Shocker Volleyball Hosts UAB (Senior Night - Wed, 11/22)

[1972Shocker]

Assuming these are all the players who will be celebrating Senior Night we have Sophia Rohling, Brylee Kelley, Morgan Weber, Kylie Marneris and Lauren McMahan.

Sophia and Brylee were a known quantity since they have both exhausted their eligibility. Not surprised about Kylie. She's a redshirt junior who rarely played but who supplied great energy and spirt on the sidelines and I'm sure in practices as well. Webby has another year of eligibility left and I think Lauren has 2 years left. I was a little surprised to see Webby. Lauren has not been used all that much and with Frosty and Swifty in front of her (and perhaps Maddie Wilson) prospects for playing time for Lauren weren't great. I could see both Webby and Lauren continuing to play out their eligibility somewhere if they want to continue with post-grad studies.

This doesn't lockout Webby and Lauren from returning to the team next year but is usually a pretty strong indicator that is not in their plans at least currently.

Not shown in this X post is Izzi Strand. Again that does not guarantee she will be back next year but is a pretty good indicator that she probably will return.

I hope Sophia is well enough to play Wednesday, or at least well enough to make a cameo appearance.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers are something like 95% against UAB. UAB have the lowest Pablo in the conference.

[Critter's Pa]

If the players are going to have a senior night, I doubt they will be back next year. Would seem strange to give them another senior night next year. I guess they could stay and they wouldn't be part of senior night festivities next year, but that would be more strange to me.

I don't know if Webby, Lauren and Kylie are on scholarship, but that might have something to do with them leaving.

I believe Lamb was talking about players leaving when he mentioned something like "there will be no surprises" on the radio show.

I wonder who is going to step up to replace Webby. She's got great energy on the court, and while not a great volleyball player, she seems to elevate those around here and could play wherever she was needed.

I hope all the seniors will have a chance to see some time on the court. Kylie has not dressed for the last couple of home games. It's like she slipped into the roll of volunteer assistant.

[1972Shocker]

I hope all the seniors will have a chance to see some time on the court. Kylie has not dressed for the last couple of home games. It's like she slipped into the roll of volunteer assistant.

I think Kylie is injured.

[1972Shocker]

If the players are going to have a senior night, I doubt they will be back next year. Would seem strange to give them another senior night next year. I guess they could stay and they wouldn't be part of senior night festivities next year, but that would be more strange to me.

I believe Lamb was talking about players leaving when he mentioned something like "there will be no surprises" on the radio show.

I agree that seems a bit non-sensical but with those extra-Covid years still in play it makes it more common than it would normally be. Houston celebrated their Senior Day before Saturday's match vs the Shocks. The had 5 seniors being honored. The Houston announcers said that 3 of the 5 might be back next year but decided to go ahead and take their senior honors this year. That's telling me there decision is still pending or up in the air.

Looking at it from the players' perspective you have another semester of schooling to go (in most cases) and you may want to wait and see what options you have closer to the end of that semester. If you skip you senior honors and then decide not to come back you will never have a senior day.

Regaridng players coming back or leaving, Lambo's exact quote was "We'll shelve that for players meetings. Nothing would surprise me." He also said "Who knows...I have no idea and we will wait for that in December". Now whether on not he knows for sure where Webby and Big Mac are in their decision making I do not know.

[1972Shocker]

I wonder who is going to step up to replace Webby. She's got great energy on the court, and while not a great volleyball player, she seems to elevate those around here and could play wherever she was needed.

Hard to who are how Lambo will address that, but with all due respect to Webby, I don't believe that is our biggest concern.

We should be solid in the middle and at setter (assuming the transfer portal doesn't get us) but replacing Sophia and shoring up the scoring on the left side would seem to me to be the biggest areas of concern heading into next year.

[Critter's Pa]

Looking at it from the players' perspective you have another semester of schooling to go (in most cases) and you may want to wait and see what options you have closer to the end of that semester. If you skip you senior honors and then decide not to come back you will never have a senior day.

That's a good point. Kayce missed out on her senior day last year. Seems she had every intention to play here for her Covid year, I'm sure she would have done senior night if she wasn't sure.

I wonder how much scholarships play in who stays and goes and If there are any to help land players through the transfer portal.

[WuDrWu]

I think scholarships play a huge part in the decision making process. Baseball has had a couple take part in senior day in the last few years and see those players return for another. Lots of moving parts, and throw the Covid freebie in and it can get messy fast.


Plus, without going into specifics, let's say player A is full ride and you've committed to recruit 1 coming in next fall, also a full ride (or even a partial for baseball). Who gets screwed? It's been messy for several seasons now, hopefully coming to an end soon.

[1972Shocker]

hopefully coming to an end soon.

I am very much looking forward to that and imagine most coaches are as well. Although it won't stop the movement of players with the current transfer rules and culture and NIL enticements at the ready.

[1972Shocker]

RH: Challenges Pushed Rohling To All-AAC Performances

The Shockers (20-8, 14-14 AAC) play their final regular-season home match against UAB (5-25, 3-15) on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+). Rohling, Morgan Weber, Kylie Marneris, Lauren McMahon and Brylee Kelly will be recognized before the match.

Freshman Sophia Rohling recorded her first college kill in the first set at No. 8 Penn State in 2019.

"Trial by fire," she said. "Learning how to swim in the waves."

Five years later, Rohling is nearing the end of her career as one of the American Athletic Conference's top opposites. She will remember her time as a Shocker for facing those trials and growing from a young player afraid to make mistakes to one confident and aggressive.

"I've gotten so much mentally tougher," she said. "I used to basically, like crumble, mentally crumble, and start making a ton of errors. Now I make those same errors and I push back and I get back in my groove."

Coach Chris Lamb pushed Rohling to be the "protagonist" in each match so that the opposing team remembered her. She leads the Shockers with a career-high average of 2.97 kills a set and is hitting a career-high .297.

"I think a switch went off for her a year ago," Lamb said. "It was worth working extra hard, because if she could jump a little higher and reach a little higher, she could get over people. You've got to get there and be physical. She's improved at that, for sure."

She is on track for all-conference honors a third time and will remember her senior season as the time when battling through injuries, demanding classes and the highs and lows of competition created one of the conference's best.

"Hitting the ball hard," she said. "I've started learning how to use the block more. I was a block-avoid for a very long time. I'm becoming better, refining my skills."

She also nurtured freshman middle blockers Natalie Foster – also on her way to all-conference honors – in the fall of 2020. After a practice, she invited Foster to lunch and cooked stir fry with sausage and peppers.

"Of course, I loved it," Foster said. "I think she saw I was more on my own that year. It resonated with her. We've been by each other's side the past four years."

Rohling's physical talents and her early success – first-team all-conference as a sophomore – set expectations high for her from Lamb. He considers her talented enough to play professionally overseas.

"Steady improvement all these years," Lamb said. "We've talked about her being a dominant player on your team three out of five days. If we play four sets in a match, two or three of those ought to be her one of the better attackers on the floor."

"With Sophia, everything has always been such a challenge and she was always up for the challenge," said Deanna Rohling, who graduated from Wichita State in 1994. "She's always wanted to get better and always very passionate about it."

Those challenges extended to her mechanical engineering degree. An internship with Textron Aviation last summer turned into a job as a structure tests engineer after college.

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To me Sophia's story and journey are really what collegiate athletics should be all about although this probably is naive thinking this day and age.

[1972Shocker]

Volleyball Preview: UAB

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WICHITA STATE (20-8, 14-4 American)

Wednesday, Nov. 22 (7:00 p.m. CT) vs. UAB (5-25, 3-15 American)
Wichita, Kansas (Charles Koch Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

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Wichita State celebrates senior night on Wednesday against UAB, honoring Brylee Kelly, Kylie Marneris, Lauren McMahon, Sophia Rohling and Morgan Weber.

• Wichita State and UAB have never played one another. The Blazers are the last of the six new American Athletic Conference members to square off with the Shockers for the first time as conference foes.
• The top of the American Athletic Conference standings are already decided after last week's results. SMU clinched the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with 17-1 record, suffering their lone defeat to Wichita State. The Shockers clinched second place with their win over Rice on Friday night. Rice and South Florida enter play on Wednesday in a tie for third.
• With no conference tournament, the AAC looks unlikely to send more than one representative to the NCAA tournament in 2023. After SMU, Rice owns the circuit's second highest RPI at 58 with Wichita State just behind at 61. No other conference team is in the top 90.
• Wichita State is the nation's only team with three players who have 1,000 career kills. Natalie Foster, Brylee Kelly and Sophia Rohling all reached the milestone this season.

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SCOUTING THE BLAZERS:

• The Blazers enter play on Wednesday with an overall record of 5-25, including 3-15 in American Athletic Conference play.
• UAB has struggled mightily this season away from Birmingham. The Blazers are 0-12 in true road matches and have claimed just five sets over those 12 matches.
• The Blazers are coming off a four-set win at home against UTSA on Friday, November 17. Outside hitter Asli Celikkol produced a match-best 13 kills in the victory.
• UAB's other conference wins came against Florida Atlantic (3-1 on October 20) and Charlotte (3-2 on November 4).
• Opponents have combined for a .237 hitting percentage this season against the Blazers, a mark that ranks 282nd out the 332 Division 1 programs.
• Sophomore Kelsey Smith leads all players in the American Athletic Conference with six triple-doubles on the season. Smith had a season-best 21 kills against East Carolina on August 24 and has also racked up 307 assists and 269 digs.

[1972Shocker]

UAB is not a volleyball school.

[Rize Ballz]

We should be a high seed in the conference tourney….oh wait there isn’t one.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers cruise to a 13, 12, 10 sweep.

The highlight for me was when they inserted Kylie Marneris to serve at 20-10 in set 3 on her senior night.

Looked to me like Kylie's teammates were bound and determined to have Kylie serve out the match and she did.

[flyingMoose]

Other Wednesday Matches


Interdivisonal

Temple 0-3 SMU
26 13 14

USF 3-2 Rice
18 (12) 26 (18) 13

North Texas 0-3 Memphis close sets, but shutout at home?!
23 23 20

UTSA 1-3 East Carolina
17 (24) 19 16

Charlotte 1-3 Tulsa
21 (19) 23 20

Tulane 0-3 Florida Atlantic
22 21 25


West 21-14 East and 78-48 in sets