Spring Volleyball

[Critter's Pa]

Thinking about the Tulsa schedule got me wondering, and maybe someone with better math skills can explain it to me. There are an odd number of teams in the AAC, 13. Tulsa does NOT have a bye. Assuming that teams only play Friday and Sunday, wouldn't there be a team with a bye every Friday and Sunday? I guess Tulsa's bye could be the first weekend if the AAC conference play started the weekend of Sept 20. Tulsa plays Kansas and Purdue that weekend. To not have a bye each week, one team would have to play 3 times each week. I don't see that from Tulsa's schedule either.

So, where is my math messed up? Any odd number divided by 2, will always have a remainder of one.

[Critter's Pa]

Has the AAC done anything with next year's schedule? My over/under is July 11.

Boy was I wrong. I guess I was pessimistic because of last year's handling of the schedule.

Tulsa released their schedule, I'm sure the Shocker's schedule will be coming out soon.

They start august 30th non-con against Campbell and Baylor. They also play Arkansas, Kansas, and Purdue. They have the potential to have a nice RPI.

Regular season: (All Friday/Sunday games this year)
9/27 Home- UAB
9/29 Away- Temple

10/4 Home- Rice
10/6 Away- Tulane

10/11 Home- FAU
10/13 Home- South Florida

10/18 Away- North Texas
10/20 Away- UTSA

10/25 Home-UAB
10/27 Home- Memphis

11/1 Home- WSU
11/3 Away- WSU

11/8 Away- East Carolina
11/10 Away- Charlotte

11/15 Home- UTSA
11/17 Away- Memphis

11/22-11/24 AAC Tournament

Tulsa plays UAB, UTSA, Memphis and WSU twice. I think we got back to back on the same weekend with Tulsa because of distance. I wonder if that will be done with other teams.

Looks like we are dropping east and west divisions..? (Wasn't Memphis and UAB in the East division last year?)

Hope we get to play, and beat, Rice twice, they usually have a strong RPI. With Tulsa's potential for a nice RPI, I'm glad we play, and beat, them twice.

I have not checked around to see if any other AAC teams have released their schedules to see when we play those teams.

Hopefully Coach will put together a great non-con schedule.

[Critter's Pa]

Glanced over Abby Whatton's Sophomore stats. Last year she had over 20 attempts for a majority of the matches, and many of those we in the 30 and 40 range. She had back to back games of 55 and 63 attempts. One game she hit .091 (17 12 55) the other she hit .302 (15 6 63).

In her freshman year she had a magical game- 13 kills 5 errors on 6(!!!) attempts for 1.333! Wow, truly magical. I would say that the number of attempts is off, but usually these number get corrected. Going off her number of attempts per game at both schools, I would guess that she was a big part of the offence.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State Volleyball
@GoShockersVB

Adding some juice on the outside. After racking up more than 500 career kills and a pair of all-conference honors, Abby Whatton is taking her talents to Wichita!

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Pima CC Bio and Stats

Played her freshman year at Yavapai College in Prescott AZ.

5-10 outside hitter. I'm thinking walk-on perhaps.

[1972Shocker]

Makes it official on Sarah Barham not that is was really in question:

[WuDrWu]

Sarah Barham (transfer from Wofford) will be a busy, effective asset from Day 1.

[Critter's Pa]

Got an optimistic feeling about next year.

I had wondered if one or more of the middles would play at a different position this spring. Maddie sounds like she could play any front row position equally well. Does Maddie's versatility include defense? Could she make a push to be a 6 rotation player? That would be great.

It sounds like Alyssa was recruited to TCU to only play in the front row and TCU was going in a different direction. Was hoping she was going to push to be a 6 rotation player. No matter, we have solid littles, so she doesn't need to play back row.

Emerson is set to be our 6 rotation player. I think she will do great in that role.

Swifty is most likely to be a starting middle. Who is going replace Frosty? Coach likes plays to the middles, so the potential for good numbers is there for whoever earns the starting spot.

Glad Sarah Musial was there to play setter. I'm sure it was good experience for her, even though she will probably redshirt her freshman year. Even if she wasn't there, with the changes to the setting rules, couldn't the littles practice their over head, two handed setting? I don't know, that might be asking too much. I wonder how much the rule will change the way non-setters set. For example, when a setter digs, usually the libero will take the second contact. Now will the libero be waved off for another player to do an over head set?

Sounds like Brooklyn is improving, which is great, as she has big shoes to fill.

I think we have good leadership on this team. Would like to see more attitude, more pedal to the metal, don't let up feeling from this team next season. I hope that Couch has a difficult time deciding who to start, that everyone is pushing for a starting spot.

Who is going to bring Weber's energy?

Do we have anyone with a good topspin jump serve?

Will there be any new player nicknames this year? Coach calls Annalie "Tiger", but I don't think the other players do, so I don't think that counts.

Has the AAC done anything with next year's schedule? My over/under is July 11. K-State released their schedule, both conference and non-con, a few days ago. They dropped playing one team twice each weekend. They only play Kansas, UCF, and West Virginia (I think), twice in conference play on different weekends. They play all the other teams once. Their non-con includes USC, Creighton, and Oklahoma. I wonder how the RPI of the conference will be affected with the departure of Texas. BYU should help the Big 12's RPI a bit.

I believe we are hosting the AAC post season tournament next year.

Not that it matters, but we are riding a 6 game winning streak.

[WuDrWu]

Love listening to Lambo. I've been anxious to see what Maddie Wilson can do since the day she transferred. I think this will be a fun fall for volleyball, IF we can stay healthy.

The Wofford girl is really good. If we can just be consistent on the pins I think we can be good.

[WuDrWu]

Sounds about right. Certainly up there in biggest item. There were some post F4 items that got out of hand though. I remember at least 1 25K package that got doubled.

[1972Shocker]

IIRC, and WuDrWu can correct me if I am wrong, but the auctioned off two 2-fan trip packages to accompany the team on the planned 2020 trip to Italy at the Volleyball Dinner & Auction. Again going by my ever-weakening memory, I think the plan was to auction off only 1 trip package during the live auction. But the bidding was so competitive and somewhat frenzied that they ended up awarding 2 packages and my old mind comes of with a number of $17,000 per package for each of the 2 trip packages auctioned.

Unfortunately, the trip never happened and I have no idea what happened with that $34,000 although I am sure WSU offered to return the entire amount at the winning bidders' option.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest, live-auction items in the history of that event.

[1972Shocker]

Does it have to clear?

Not sure, but you don't want it bouncing back before take off. So timing is key.

[SubGod22]

I suspect if you write a big enough check they could find a way to take you along.

Does it have to clear?

[1972Shocker]

I'd like to spend 10 days touring Brazil

I suspect if you write a big enough check they could find a way to take you along.

[SubGod22]

I'd like to spend 10 days touring Brazil

[1972Shocker]

Shocker Volleyball Announces Brazilian Exhibition Tour

The Wichita State volleyball team will embark on a 10-day exhibition tour to Brazil from May 26-June 5, head coach Chris Lamb announced Thursday.

The Shockers will play at least four matches on the tour against local Brazilian teams, in addition to hosting a youth volleyball camp and team practices. Fans can follow @GoShockersVB on X, Facebook and Instagram for updates and content throughout the duration of the trip.

"A trip like this does a lot for our team and our program," Lamb said. "We'll have the chance to play some high-level teams and spend time together off the court in a beautiful place. It's a really unique opportunity and I'm excited to see how we can grow from it and come out better on the other side."

The tour's itinerary will begin in São Paulo, with subsequent stops in Rio de Janeiro, Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo.

This is the first foreign tour for the Wichita State volleyball program. WSU had scheduled a European trek in 2020 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Hopefully, Sarah Barham will be able to make that trip along with at least some of the incoming freshman. I suppose obtaining Passports, if not already done, could be an issue.