Volleyball Hosts Temple (Oct 6) and USF (Oct 8)

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (9-5, 3-1 American)

Friday, Oct. 6 (7:00 p.m. CT) vs. Temple (11-4, 2-2 American)
Wichita, Kansas (Charles Koch Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

Sunday, Oct. 8 (1:00 p.m. CT) vs. South Florida (10-6, 4-1 American)
Wichita, Kansas (Charles Koch Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

Temple and South Florida are two of the conference's most improved teams in 2023. The Owls and Bulls have combined for 21 wins thus far after totaling only 19 a year ago. However, their schedules to this point are somewhat suspect. USF did take #11 Florida to 5 sets earlier in the year before losing.

Wichita State's stout defensive unit ranks 15th nationally with an opponent hitting percentage of .153. The Shockers combine a strong blocking presence (2.53 blocks per set, 37th nationally) with a group of littles that Lamb has said ranks among the best he has coached at Wichita State.

SCOUTING THE OWLS:

• After limping to a 10-21 (4-16) mark in 2022, the Owls are off to a strong start in the 2023 campaign. Temple enters play on Friday with an overall record of 11-4, including 2-2 in American Athletic Conference play.
• The Owls are coming off a five-set win over Tulane last Friday in Philadelphia. The Owls split a pair of matches on the road at Florida Atlantic and were swept by Tulsa in their other conference battles.
• Outside hitter Taylor Davenport is one of the conference's busiest players, averaging more than 10 attacks per set and 3.93 kills per set. The senior ranks second in the conference in total points (254.5).

SCOUTING THE BULLS:

• South Florida brings an overall record of 10-6 (4-1) to Wichita after a pair of sweeps against UAB over the weekend. The Bulls split two matches at Memphis and bested Tulane in five for their other conference results.
• Despite the final score, the Bulls own one of the conference's most impressive non-conference performances. On August 26 against #11-ranked Florida, USF led two sets to one before ultimately falling in five.
• South Florida does much of their damage from the service line, where the Bulls lead the conference with 1.92 aces per set.
• After ranking near the top of the conference in blocking a year ago, the Bulls rank last on the circuit in 2023 with 1.57 blocks per set.
• Sophomore outside hitter Buse Hazan has emerged as one of the conference's most exciting young talents. The native of Turkey had just six kills in 2022, but now averages 3.50 kills per set at a .232 hitting percentage.

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If the Sunday vs SMU Shockers show up we should be in pretty good shape. If the Friday vs SMU Shockers show up then trouble will be brewing..

[flyingMoose]

Per Pablo, both matches have the Shockers near 84%.

[1972Shocker]

Per Pablo, both matches have the Shockers near 84%.

That just makes me more nervous.

[B&Gpassion]

Owls can’t breathe. Shox in control of all phases of this one. Very good passing, quicks to the middles, back sets to the outside. Hope we see this vs. USF.
25-11, 25-13, 25-18

[flyingMoose]

Other Matches - all Interdivisional

Charlotte 0-3 SMU
15, 16, 15

Florida Atlantic 3-1 Tulsa
19, 17, (25), 17

Memphis 1-3 Rice
18, (20), 9, 14

UAB 0-3 North Texas
22, 22, 19

East Carolina 3-0 Tulane
19, 22, 12

UTSA 0-3 USF
16, 23, 16


West 11-5 East and 38-16 in sets

[1972Shocker]

Owls can’t breathe. Shox in control of all phases of this one. Very good passing, quicks to the middles, back sets to the outside. Hope we see this vs. USF.
25-11, 25-13, 25-18

Good to see the Shocks take care of business in dominating fashion. And while Sophia was outstanding again tonight hitting 15-3-23 = .522, Lambo has to be concerned about the lack of consitency with our outsides. Brylee hit 5-2-17 = .176 and Barbara was 1-1-13 = .000. All 3 were bad against SMU last Friday and all 3 bounced back with very strong matches against SMU on Sunday. Only Sophia could carry that over to tonights match against a much weaker opponent than SMU. At least Izzi recognized it and kept Sophia busy.

[Critter's Pa]

Side out. The Shockers had a 90.9 side out percentage in set 1. They increased it to 92% through the 2nd set. This dropped to 81.4% at the end of the 3rd set.

In the first set it was the Rohling Frosty show. They each got 5 kills on 6 swings. Frosty had her only error of the match in this set, Sophia was errorless. Ba has 2 of her 3 aces. The Shockers hit .462 (14 2 26). Izzi started the game with 4 serves. After a side out, Annalie served 5 straight. Temple never had a chance. Ba finished out the set on 4 serves, the last two were aces.

In the 2nd set, Rohling collected 4 more kills on 7 swings with 2 errors. Natalie and Brylee both contributed 2 kills each. Katie and Annalie both had an ace in this set. The Shockers hit .222 this set (10 4 27). Katie had 2 service runs of 4 serves. The first run started with her ace. Annalie finished out on a run of 3 serves that started with an ace.

Rohling dominated the scoring in the 3rd and final set, getting 6 kills on 10 swings with 1 error. Natalie and Brylee only added one kill each, but MorganS stepped up and got 3 of her 5 kills in this set. Annalie and Ba both had aces. The Shockers hit .312 (15 5 32) for set 3 and .329 (39 11 85) for the match. Emmerson, who only appeared in the 3rd set, had 2 kills. Temple had their only leads of the match at the beginning. Once the Shockers tied it up at 5-5, they never looked back. Annalie had the longest service run at 7 serves.

6 aces total, 2 service errors. Pretty good. Temple had 10 service errors with no aces. Natalie didn't serve. We had several longer service runs and sided out very well, which is the recipe for victory.

Izzi had 31 assists, 4 digs, and 1 block assist. Gabi had 13 digs, Annalie 9, Ba 9, and MorganW 5.

Ba's stats (1 1 13) don't reflect her play on the floor. She lead with 4 block assists, Natalie 3, MorganS 2 and Izzi 1. Both teams had 5 total blocks.

Both Sophia (15 3 23 .522) and Natalie (8 1 13 .538) put up player of the week stats. Hope they can continue playing that well on Sunday.

Seemed like there were more than 1309 in attendance.

[Critter's Pa]

... Lambo has to be concerned about the lack of consitency with our outsides. .

I think the reason for our low output and lack of consistency from the outsides is directly related to passing. Good passes tend to go to middles and opposites. The bad passes, you know, the ones that become bump sets by a running setter, tend to get hit to the outsides which often lead to non-ideal attacks. Non-setters tend to send sets toward the outsides. The really great outsides can make good attacks with just about anything put up for them to hit. We have to rely on our outsides to not make errors on those sets which are not optimal and to also score when the set is good.

Izzi had a sweet quick set to Sophia that was a thing of beauty. Could use a lot more of that. Sophia didn't have any back row attacks. I don't think she played back row at all. Ba had a couple back row attacks, but I don't think any of them scored.

[1972Shocker]

I think the reason for our low output and lack of consistency from the outsides is directly related to passing. Good passes tend to go to middles and opposites. The bad passes, you know, the ones that become bump sets by a running setter, tend to get hit to the outsides which often lead to non-ideal attacks. Non-setters tend to send sets toward the outsides. The really great outsides can make good attacks with just about anything put up for them to hit. We have to rely on our outsides to not make errors on those sets which are not optimal and to also score when the set is good.

Izzi had a sweet quick set to Sophia that was a thing of beauty. Could use a lot more of that. Sophia didn't have any back row attacks. I don't think she played back row at all. Ba had a couple back row attacks, but I don't think any of them scored.

That's a good point and somewhat of a given and why you don't expect left side OH's to have high kill %. .200 is pretty decent and acceptable with a kill percentage of 30 to 35%.. But I would expect Brylee and Ba to hit better than .100 with a kill percentage of 20% against a team like Temple. Furthermore, Lambo is pushing Izzi to go to where the kils are and not just spreading the sets around just to be spreading the sets around. That was certainly the case against Temple as Sophia, Frosty an Swifty were set 46 times while Brylee, Ba and Emerson were set 34 times.

I will grant you that it is hard to say how much Brylee's health is a factor and with Ba you have a learning curve you are dealing with as she transitions from the Juco level to the D-I level. And as you point out Ba had a solid floor game. I think Ba is finding that what worked for her as a 6-0 OH in Juco won't necessarily work at the D-1 level although she has shown signs of beign able to get it done.

Let's hope we have the same kind of bounce back for the left side hitters Sunday that we had last weekend against SMU. I anticipate USF will be somewhat tougher challenge than Temple. I doubt the Shocks can expect a 16-2 advantage in scoring from the service line like they had over Temple.

[1972Shocker]

Katie Galligan's streak of 10 service rotations without a 1 and done game to an end in the 1st set against Temple. She had one 3-serve rotation against SMU on Friday and she had 9 service rotations against SMU on Sunday. The Shock won 20 of 30 points with Katie serving against SMU.

I her first service rotation against Temple that streak ended on a Ba Koelher attack error. In the 2nd set she was back at it with a 4-serve rotation and a 3-serve rotation. In set 3, Katie had another one-and-done followed by a 2-serve rotation near the end of the set. So not as impressive as her SMU performance but the Shocks won 6 of the 11 points with Katie serving.

Annalie is has been very good at the service line as well lately. The Shocks won 11 of her 18 serves in 8 rotations against SMU last Sunday. Against Temple Annalie had 19 serves in 7 rotations with the Shocks winning 13 of thos points. Annalie has more one-and-dones than Katie but also has more extended service runs.

Combined Katie and Anna have served 75 times with Shocks winning 48 (64%) with Shock winning on 24 of 38 (63.2%) on Katie's serve and 24 of 37 (64.9%) on Annalie's serves. As was discussed after the SMU win there are a lot of factors that can contribute to that but whatever it is its working well right now.

Ba seems to be serving better as well although her top spin jump serve is more high risk - high reward approach that Katie and Annalie. Ba had 3 of the Shocks 6 aces against Temple with 12 serves over 6 rotations. The Shocks won 7 of those 12 serves (58.3%). Against SMU on Sunday the Shocks 6 of 16 points (37.%) on Ba's serves.

Right now Katie and Annalie seem like a couple of pitchers with average stuff but great command. However, it is unlikely they can maintain this pace. But the rotations in the game when Katie and Anna are serving have been very effective over the last 2 matches.

[1972Shocker]

RH: Strand's Connection with Rohling Sparks Attack

Wichita State's Izzi Strand believes she possesses abnormally bendy wrists and that helps her back set more accurately and at the proper speed.

"Back set is actually my favorite set my entire life," she said. "Most setters don't like setting back, because it's the hardest one to do because you can't see where you're setting to. I think the challenge is what I like the most."

Opposite Sophia Rohling is one of the big beneficiaries of Strand's flexible wrists and love of the back set. With Strand heating up with her middle blockers, that set is often open for Rohling. On Friday, the Shockers swept Temple (25-11, 25-13, 25-18) at Koch Arena with Rohling recording 15 kills and a season-high .522 attack percentage.

Coach Chris Lamb saw the Strand-Rohling connection coming when he watched video of Strand at UC San Diego, where she played two seasons before transferring to Wichita State in January.

"She has really strong hands and she is able to be wristy with it," he said. "From the first time we were watching video we were like 'Well, we can play long ball with her, and I know Sophia will appreciate it because people are going to be staying with (middle Natalie Foster)."

Rohling faced many solo blockers on Friday and avoided them with ease. She totaled five kills on five swings in the first set and went eight for eight before committing one of her three errors in the second set.

"Her ability to get that pin set back there really fast and throw the blockers off, it creates huge holes for me that I can bounce balls in," Rohling said.

The Shockers hit .462 in the first set and .329 for the match, their high in conference play. They held the Owls to .096 and controlled the serve-and-receive game by landing six aces with two errors. Temple didn't record an ace and had 10 errors.

"Statistically, today might have been the best serve-pass differential we've had in a match all year," Lamb said.

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After watching the Temple match this afternoon I do have a question about Izzi. Izzi's freshman season at UC San Diego was cancelled due to Covid. She played that past two seasons at UC San Diego with this season at WSU being her 3rd season. So she should have one more season of eligibiity remaining if she choses to use it.

Mike Kennedy mentioned a couple times during his ESPN+ broadcast that this would be Izzi's one and only year at Wichita State. So has Izzi already decided this is her last year playing collegiately, or has she already decided to do a grad transfer (assuming she gets her degree), or is Mike mistaken?

[1972Shocker]

After watching the Temple game this afternoon the biggest thing that sood out to me about Ba's floor game was her passing. I thought it was very good. Best I have seen from her and that is certainly a valuable contribution.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

Florida Atlantic 3-1 Tulsa
19, 17, (25), 17

This score was a bit of a surprise to me. Tulsa was very competitive in both matches against Rice in Tulsa and was coming off of a sweep of North Texas in Denton in 2 competitive matches.

Do know how Pablo had this match handicapped?

[1972Shocker]

USF seems to be winning the serve and pass game so far but the Shocks hanging with their defense.

Shocks prevail in set 1 25-21.

USF's pasing has been very good. This is not going to be a cakewalk if they keep that up.