Shocker VB at #13 Kansas

[Critter's Pa]

Is that Emerson's first double double? 10 kills, 12 digs. Sounds like KU was keeping her busy.

The first set had KU with an 82.4 side out percentage. The Shockers only managed a total of 3 two point runs in the first set. Got 12 kills this set, Swifty had 5, Allie had 3. I think it was her first official collegiate kill and block.

Thought we had had a good chance at winning set two. Kills rose to 14. Emerson had 6 and Brooklyn had 4. Shockers still couldn't put together many scoring runs after they got to 12 points.

After fighting back to tie it at 11 in set 3, KU just pulled away with a couple multipoint service runs. Three of their 6 aces were in this set. Only managed 10 kills, Emmerson and Allie lead the team with 3 kills each.

We held them to .264 hitting after hitting .400 the first set. WSU hit .130 for the match. Katie got the only ace, but was also credited with 4 of the 6 shocker receiving errors. Uncharacteristic for her, she only had 7 reception errors all of last year.

Surprised Izzi only had 4 attempts, one kill, one error. They may have kept someone one her while she was in the front row. She was averaging about 10 attempts/match for the first three matches.

[1972Shocker]

KU gets the sweep 17, 21 and 19. Shocks just don't have the fillies to do much better than that but hopefully we see so decent growth throughout the year.

After watching the fulll match on the replay I thought the Shocks had some good stretches and did some good things. The were good on front end and back end of set 1 but not very good in the middle of the set. They were right in the 2nd set most of the way until Brooklyn's cross court attack, initially called in, was reversed and KU went from down 20-21 to up 21-20. That was followed by the longest, and best rally of the match which KU won and I think those two things took the wind out of the Shockers' sails. The Shocks were decent for the first two-thirds of the 3rd set but kind of ran out gas at the end.

I though Allie Paulsen gave a good account of herself in her first start as a Shocker in the middle. It would not surprise me to see her back in the starting lineup against Arkansas on Friday. IMO, Sarah Barham did not look like a happy camper but I concede I could be misreading that.

Not sure if Lambo is going to be able to hang with Emerson in that 6 rotation role although I think he will stick with it for awhile yet.

I do think the Shocks competed hard for the most part.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like Allie Paulson is starting tonight at middle. Hopefully there was not an injury.

Sarah Barham was suited up and I did not notice anything that seemed to indicate any injury. But that is far from definitive. What I did notice was she pretty much was standing by herself a few feet way from the gaggle of reserves on the far end of that group. Didn't seem particularly animated or involved with her teammates but that might just be her normal demeanor. Perhaps Allie just beat her out in practice. Hard to stay for sure.

What we do know is Barham did not play in the match and Allie wasn't bad hitting 6-2-11 = .364 with 4 block assists against a good KU team.

Could be that Lambo's thinking is that if he isn't going to get much more than that our of Barham he might as well play the youngster and hope let her develop.

I guess we will see how this plays out.

[BAShocker]

Played better 2nd set. May have got homered on a replay call around 20/20, then melted down the last 4 or 5 points. Up until then, played about as good as we could expect. Lost 21-25.

I really like Leggett’s game.

[Stickboy46]

A lot of just silly errors so far in this first set.

[flyingMoose]

Set One

Starters are Brooklyn, Reagan, Annalie, Emerson, Morgan, Izzi, and Allie Paulsen, a new starter. And now I am gone for the duration. Pooh.

[Critter's Pa]

Looks like Allie Paulson is starting tonight at middle. Hopefully there was not an injury.

Saw Kylie Marneris out shopping earlier today. 99% sure it was her, looked like her and she was wearing a WSU volleyball shirt. Didn't say anything to her, she was several people ahead of me in the checkout line.

[1972Shocker]

Volleyball Preview: #13 Kansas

WICHITA STATE (2-1, 0-0 American)

Wednesday, Sep. 4 (6:30 p.m. CT) vs. #13 Kansas (3-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Lawrence, Kan. (Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS:

• Kansas brings a 3-0 record into their regular season home opener against the Shockers following a perfect weekend at Duke's season-opening tournament. The Jayhawks bested South Carolina, Duke and Colgate, losing just one set in the process.
• The Jayhawks hit a combined .377 over the course of those three matches, good for the second-best mark in the nation through the opening weekend of play.
• Kansas is ranked #13 in the latest AVCA top 25 poll. The Jayhawks were also picked as the favorite in the 2024 Big 12 Preseason Poll, pacing the circuit with six first place votes and 173 total points.
• Individually, setter Camryn Turner, outside hitter Ayah Elnady and opposite London Davis were tapped to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team and Zoey Burgess was named Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year.
• Turner is one of the nation's top setters. The native of Topeka, Kansas was named Big 12 Setter of the Year and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American last season, averaging 10.67 assists per set to lead the league.
• The Jayhawks finished 2023 with a 24-6 record, including a 14-4 mark in conference play that was good for second in the Big 12. Kansas advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, sweeping Omaha before falling in five sets against Penn State.

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I don't see a win in the cards for the Shocks. I mostly am hoping they are competitive and show growth and maybe even take a set. I suppose SMU beating Nebraska might give one hope but SMU has bankrolled a pretty high level of talent. Something the Shocks aren't able to do. I am looking forward to seeing how well the Shocks can compete in this one.

[flyingMoose]

Total SideNote:

#2 Nebraska 0-3 SMU on Tuesday.
23, 21, 18

Natalie was 8-2-13 for .462. She had five of the seven service aces for the Mustangs. With that many aces, you can tolerate the four service errors.

[flyingMoose]

This match is on Wednesday at 630 pm. I will leave it to 1972Shocker to provide a much more useful pre-game than I would.