2024-25 Shocker VB Preseason Discussion and News

[pogo]

Cuz?? Maybe this has been discussed, and I missed it.

I understand the love for NIKE by others. I have grand kids that wear the swoosh but I personally will NEVER buy another NIKE product for them or myself because of their past selections as representatives of their brand. Maybe they could get TP to be a shill for them as well. And it's NOT Tiger I dislike. Glad they got out of the golf ball business because it just saves me time from finding one and throwing into the next water hazard. Go Shocks

[flyingMoose]

,,, but I personally will NEVER buy another NIKE product ... because of ...

Alberto Salazar

trivialization of the marathon to promote their "bouncy" shoe

[1972Shocker]

RH: QUICK CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE - Sarah Barham Adds Maturity To Front Row

Sarah Barham watched video of how Wichita State used its middle blockers and listened to coaches pitch their plans.

Those plans feature volleyballs moving at a fast tempo on a line to the middle. Wichita State's traditional heavy reliance on middles for points and its quick sets fit her perfectly.

"I don't like waiting, so it was definitely exciting when I was getting recruited to hear that's what they were looking for," Barham said. "It's been exciting to see just how fast we can go."

Barham, a 6-foot-1 transfer from Wofford University, brings four seasons of experience, four seasons of All-Southern Conference honors and an agility that complements how setter Izzi Strand works. She uses her legs to compete against taller opponents.

"Sarah plays fast," Coach Chris Lamb said. "Izzi plays fast. We put Sarah right in there."

Middle Natalie Foster, who earned NVCA All-North Region honors twice, transferred to SMU. She scored proficiently by preferring loopier, slower sets than past WSU middles. Barham's style is a return to quicker sets for the middles. She reminds coach Chris Lamb of former Shocker Elizabeth Meyers as a scorer.

"Very athletic," said Morgan Stout, a senior middle. "She can really get up fast and is very good about communicating to the setter about what she needs. Their connection is uber fast."

Barham, from Summerfield, N.C., wanted to transfer to a program which wants points from its middles. Her career attack percentage of .316 ranks second in Wofford history. Last season, she led Wofford with 264 kills and ranked second on team at 3.20 kills a set. She compiled a .312 attack percentage on her way to All-Southern Conference honors.

"There's a lot of programs out there that don't take full advantage of strong offense in the middle," she said. "I thought it was really cool that they prioritize incorporating everyone in the offense."

Lamb also is impressed with how Barham uses her quickness as a blocker. He credited Wofford's coaching staff with teaching Barham how to read and move effectively. As a blocker, she reminds Lamb of current assistant and former WSU middle Katie (Reilly) Zimmerman.

"She's laterally fast, and she's patient," Lamb said. "You can tell somebody's worked with her. She's very, very patient and responsible in what we call lead blocking. She is mature in that role."

Lamb's top priority in August is to find point-scorers to replace the loss of Foster and others. Barham's experience and fit in the offense puts her in the middle of those plans.

[Critter's Pa]

RH: QUICK CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE - Sarah Barham Adds Maturity To Front Row

Sarah Barham watched video of how Wichita State used its middle blockers and listened to coaches pitch their plans.

Those plans feature volleyballs moving at a fast tempo on a line to the middle. Wichita State's traditional heavy reliance on middles for points and its quick sets fit her perfectly.

"I don't like waiting, so it was definitely exciting when I was getting recruited to hear that's what they were looking for," Barham said. "It's been exciting to see just how fast we can go."

Lots of those quick sets in this video. All of the passes were pretty good. Good passing really can open up an offense.

Couple of things I noticed- At 0:04-0:10, Kylie Marneris steps in front to Katie to deliver a great pass and it doesn't go unnoticed by her teammates. At 0:23-0:27, Izzi does a great side set. On several of these points Izzi pulls/freezes the middle blocker to her even when she is back row, and this gave Swifty several one-on-one and one-on-none opportunities (the side set being one of them).

[1972Shocker]

Now this the kind of exhibition match Shocker fans can get excited about. May well be the toughest opponent the Shocks see at home this year. Since the Shockers had no spring matches at home this year this is really the first opportunity see this version of the Shocks in action. While I doubt it will be played like a regular season match, we should get to see most of the roster on the floor to some degree or another.

I believe they are dropping their NIVC Championship banner.

Next opportunity to see the team at home will be Thursday, September 19th against Cal Poly.

[WuDrWu]

Can we score enough on the pins? That is the $64 question going into this season. I think we'll be very good defensively and in the middle. Just can we get enough scoring outside?

[1972Shocker]

Can we score enough on the pins? That is the $64 question going into this season. I think we'll be very good defensively and in the middle. Just can we get enough scoring outside?

Indeed it is. You know that, I know that, Lambo knows that and our opponents know (or will know that) and if it that question can't be answered adequately that will make it even tougher on the middles as teams focus more attention in stopping them. Sophia was very good on the right last year although she battled nagging injury issues a good part of the season. And we just could not find any consistency on the left side last year as we cycled through an oft injured Brylee, Emerson, Ba and Morgan-W. With only Emerson back those questions are very significant and it will be interesting to see how that looks against a Big 12 opponent. We only return 21% of our kills from our pin players from last year. That said between Emerson, Brooklyn, Maddie, Alyssa, Gracie and Nadia perhaps those questions will be adequately answered.

It's not a slam dunk the Sarah Barham will be able to replace Frosty's contributions but she certainly has the experience and the seems to quite a bit of optimism that she may very well do that although perhaps in a somewhat different style. Downsized but up in athleticism.

Looking forward to getting a look at this team on Saturday.

[Critter's Pa]

I'm excited for the season to start. It's a shame that the K-state game is only an exhibition, but it's a great warm up game before the non-conference. According to Shocker history, we have only played K-state 4 times..? K-state history has them playing the Shockers 54 times from 1974-2015, K-state winning 38 times and the Shockers winning 16 matches. From 1974-1995, the teams played each other pretty much twice each year. 3 times in 1985 and 4 times in 1976 AND 1977.

I will be there for the NIVC banner drop. I'm a little surprised that they are doing it during an exhibition game. Would have thought they would have done it the first, true home game or at first the conference home game. Maybe coach wants to get it out of the way so it isn't a distraction. I hope they play 5 sets no matter who wins the sets, but they may not just to avoid injuries.

First year doing season tickets on the phone. Has anyone had any trouble with virtual tickets at the door/ticket scanner? Any sport, not just volleyball.

Can we score enough on the pins? That is the $64 question going into this season. I think we'll be very good defensively and in the middle. Just can we get enough scoring outside?

I think we can. If Swifty can play even better than she did last year (and I think she will), she will play a big part in how opponents play defense. If the other middle(s) plays just as well, the middle attack will draw even more attention. As I pointed out in a post above, Izzi tends to draw defenders even when she is in the back row. If she makes good decisions and sets (and causes) the one-on-one and one-on-none matchups and the middles are a big threat, the pin hitters should have pretty good chances to get kills. I hope Izzi gets lots of kills this year.

I'm sure that Emerson will be better hitter than she was last year. Will she, or whoever plays 6 rotations, be able to dig and pass well in serve receive? I hope she has really improved her defensive skillset and is ready be a 6 rotation player. Teams used to target Brylee on their serves.

What is the starting lineup going to look like? I'm going to guess that coach is going to begin each set with a potential starting line up if it's not already set in stone.
Assuming that freshmen can play in exhibition games without loosing eligibility and they are playing 5 sets regardless of who won the sets.

Set 1: S- Izzi, OHs- Emerson and Alyssa, OPP- Brooklyn, Middles- Swifty and Sarah B, L- Gabi. Katie, if Gabi doesn't play. DS subs- Annalie and Reagan.
Set 2: S- Izzi, OHs- Emerson and Maddie, OPP- Brooklyn, Middles- Sarah B and Allie, L- Katie. DS subs- Reagan and any freshman DSs
Set 3: S- Izzi, OHs- Emerson and Alyssa, OPP- Maddie, Middles- Sarah B and Allie or Haley, L- Annalie, DS subs- Reagan and any freshman DSs
Set 4: S- Sarah M, OHs- Alyssa and Maddie, OPP- Brooklyn, Middles- Sarah B and Allie or Haley, L- Katie, DS subs- Reagan and any freshman DSs
Set 5: S- Sarah M, OHs- Maddie and Abby or Alyssa, OPP- Brooklyn, Middles- Sarah B and Allie or Haley, L- Annalie, DS subs- Reagan and any freshman DSs

I don't think that Swifty will play more than one set. If Gabi can play, if bet she isn't going to play more than one set, if at all. I'm guessing that how much Katie, Annalie, and Reagan play depend on how well they are digging and passing. If they are doing well, coach will probably get the newer players some time on the floor. Emerson will play until the match is won, in the above scenario I have the Shockers going 3-0. I doubt she will play in any extra sets played, unless we went 0-3.

[1972Shocker]

RH: Moving Right to Left - Leggett's Consistency Earns Her Swings

Brooklyn Leggett came to Wichita State as a right-side hitter, a position where Sophia Rohling took almost all the swings last season. With Rohling gone, playing time opened.

"We thought that Brooklyn was going to be our right-side," setter Izzi Strand said. "That was everyone's thought going into the season."

That thought changed early in two-a-day practices this month. Coach Chris Lamb's stats say Leggett, a redshirt junior from Draper, Utah, is WSU's most consistent scorer on the left.

Lamb saw Leggett as a right-side during practices and exhibition matches in Brazil last spring. When practices started in August, she played both pin positions and that experimentation paid off. She came prepared to grab opportunities on the left opened by the departure of Brylee Kelly, now an assistant coach at Liberty, and Barbara Koehler, who transferred to Florida Gulf Coast.

"From day one in the fall, I knew that I was a (returner) now and I need to really make a difference and start leading," Leggett said. "I needed to go full-speed and never let up if we want to be successful."

Leggett's practice performance told Lamb she needed to be competing on the left. She consistently records kill percentages of 38 percent or higher.

"Once you start getting to 38 percent kills on the left side, you're really thinning the herd of who can do it and who can't," he said. "That's a magic number in our league. Not everybody's got it."

Strand learned that Leggett does damage with high sets because of her leaping ability.

"We found a good set that works for her, a higher set, because she jumps to the moon," Strand said. "She's whipping out amazing numbers. Her confidence has gone up."

Practice improving her hand contact on the ball to boost her accuracy and power. She credits last season's work against players such as Kelly and Rohling with forcing her to improve.

"I was playing against really good athletes and it helped me build my skill level," she said. "Last year, I wasn't very good at spinning the ball, which Lambo worked on a lot with me. This year, it's been so much better. Props to him for getting me there. It's made a whole lot of difference."

---

So that would seem to leave the right side opposite wide open.

[Critter's Pa]

So that would seem to leave the right side opposite wide open.

I'm guessing that Maddie is going to get some time at opposite. Coach said she was versatile, but maybe one or two of the freshmen or transfers have crazy skills at opposite. That really throws off my starting line up predictions.

Hitting 38 percent or better consistently would be awesome. I went back and looked at the stats from all the matches last year...

Brylee hit over 38 percent against Houston Christian (9 1 21 .381) and the first match against Tulane (20 4 42 .381)

Barbara hit over 38 percent in the second match against Tulane (8 0 20 .400)

Emerson hit over 38 percent in the second match against Tulsa (13 1 31 .387)

That's it. We did win all of these games. There were a couple of other games where an OH had hit over 38 percent, but they had fewer than10 attempts. Frosty, Swifty, and Sophia consistently hit around .400 and sometimes over .500. Izzi did as well, but with much fewer attempts.

I had forgotten how much of a dominate force Sophia could be on the right side. If Brooklyn is hitting that well, Sophia-like numbers, the right side kinda needs that, right? Maybe Brooklyn can dig and pass really well and is in the running to play 6 rotations.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks drop the first 2 sets 27-29 and 20-25. My initial thought is we are going to miss Frosty and Sophia big time.

[Kung Wu]

Heeeeeere comes the Elephant in the Room thread bump!

[1972Shocker]

Gabi Maas not suited up. Not a big surprise but our defense hasn't been great.

Maddie Wilson not suited up either and appears to be in a walking boot on her left leg.

[WuDrWu]

That was disappointing.

[flyingMoose]

17-25 in the last.

We have a lot of work to do. Although K-State is RV32, I am not sure they are anything special.

Our serve-receive disappeared for long stretches. Our ability to get the ball on the floor did the same. The timing of Izzy and the hitters was iffy at times. Did Morgan plan that many tips or was she forced to tip?

Brooklyn with ten kills and Emerson with nine led in that stat, but they both hit under .200.

The Shocks were ahead 19-14 in the first set, but it was downhill after that.

We have a lot of work to do.

But, hey, we won both of our challenges. :)