Shocker VB at East Carolina

[Critter's Pa]

Looks like its going to be another challenging weekend for our serve receive. In conference play, Memphis is tied for first with USF in service aces with 1.93 aces/set. USF has fallen off quite a bit. UAB is third at 1.82 aces/set. The Shockers are eighth with 1.33. The good news is Memphis is eleventh in opponent service aces giving up 1.72 aces/set and UAB is twelfth, giving 1.75 aces/set. The Shockers are sixth at 1.33. Yes, we are even getting and giving aces. We have been improving in opponent service aces/set in conference play. Week one was 1.88, week two and three was 1.44, last week was 1.33.

In the first game against Memphis, we had 10 aces to their 7. We also had 8 service errors, they had 5. Against UAB, both teams had 5 aces. We had 5 service errors, they had 12.

We out blocked Memphis 7-3 and out blocked UAB 9-3. Hopefully our blocking shows up. Two weeks ago the Shockers were third in the conference at 2.20 blocks/set, then fell to eleventh with 1.82 blocks/set after last week's performance. (Tulsa at 2.26 blocks/set leads the conference)

We hit .333 against both Memphis and UAB, while holding Memphis to .156 and UAB to .185. Both teams are 1-4 on away games this year.

[flyingMoose]

RPI

39 Rice
60 South Florida
78 Shockers
81 Tulsa
etc

RPI Futures from Volleytalk

38 Rice
59 South Florida
81 Shockers
92 Tulsa
etc

Same song, third verse. Win the AAC Tournament or hope for an NIVC invite.

[flyingMoose]

All of the Weekly Conference Awards except Freshman of the Week went to Florida Atlantic. Surprise, surprise.

[WuDrWu]

If my butt stung that bad, I’d get to a proctologist immediately.

[jimshocker]

Replacing Natalie, Sophia, and (unexpectedly) Gabi is a tall order in the best of times. Throw in the set back from Maddie's injury and the hill became even steeper.

During the K-State exhibition match I posted:



Unfortunately, one of the rare times my observations proved entirely accurate although this one was not much of a stretch. We have missed Gabi to a greater degree than I thought we would.

One of the bright spots (at least potentially) from the final set of the Charlotte match and from the ECU match is that Izzi and Sarah seemed to finally have gotten on the same page. In those 6 sets Sarah is 16-1-21 = .714 which is fantastic. Obviously, that rate of play can't be sustained but if she even hit half that well that is a big boost. If Sarah and Izzi are finally on track can we find a place for Maddie to pitch in.

One big problem though is where has our blocking game gone. 5 total blocks in the last 8 sets and 4 of those were solo blocks? All of a sudden that needs some serious attention.

I haven't watched today's match yet. But looking at the stats and P-B-P for the 5th set I see ECU and 2 service aces and 1 service error and the Shocks had 0 aces and 3 service errors. ECU scored on 2 blocks of Alyssa while the Shocks had no blocks. So just in the service game and blocking game the Shocks gave away a net of 6 points. Hard to overcome that in a 15-point set.

Can we move on from, “ oh, it’s gonna be tough to replace….”

WSU has not made the NCAA tournament in more than one full 4 year recruiting cycle. While nice kids and solid players, they are not amongst the great shocker players. They should be replaceable with new D1 volleyball players. Just as every program in the country replaces players on a yearly basis.

Gabi, while good, only played ONE season as a transfer! We have 6 DS on the roster. If none of them can play, why is there 6? The best DS on the court today was actually a WSU recruit. She was just playing for EC today.

5 of the biggest contributors to this season are transfers. Not WSU recruits. That means they either were not playing , unhappy, or were going to be replaced at their original school. Do we understand that? Seriously. In years past the excuses were it takes time for Lambo to polish up the edges. Now, the best players on the team are from other schools. NOT the Lambo training team.

WSU has been losing in recruiting for years. Then losing their best recruits to transfer by junior year.

WSU should except more from the highest paid coach in the conference. He gets PAID to deal with all of the issues you repeatedly excuse him for Mr ‘72.

[1972Shocker]

Lost in 5. Watched some, but not much of it, so no post-match commentary from me. However, we clearly just don’t quite have the consistent upper tier talent this year for some reason. Maybe it kicks in soon. If it does, it better hurry.

Replacing Natalie, Sophia, and (unexpectedly) Gabi is a tall order in the best of times. Throw in the set back from Maddie's injury and the hill became even steeper.

During the K-State exhibition match I posted:

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.

Unfortunately, one of the rare times my observations proved entirely accurate although this one was not much of a stretch. We have missed Gabi to a greater degree than I thought we would.

One of the bright spots (at least potentially) from the final set of the Charlotte match and from the ECU match is that Izzi and Sarah seemed to finally have gotten on the same page. In those 6 sets Sarah is 16-1-21 = .714 which is fantastic. Obviously, that rate of play can't be sustained but if she even hit half that well that is a big boost. If Sarah and Izzi are finally on track can we find a place for Maddie to pitch in.

One big problem though is where has our blocking game gone. 5 total blocks in the last 8 sets and 4 of those were solo blocks? All of a sudden that needs some serious attention.

I haven't watched today's match yet. But looking at the stats and P-B-P for the 5th set I see ECU and 2 service aces and 1 service error and the Shocks had 0 aces and 3 service errors. ECU scored on 2 blocks of Alyssa while the Shocks had no blocks. So just in the service game and blocking game the Shocks gave away a net of 6 points. Hard to overcome that in a 15-point set.

[1972Shocker]

Other Sunday Matches

South Florida 1-3 Florida Atlantic
21, 17, (25), 14
My, oh, my. 1972Shocker had a better read on this than I did.

Memphis 3-0 North Texas

Tulane 2-3 UAB

Tulsa 3-0 UTSA


The Shockers, East Carolina, North Texas, Tulane, and Tulsa all have three losses.

Now Memphis beating North Texas and UAB beating Tulane were a little bit of a surprise.

The Shocks have one match remaining with Rice in Houston and they are done with USF, FAU and ECU over their remaining 8 AAC regular season matches.

[flyingMoose]

Other Sunday Matches

South Florida 1-3 Florida Atlantic
21, 17, (25), 14
My, oh, my. 1972Shocker had a better read on this than I did.

Memphis 3-0 North Texas

Tulane 2-3 UAB

Tulsa 3-0 UTSA


The Shockers, East Carolina, North Texas, Tulane, and Tulsa all have three losses.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 2-3 East Carolina
(22), 18, 21, (18), 10

Set Five: 9-9 and the Pirates scored five in a row.

Brooklyn, 24-4-42 for .405; Sarah (no Maddie in this match), 31-1-18 for .667; Morgan, 13-1-32 for .375; Gracie (in three sets), 4-0-9 for .444. Alyssa and Emerson were no help on the pins.

.290 v .311. 3 blocks v 10. Ugh! SErr/SAce 13/5 v 12/6.

[BAShocker]

Lost in 5. Watched some, but not much of it, so no post-match commentary from me. However, we clearly just don’t quite have the consistent upper tier talent this year for some reason. Maybe it kicks in soon. If it does, it better hurry.

[WuDrWu]

No but ECU is streaming it.

ZERO effing blocks. UFB

[MADSHOCKERFAN89]

Old head here can anyone tell me why the game isn’t on ESPN+

[WuDrWu]

I would like to give you a like on this post but it's a bit too much of a downer, although I really can't dispute your conclusions.

BTW, I am not sure who Fry is. I am assuming you meant McBride, the 6-3 opposite McBride.

Thank you. Somehow my brain turned Fran into McBride.

[1972Shocker]

Alderete, Fry and Pate are handfuls. Former Shocker Lara Uyar leads the Pirates in digs. They are unbeaten at home. They will be all we can handle the way we're playing right now.

I haven't looked at the other team's schedules, but finishing in the top 6 is no guarantee right now. Rice and USF, I think, are the top 2 teams, and after that you can't shine a flashlight between WSU, Tulsa, North Texas, East Carolina, Tulane and FAU.

We are 5-2 with 3 almost byes remaining at home with Memphis, UAB and UTSA. That's 8-2. The remaining 6 matches are @ECU, Tulsa X2, @Rice, @Tulane, @North Texas. Losing all six would be a disaster, but hardly out of the question. 8-8 won't get us into the tournament.

Looking at ECU's schedule, even if we win tomorrow it will be a struggle to finish in front of the Pirates. We're not finishing in front of USF or Rice, imho. We lose and it's 4th or lower and road matches down the stretch will become de facto elimination matches.

I would like to give you a like on this post but it's a bit too much of a downer, although I really can't dispute your conclusions.

BTW, I am not sure who Fry is. I am assuming you meant McBride, the 6-3 opposite McBride.

[WuDrWu]

Alderete, Fry and Pate are handfuls. Former Shocker Lara Uyar leads the Pirates in digs. They are unbeaten at home. They will be all we can handle the way we're playing right now.

I haven't looked at the other team's schedules, but finishing in the top 6 is no guarantee right now. Rice and USF, I think, are the top 2 teams, and after that you can't shine a flashlight between WSU, Tulsa, North Texas, East Carolina, Tulane and FAU.

We are 5-2 with 3 almost byes remaining at home with Memphis, UAB and UTSA. That's 8-2. The remaining 6 matches are @ECU, Tulsa X2, @Rice, @Tulane, @North Texas. Losing all six would be a disaster, but hardly out of the question. 8-8 won't get us into the tournament.

Looking at ECU's schedule, even if we win tomorrow it will be a struggle to finish in front of the Pirates. We're not finishing in front of USF or Rice, imho. We lose and it's 4th or lower and road matches down the stretch will become de facto elimination matches.