navigate through this successfully and get this behind them.

[flyingMoose]

Per Pablo, the winning % for the Shockers is 58%.

[flyingMoose]

Wow!! Somebody with the same size roster as the Shocks per LiveStats.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks got off to a great start 13-6 lead and then pretty much have fallen apart.

ECU leading 23-21.

Shocks then run off 4 in row to close out set 1 25-23 with a block solo by Emerson for set point.

Brylee and Sophia were a combined 1-6-17 for a -.294 hitting percentage. That may be as bad as I have ever seen. Sophia was 0-5-9 = .556.

I am unable to watch the match, but that is simple not going to work.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks go up 2-0 with a 25-19 win in set 1.

The hitting numbers looke terrible in this one for both teams. The Shock are hitting .0561 to .041 so far. ECU has 10 blocks to only 4 or the Shocks.

Thankfully, the Shocks have been pretty good at the service line with 3 aces to 4 errors while ECU has no aces and 5 errors.

Without seeing it it's hard to tell if it's great defense or inept offense or perhaps a little of both.

Brylee and Sophia continue to struggle now at a combined 3-8-29 = -.172.

Frosty and Swifty (Morgan Stout) are carrying the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

Natalie has 3 service errors but I will take that anytime when she also has 5 service aces.

Shocks come back from 20-22 but rallied to finish off ECU taking the 3rd set by a 25-23 score. So the Shocks get out of Greenville with a sweep but only by he narrowest of margins.

Got a little boost of the bench from Ba Koehler 3 klls and no errors on 5 attempts in the 3rd set. Brylee pick it a little bit in he 3rd set but she, Sophia and Emerson combined to hit 9-16-56 for negative .125 for this match.

Thankfully Frosty and Swifty combined to hit 23-7-44 = .364.

ECU out-blocked the Shocks 12-6 bit the Shocks 6 service aces to only 1 for ECU while both teams has 6 service errors.

Morgan Weber did not play due to an ankle sprain she incurred in practice on Monday.

[flyingMoose]

Other Wednesday Matches (Home m-n Visitor)

SMU 3-0 Memphis
20, 10, 14

North Texas 3-0 Florida Atlantic
22, 22, 20

South Florida 3-2 Tulane
(21), 23, 16, (24), 9

Charlotte 0-3 UTSA
17, 18, 19

Rice 3-0 UAB
23,12, 20

EDIT: Oops!! As noted below,

Temple 0-3 Tulsa
19, 16, 20

[Critter's Pa]

Tulsa also beat Temple 3-0 (19, 16, 20).

With the exception of Tulane and USF, the west division won all the conference opening games. All 3-0.

Natalie has 3 service errors but I will take that anytime when she also has 5 service aces.

Who was that idiot that said she shouldn't be serving? Dude should be ashamed. One of her service errors was right after her first ace at the beginning of set 1. Why, oh why, does that seem to happen much too often? (also the service error following a timeout)


What happened to Emmerson? She didn't play in the 3rd set. Was it because she couldn't get around their block? She had 6 attacking errors, and I'm pretty sure at least half are from being blocked.

That was the worst game for Sophia that I remember. I wonder how much was good blocking by them or a setting or hitting issue for the Shockers.

It would be great to have a solid, go to OH. Ba, Brylee, and Emerson combined for 11 kills on 48 swings. They also combined for 11 attacking errors. But, like Natalie's ace to error ratio, the errors don't matter as much if you are getting 2 or more kills per error. Alderete went 12 7 35 .143. Had a Shocker OH had these numbers, the sets probably wouldn't be as close even with Sophia having the game she had.

[flyingMoose]

The attack errors were atrocious for both teams.

[WuDrWu]

The setting wasn’t particularly good but the blocking certainly was….especially ECU. We just get nothing on the left.

Still, no Webby and a road sweep vs a team that’s likely to have double digit wins in conference (helped by scheduling).

I thought Lara was absolutely brilliant as their libero.

[1972Shocker]

I thought Lara was absolutely brilliant as their libero.

Lara was very good. Best I have seen her play.

[1972Shocker]

It would be great to have a solid, go to OH. Ba, Brylee, and Emerson combined for 11 kills on 48 swings.

It doesn't invalidate your point, but Ba came off the bench and only played in the 3rd set and gave the Shocks a lift with 3 kills on 5 attacks with no errors.

But, yeah our pin hitters have been wildly inconsistent. Thought Sophia was coming on but she had a terrible time of it against ECU.

I suppose the good news is the Shocks played poorly but still swept the team picked to finish 2nd in the AAC East on a long road trip, after short rest and short practice/prep time.

I think ECU may very well win the AAC East. The team picked to finish 1st, Memphis, is not looking very good.

So the Shocks get the top 2 teams in the AAC East on the road and the top 2 teams in the AAC West on the road x 2.

[boyshocker]

Where is Jim to put all the blame on CL for not winning more convincingly?

[1972Shocker]

With the exception of Tulane at USF, the west division won all the conference opening games. All 3-0.

So 6-1 advantage for the West including a 20-3 advantage in sets 1.

Might be interesting to track this throughout the season.

[jimshocker]

Where is Jim to put all the blame on CL for not winning more convincingly?

Here I am.

Careful. If you watched that match, you should not be calling for me.

-Horrible offense by both teams.

-Aside from WSU middles who were studs. I would think another opposing coach might have a plan for the slide! That was all WSU had, and fortunately all they needed against ECU.

-And best defensive player on the court was a TRANSFER OUT of the WSU program.

-What transpired yesterday is far far from an NCAA tournament team. But, that is no longer the actual goal of WSU volleyball.

-Based on CPU models..coaches comments.. and chat boards sentiment, WSU SHOULD win every match they play the rest of the way, except Rice and SMU. And it doesn’t look like Rice is actually performing as well as Chris feels they should with all of their recruiting advantages.

Call me out after SMU…Call me out after Rice.

Otherwise, no prize for beating the JV squads in the AAC. That SHOULD be expected, not celebrated.