2014 Volleyball 101 Dinner

[1972Shocker]

It as another entertaining VB 101 dinner and another resounding financial success for Shocker VB.

When we arrived at about 5:15 and entered from the west side the players were already out in force selling the Sweet Things raffle cupcakes and cookies. We initially encountered Ashlyn Driskill and Kara Maleski, a freshman from the Chicago area. Kara Moleski is a very legitimate 6-5 and a very nice young lady. Kara said she could not be happier with the way thing s were going and loved it at Wichita State. So I picked up a couple of cookies for desert and for a chance to win one a necklace made by one of the players. Each of the 22 players made a personalized necklace. Really kind of a neat keepsake.

By the time I entered the PHC facility I had seen most of the players. Lambo was near the entrance and I mentioned to him that at least from my perspective (I'm 5-8) things were looking up for the Shocks, and I mean way up. He just smiled and said, yes we are tall.

The moved the food into the concourse this year to make more room for the silent auction items which included a row of 13 "Extreme Experience" ranging from a day as an assistant Veterinarian, Chef, Cowboy, VB Coach, MBB Coach, Radio w/Mike Kennedy, etc. The were 127 items in the Silent Auction. I picked up 3 items for $295 plus tax but they had an assigned Donor Value of $556.

Paid for 2 scoops at the Dig It game. One for me and one for my wife. I came up empty but the wife found one diamond. We ended up with 4 chances to win the Diamond Earrings plus 2 tickets to a home VB game of our choice.

The food from the Fox & The Hound was OK but that's not really the draw for me. The free wine, spirits and beer ABC Liquor is really nice and no one goes overboard. Had my usual limit of 1 beer with dinner. We were at one of the two Abbie Lehman tables and Abbie did come by for a visit with us when she had an opening. Out table was full and as @pogo mentioned most of the tables were full and there were a lot of them. As we were going back and forth from our table to the silent auction to check our bids we met Mikaela Raudsepp, a 6-2 Fr. from Dundee, Oregon. Another very nice young lady who is very happy to be at WSU and let tell you they are not cheating on the heights these girls are listed at.

Once the silent auctions came to a close they started the more formal part of the evening with Lambo thanking all the committee members, sponsors, etc. As @pogo said Coach Adams and Coach Butler were in attendance. Also ADES and Becky Endicott were in attendance. Darren Boatright was heavily involved. Also as @pogo stated Sara Lungren-Walkup and Casey Walkup were there with there new baby girl. I ask Sara if Lambo had recruited her yet. He hadn't but you never know. Actually, the baby looks like she may take after Dad more than Mom. In any case, she was a doll.

Lambo said that Wichita State's VB101 Dinner has become very well known around the country and he has many coaches calling to ask him how they go about it and are just amazed at the level of support our VB teams has. Lambo said it is a lot of hard work during the busiest time of the season for them, but that the support is so great that they really have no choice but to continue with it.

The players and assistant coaches each introduced themselves with the highlight being 5-2 Fr. Hanna Shelton being about 8 inches below the mike and the had to take it off the mike stand for her. Then she was followed by one of the tall freshmen, I think it might have been 6-4 Rylea Kilburn. Quite a contrast with the mike problem immediately reversed.

They then held the Live Auction portion with Terry Rupp, a Weigand realtor as the auctioneer and some of Terry's supporters as the bid spotters. I think the 7 live auction packages raised around $15,000 including Dinner with the Team for 30 couples at Taste & See ($250 per couple), a KC Chiefs outing including two 50-yard line tickets, rental of a Volvo XC60, one night at the KC Marriott on the Plaza plus breakfast the following morning, dinner for 8 with Chris & Shannon Lamb at their home, a 3' x 5d' graffiti painting by Rick Dunwoody featuring Shocker VB painted during last night's function and signed by Lambo and the team, 20 tickets to a home VB match plus a private ice cream social with Lambo and the team in the Champions Club following the match, a private 5-course meal including wine pairings at Taste and See for a party of 12 (I think this went for $3,100) and a round of golf with Lambo at Flint Hills National.

The also showed a video including highlights from last year's team and some practice action from this year's team plus some staged things. It was okay. Last year's was better. This year's was well done, but not overdone.

The evening finished with a scrimmage in Koch Arena. I tough on that in a separate post. This is probably way more than anyone cared about but I thought I would go into detail to give those of you who have never attended a flavor of what a VB101 evening is like.

[1972Shocker]

The scrimmage was actually a drill the Shockers use in practice and I forget what Lambo called it but it is designed to reward clean, mistake-free volleyball. The scoring was kind of complicated and I was more focused on the play than on the scoring, but the teams can both earn and lose points. Lambo said that this is the players' favorite thing in practice and they do it for at least 30 minutes everyday.

The break into 3 teams and then play for 5 minutes (I think it was 5 minutes). One team on each side of the net with the 3rd team split into two groups of servers. Every 5 minutes they would rotate with team on the south side moving to serve, the team on the north side moving to the south and the serving team moving to the north side. I believe the played to full rotations. So 30 minutes of action.

I couldn't even tell you the scores are who won and it really doesn't matter. Lambo says they mix and match different groups everyday so that the groupings we saw really didn't indicate much about who would be starting and playing a lot.

I was focused a lot on Emily Hiebert who will likely replace Chelsea Feekin at setter and Katie Reilly who is moving from the outside to the middle. I thought both ladies played very well. Emily was smooth, confident, athletic and accurate with a very nice touch. Katie was very good as well showing great power on her swing. Ashlyn Driskill looked good and said her knee surgery went very well and she was feeling good. I thought our passing was pretty good and the little looked good.

I didn't notice Shimen Fayad too much but she is definitely athletic. Lambo has nicknamed her Air Canada.

I figure Emily Heibert, Katie Reilly, Ashlynn Driskill and Dani Mostrom will be in the starting lineup. After that I have no clue. A number of players showed well at times during the scrimmage. This may well be the deepest across the board talent Lambo has ever assembled. Jaclyn Roddy played pretty well. Natalie Brisso surprised me at times. 5-2 Hanna Shelton can play and will be a Shocker favorite. Kara Maleski looked good and you can't teach 6-5. Mary Ashton Floyd and Katie Dudzinski could be in the mix, not to mention Mikaela Raudsepp and Rylea Kilburn. The aloha girl, Gaby Urban, will definitely play.

It was only a 30 minutes scrimmage but it was a re-assuring 30 minute scrimmage. The Shocks deserve to be the favorites to win the Valley.

Lambo took a few questions after the scrimmage. The most interesting was whether he might play a 6-2 this year. He said this team certainly had the firepower and the serving to play a 6-2. The key would be can they receive and pass well enough out of a 6-2. He has a very good group of littles this year and all the firepower does no good if you can't get the ball in scoring position. But it sounded like something he is at least contemplating.

A long, but fun and entertaining, evening for a great group of Shocker fans. After all it is really the fans, and that especillay includes the sponsors, that make this function such a great success and you tell Lambo is very appreciative for that support.

All-in-all my guess is that they raised in the neighborhood of $50,000 for the VB last night. Very impressive indeed.

[1972Shocker]

@WuDrWu: you need to clear space in your mail box.

[1972Shocker]

One other little anecdote. As we started to go through the Silent Auction line there was a couple of very tall people in front of us. I told them I was going to take a wild guess that they had a daughter on the team. They just laughed and said yes, in fact, they were Kara Maleski's parents (from the Chicago area, Long Grove specifically). They were extremely nice folks and they reiterated that Kara was extremely happy as a Shocker. Kara has an older brother and two younger twin sisters, one of whom does play VB.

They were blown away with the support they saw for Shocker VB. We welcomed then to Shocker Nation and extend that to all the incoming freshman and their families.

Also somewhat off-topic, Lambo reported that McKenzie Fyfe's brother was in a very close battle for the starting quarterback job at Nebraska.

Had to be some other Shockernetters on hand. Any other thoughts, obervations or experiences to share.

[1972Shocker]

I told my wife there had to be close to 500 in attendance last night and apparently that was about right according to goShockers.com

VB101 Dinner Photo Album

[1972Shocker]

The long and the short of it. #18 6-5 Freshman Kara Maleski. To her right #20 5-2 Freshman Hanna Shelton

[1972Shocker]

After putting a pencil to it I'm increasing my funds raised estimate to $60,000.

[WuDrWu]

Thanks for all the reports and details @1972Shocker:, it is most appreciated. Looking forward to the Kentucky match on Friday!

[xazshox]

More on the VB 101 dinner

Ditto on the plaudits to 1972 Shocker for his reports on the VB 101 dinner. We attended it & I also watched the team scrimmage last Tues for an hr or so. I tend to think that Abbie Lehman will be the 2nd MB. Emily Heibert looked very good as the setter at the scrimmage last Tues & also last night, too. She is very good at the quick spike over the net when the defense expects her to set the ball. She also seems to have a good all around game, too.

We sat at a table last night with McKenzie Fyfe's parents. They are very nice people. They said that McKenzie played for the top club VB coach in the country in Neb and now WSU has two more verbal commitments from that team for the future. McKenzie was a setter & def specialist so she will bring her passing ability to the back row where there is a lot of competition. She looks pretty quick.

We went out on a break at one point & met Kara Maleski's parents at the Winning Bid board. As described by 1972Shocker above, they also expressed their happiness to us about Kara 's decision to play VB at WSU. They said that a number of schools in Illinois recruited Kara, but that she really felt more at home at WSU. They also said that they came with Kara for her official recruiting visit to WSU and while here, they spent 45 minutes in WSU Pres, Dr Bardo's office so they were obviously impressed with that!

[1972Shocker]

Nice support for the program last night. Coaches Adams and Butler were there in support as well. Bidding was more active it seemed than in previous years and I think every table was filled. It was an enthusiastic crowd. One notable alumni was Sara Lundgren/Walkup with daughter and husband in tow.

I wonder if Jody isn't just a little bit envious when she looks at the Shocker VB roster and sees 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-5.

Two Shocker VB alumna were on the VB101 Dinner Committee. Tara (Went) Goering (1991-93) and Karen (Augspurger) Parra (2001-04). Karen played at the same time as Sara Younes-Butler who was the 1st Shocker VB player inducted into the Shocker Hall of Fame. Sara Lungren-Walkup was the second. Karen and her husband have been staunch supporters of Shocker VB once Karen finished her overseas pro-career and have been very involved in the VB101 dinner.

Augspurger-Parra, a two-time MVC Libero of the Year, should be a strong contender for induction at some point. Of course Emily Stockman (2007-09) is a slam dunk inductee. Kelly Broussard, Mary Elizabeth Hooper, Emily Adney, Chelsea Feekin and Ashley Andrade are all good candidates as well when their time comes among others.

Here is a Paul Suellentrop Shockwaves blog from back in 2010 discussing the shifting sands for the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame. In any case, among his many other accomplishments at Wichita State Lambo has and will have made a significant mark on the SSHOF which of Lambo will be a member of one of these days as well.

[pogo]

As you have so eloquently written the VB 101 Dinner really is something every Shocker fan should attend and for only 40 bucks its cheap compared to any other entertainment venue. Good job "72".

[RoyalShock]

UNI has a VB 101 night.

It's free with $1.01 hot dogs!

That WSU can have such an event as a real fundraiser, as opposed to just something to try and generate additional fan interest, shows how far ahead of the curve WSU is compared to the next tier within the conference.

[1972Shocker]

UNI has a VB 101 night.

It's free with $1.01 hot dogs!

That WSU can have such an event as a real fundraiser, as opposed to just something to try and generate additional fan interest, shows how far ahead of the curve WSU is compared to the next tier within the conference.

Keep in mind that UNI has a very good VB program and one that has been very good for a long-time. Far more tradition and success historically that the Shocks have and yet they seem to have to beg their fans to come out to the matches. For example, 2 years ago they sold a combined VB/WBB season ticket for $20.00. I think that worked out to $0.80 per game. Last year they did something similar although I think they raised the price t0 $40.00 or something like that. This year they are selling that combo season ticket for $39.00. Let's be generous and say they sell 3,000 of those. So their VB team would generate about $58,500 (3000 x $19.50 x 50%) from those. I estimate the Shocks raised $60,000 at their VB101 Dinner. We also have the Shocks Match Club which generates additional VB revenues although I am not sure how much. I would very conservatively guess 250 members at an average of $200 each for another $50,000 before the even start selling season and individual match tickets. We did have a special this year for new season ticket holders. 2 season tickets for a price equal to the temperature on August 11th. I believe that was $87 but the offer only stood for a few days. Our standard season ticket price is $65/ticket and I think that is a heckuva bargain for the product we receive.

UNI single match prices are a whopping $3.00. I believe our standard ticket price for adults is $8.00.

I will say that I think UNI is using their very good VB program as a loss leader in trying to gin up support for their WBB more so than vice-versa. Although they are probably trying gin up support for both and also it works to artificially inflate their paid attendance figures.

Whether it will prove to bring long-term benefits remains to be seen, but what I think will happen is that the will end up conditioning their fans to expect and demand these low, low prices. I was going to say below market prices but their pricing may truly be what the their fan base and market will bear.

[WuShock16]

It was a good thing they offered the ticket special for volleyball season tickets. The regular price of $65 is not a good deal with nine matches. 9 matches x $8 is $72. If you miss one match, you lose money. Also, considering that there are bound to be certain promotions ($3 Pack The Gym, BOGO, etc.), you are almost better off buying as you go.

[flyingMoose]

... the ticket special for volleyball season tickets. The regular price of $65 is not a good deal with nine matches ... almost better off buying as you go.

But you do get parking privileges with a season ticket.