Shocker Volleyball Classic

[1972Shocker]

Post-match comments

I would like to provide some, but Lambo was so out of it, he could not string enough words together to make a sentence. Too funny.

Out of it excited or just worn out? Maybe a little bit of both. I'm sure he was flying high and with good reason.

[The Mad Hatter]

Mucho funno in the Chucko tonighto.

Not a great crowd in terms of numbers (2,044) which was disappointing but the 2,044 fans in attendance not only got their monies worth but they were pretty enthusiastic in their support of the Shocks.

Katie Reilly may very well have had the best match of her career with 19 kills and only 1 error on 32 attacks for a 0.563 hitting % with a goodly number of those kills leaving a vapor trail.

Emily Heibert was 1 kill shy of a triple-double as she finished with 9 kills (9-1-14 = 0.571), 10 digs and 45 assists plus she contributed 4 of the Shocker's 9 aces.

I thought the Shocks serving and passing was very good tonight and this team is pretty good at keeping the ball in play. Gabi Mostrom had two big service points in Set 4 with the game tied at 19 points including an ace to put the Shocks up 21-19 in that set.

Jody Larson's serving in the 5th set was excellent as well.

Pretty good summation of the the match. In addition to her 5th set serving, I thought Jody had her best overall performance of her brief Shocker career after struggling in recent matches.

I have to say, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team that has as much disparity between their success in system and out of system as Kentucky. Obviously all teams are much better in system, but Kentucky looked all world when in system but quite a bit worse than a team like NIU out of system. Obviously Lambo has the numbers on this and maybe my perception was off, but that sure is how it seemed live.

[1972Shocker]

Pretty good summation of the the match. In addition to her 5th set serving, I thought Jody had her best overall performance of her brief Shocker career after struggling in recent matches.

I have to say, I'm not sure I've ever seen a team that has as much disparity between their success in system and out of system as Kentucky. Obviously all teams are much better in system, but Kentucky looked all world when in system but quite a bit worse than a team like NIU out of system. Obviously Lambo has the numbers on this and maybe my perception was off, but that sure is how it seemed live.

I think that is a pretty good observation. It was especially apparent in Set 1. Perhaps that is why we had a match with each team winning 1 set handily, with 2 other very competitive sets and with a 5th set where Kentucky jumped out to a seemingly commanding lead only to have the Shocks roar back with an 11-3 run to close out the match.

[ShockdaWorld]

I was completely impressed by the atmosphere, athleticism, and excitement tonight. The crowd, while not large, was more enthusiastic than I had expected them to be. The match couldn't have been any better than it was (other than the monster that looked like she could've been Willie Cauley Stein's little sister putting on a show after every point she scored). I expected it to be fun based on what I've read here, but the entertainment value was well beyond waht I expected. I would certainly recommend it to anyone that hasn't been before.

Edit: Just to be clear, when I call the girl a monster, I mean it as a compliment. She was freaking incredible. I caught myself hoping anyone other than her would get the hit and that our hitters would go wherever she wasn't.

[WuDrWu]

I was completely impressed by the atmosphere, athleticism, and excitement tonight. The crowd, while not large, was more enthusiastic than I had expected them to be. The match couldn't have been any better than it was (other than the monster that looked like she could've been Willie Cauley Stein's little sister putting on a show after every point she scored). I expected it to be fun based on what I've read here, but the entertainment value was well beyond waht I expected. I would certainly recommend it to anyone that hasn't been before.

Edit: Just to be clear, when I call the girl a monster, I mean it as a compliment. She was freaking incredible. I caught myself hoping anyone other than her would get the hit and that our hitters would go wherever she wasn't.

Glad you enjoyed it. To be fair, not all matches are that entertaining, but it's still fun. I too thought the crowd was outstanding. I can't believe they burned Gabi's redshirt but it was WELL worth it. She was a difference maker in the 4th.

I still can't believe they came back in the 5th...UK pulled a real Larisa Shevchenko after being up 9-4. Fun night, incredible match. Great job ladies!

[ShockdaWorld]

Glad you enjoyed it. To be fair, not all matches are that entertaining, but it's still fun. I too thought the crowd was outstanding. I can't believe they burned Gabi's redshirt but it was WELL worth it. She was a difference maker in the 4th.

I still can't believe they came back in the 5th...UK pulled a real Larisa Shevchenko after being up 9-4. Fun night, incredible match. Great job ladies!

I do not know much about the volleyball powers/top 25/at large NCAA bid possibilities, but I'm assuming that after a bit of a tough weekend in Texas, this game could be huge as far as our chances of making the tournament.

[WuDrWu]

@flyingMoose: covered this earlier but we'll know more as the Pablo ratings remove last year's bias in a couple more weeks. No doubt a win over another team likely to be in or on the bubble of the tourney does not hurt.

It's hard to see even taking a set off Illinois tomorrow. They had little trouble beating this same UK team when they were fresh earlier today and they've swept everyone on their schedule not named Stanford.

If you could tell me they will win 3 of their next 4, I'd feel pretty good about an at large selection (given an outstanding Valley record of course) come late November. I'm not sure 2-2 gets it done unless it's a 17-1 type Valley record.

Of course, that's if they need an at large selection.

[JayJ79]

Kentucky is now 4-5 on the year and will certainly drop out of the top 25. They'll probably be a top-100 RPI win, but unless they have a good conference season, I'm not even sure they'll end up top 50.

[WuDrWu]

The NMSU loss, while no shame at all because the Aggies are really good, is the one that hurts. Not just losing, but we had 4 match points and the Aggies have lost all their other big matches and every one of those in 5. OU, A&M and ASU.

[_kai_]

This was an awesome picture I saw on FB.

[WuDrWu]

I bet it was hard to watch Kaz Brown get away from the home folks @JayJ79:. That girl is a handful.

UK will be top 100 without question unless they get hurt, a lot. They are super young (1 senior and 2 juniors) and talented. That libero was amazing. 2 top 10 losses and then CU and Ohio are both really good. I sure hope they are top 100....I think UNI is top 100 and the Cats handled UNI.

[pogo]

Too worn out to post last night. I had just about given up hope for the women last night but stuck it out and what a reward. A fun? match to watch. Really excited about the team and their attitude of don't give up. I like the fact that one of our asst coaches verbally moves the server into position and who to serve to. There were several times the last two days that that seemed to be a key component in the matches. Again, a fun night and an enthusiastic crowd.

[flyingMoose]

Out of it excited or just worn out? Maybe a little bit of both. I'm sure he was flying high and with good reason.

Yes, both I think. We just threw something together for the fourth and fifth sets - you saw the confusion as to where they were to be on the floor to start the rotation in one of those sets - because we were not getting much offense from three of the notables, threw something together and got what may prove to be a big, big win.

[1972Shocker]

I was completely impressed by the atmosphere, athleticism, and excitement tonight. The crowd, while not large, was more enthusiastic than I had expected them to be. The match couldn't have been any better than it was (other than the monster that looked like she could've been Willie Cauley Stein's little sister putting on a show after every point she scored). I expected it to be fun based on what I've read here, but the entertainment value was well beyond waht I expected. I would certainly recommend it to anyone that hasn't been before.

Edit: Just to be clear, when I call the girl a monster, I mean it as a compliment. She was freaking incredible. I caught myself hoping anyone other than her would get the hit and that our hitters would go wherever she wasn't.

Glad to hear you were favorably impressed and enjoyed the match. Although I must say I am not surprised. I have steadfastly followed and supported this Shocker Volleyball program since September 13, 2003 when I attended my 1st Shocker Volleyball match. Why do I remember that? Our first VB All-American, Sara Younes and her teammates simply wowed me that night in a 3-1 win over San Diego State with their skill and athleticism with Sara setting an all-time record of 14 service aces in that match with one of the best jump serves you will ever see. I was hooked and have been a season ticket holder ever since then and just really enjoy this sport, this program and these tremendous student-athletes. Hiring Coach Lambo and Shannon was truly one of Jim Schaus' best moves as Shocker AD but I don't think even Jim expected Lambo to build what he has at Wichita State.

I hope your daughter enjoyed herself as well. You certainly could not have picked a better match to attend. I hope you are able to make it back to many more matches although, as a rule, most will not be quite as exciting as last night's match was. You don't see a whole lot of comebacks from down 4-9 in the 5th set.

[1972Shocker]

Yes, both I think. We just threw something together for the fourth and fifth sets - you saw the confusion as to where they were to be on the floor to start the rotation in one of those sets - because we were not getting much offense from three of the notables, threw something together and got what may prove to be a big, big win.

Thanks @flyingMoose:. I was kind of disappointed that there was no game article in the Eagle this morning (at least I didn't find one) nor did I find any video of a post-game presser.