Shocker Volleyball Classic

[rayc]

Try this:

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article35006298.html

[Steeleshocker]

Nm

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 3-0 Texas State
15, 22 and 18

[1972Shocker]

Shockers 3-0 Texas State
15, 22 and 18

That was kind of a let's get this one out of the way so we can focus on the feature event tonight. Not sure the Shocks would have much of a chance against the Illini even if they were rested. But take them on in their 5th match in 3 days when Illinois will only be playing their 3rd match of the weekend just makes the chore that much tougher. It will be very interesting to see what the Shocks can do tonight. Hopefully, they will bring the fight to the Fighting Illini.

[flyingMoose]

That was kind of a let's get this one out of the way so we can focus on the feature event tonight. Not sure the Shocks would have much of a chance against the Illini even if they were rested. But take them on in their 5th match in 3 days when Illinois will only be playing their 3rd match of the weekend just makes the chore that much tougher. It will be very interesting to see what the Shocks can do tonight. Hopefully, they will bring the fight to the Fighting Illini.

We will see a style of play that we don't see often - they throw some sets to the ceiling and hammer it over your block. The Illini have a very nice libero also.

I thought we caught Kentucky just right - our only match of the day, still early enough in the tournament, Kentucky having played the match they most wanted earlier in the day - but now it will be interesting to see how we perform against the Illini. They brought a reasonable number of orange-shirted fans with them too.

[The Mad Hatter]

Tough loss for the Shocks. The Illini are really good. We were unlikely to win under the best of conditions, but I think it would have been more competitive if our legs weren't worn down from 5 games in 3 days.

[1972Shocker]

Tough loss for the Shocks. The Illini are really good. We were unlikely to win under the best of conditions, but I think it would have been more competitive if our legs weren't worn down from 5 games in 3 days.

Maybe, but I think you just need to tip your hat to a very, very good Illini team. The were solid in all aspects of the game. How much of a factor tired legs were is very difficult to know, but it there is no doubt the Illini are very good.

I thought Dani played pretty well for the Shocks tonight but the Illini Libero was outstanding. One bright spot for the Shocks was the play of Mikaela Raudsepp. I think we will be seeing more of her going forward.

Anyone hear Lambo's post-game comments?

[flyingMoose]

19, 13 and 13

Post-match comments

In an attempt to get something going on the left side, Mikaela started and played well. She only hit .100, but she was consistently taking aggressive swings.

Everybody tries to take Abbie away, but she still hit .333.

Lambo hoped to press the Illini a little more, but it didn't happen.

Their serve was so tough, because they are tall and serve a long, flat ball that is moving. We popped up a lot of the serves.

[There was probably more, but it isn't coming to me. :)]

[The Mad Hatter]

Maybe, but I think you just need to tip your hat to a very, very good Illini team. The were solid in all aspects of the game. How much the Shocks of a factor tired legs were is very difficult to know, but it there is no doubt the Illini are very good.

I thought Dani played pretty well for the Shocks tonight but the Illini Libero was outstanding. One bright spot for the Shocks was the play of Mikaela Raudsepp. I think we will be seeing more of her going forward.

Anyone hear Lambo's post-game comments?

By more competitive, I don't even really mean winning a set, more like picking up another 10-12 points over the course of the match to keep the scores closer.

The Illini libero is very good and if anything she might have been even better against Kentucky.

I've thought for a while that we won't be the best version of ourselves until we figure out a way to get Mikaela going, and hopefully tonight is the start of figuring out her role on this team.

The upside for me is that I'm an alum of both WSU and Illinois (did my grad work there), so from now on I can be glad about how good Illinois is, unlike tonight.

[flyingMoose]

The Shockers are back in the poll, RVing at #38. Illinois is 6, and Kentucky is T24.

Of earlier opponents, Hawai'i is now 12, and Texas A&M is at 42, the last of the RV.

Our next opponent, Marquette, is RV at 39. We play them Friday at their tournament.

In another item to note, there is a thread on Volley Talk, "Impressions of Wichita State, vb team and a question." The question is, Why does Lambo has so many players on the team? Someone (@1972Shocker: ?, @WuDrWu: ?) know the answer to that?

[RoyalShock]

The Shockers are back in the poll, RVing at #38. Illinois is 6, and Kentucky is T24.

Of earlier opponents, Hawai'i is now 12, and Texas A&M is at 42, the last of the RV.

Our next opponent, Marquette, is RV at 39. We play them Friday at their tournament.

In another item to note, there is a thread on Volley Talk, "Impressions of Wichita State, vb team and a question." The question is, Why does Lambo has so many players on the team? Someone (@1972Shocker ?, @WuDrWu ?) know the answer to that?

I'm sure one of the two knowledgeable posters you referenced will respond, but I think they have said in the past it is due to two factors: A lot of redshirt freshman and several walk-ons.

[flyingMoose]

I'm sure one of the two knowledgeable posters you referenced will respond, but I think they have said in the past it is due to two factors: A lot of redshirt freshman and several walk-ons.

Those were the two possibilities I offered, especially five "classes" on the team with all the redshirts.

[1972Shocker]

That is a good question but unfortunately I don't have a good answer. I have asked Lambo in the past how he keeps so many players happy and he says he gives everyone an equal shot at improving and at proving that they deserve to play. I have a feeling Shannon plays a huge role in that as well. But that isn't really the question. Why does he have such a big roster? Is it by design or can he just not say no to those that want to play for him. After all he only has 12 scholarships to give and he can't split those up as VB is a head count sport. With 23 players on this year's roster he has 11 players who are technically walk-ons.

The thing is that I am not totally confident at all that I could accurately name you the 12 VB scholarship players and the 11 non-athletic scholarship players. I could probably get a good number of them right but I probably would miss a few also.

We do know that this VB team is chock full of outstanding students, so a good number of the non-athletic scholarship players are no doubt on some kind of academic scholarship. I think the team has an average GPA of around 3.5. Just about all of these young ladies are first and foremost in college to get a good education. Volleyball makes that possible for some and for others Volleyball just makes attending WSU on an academic scholarship quite a bit more fun.

Lambo is known as a teacher of the game. He has said in the past that he enjoys his time training his players more that the actual matches themselves. The non-athletic scholarship players on this roster get just as much attention and opportunity in the practice gym as the players that are on VB scholarships. That may very well be more than enough to keep those that don't see a lot of match playing time happy to be part of the program.

OTOH, I could be totally off-base with this as it is based on nothing more than my perception. In any case, it is quite unusual and to me pretty impressive how Lambo, Shannon and staff seem to make this work. I do think we will have some occasional attrition as some of the players will no doubt want to go where they can have more playing time during matches. We have had a little bit of that but not much.

I will say that a roster of 23 players is really getting up there.

BTW, considering me to be knowledgeable is a compliment but perhaps somewhat misguided.

[RoyalShock]

I should have said he is humble, too. :)

[flyingMoose]

For the curious, the RPI Futures thread for Week 3 is up on Volley Talk. At this point, it is 75% this year and 25% last year.

Among the Valley teams, select projected RPIs are:

31 - Missouri State
39 - Illinois State
49 - Southern Illinois and
51 - Shockers.

At this point, I have no real idea whether this is information or data.