Shockers at Evansville

[flyingMoose]

Tonight is the first of the Shocker mid-week matches resulting from using a fourth weekend for tournaments. Later in the year, the Shocks will travel to Southern Illinois for another Monday match.

[flyingMoose]

Set One

Evansville 16-25 Shockers

After falling behind 3-6, the Shocks took control of the game. The Shocks hit .531 versus .286 for the Purple Aces.

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

Evansville 16-25 Shockers

The Shocks jumped out to an early 15-8 lead before Evansville closed the gap to 16-14. The Shockers then reasserted themselves to ease to the win. The hitting percentages were .300 to -.075.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

Evansville 15-25 Shockers

The Shocks were in command the entire set and take the match 3-0.

For the match, the Shockers hit .383 versus .085 for Evansville. The led in blocks by 8-4.

Abbie, Mikaela, Emily, Katy and MaryAshton all had nice numbers. Although Shimen's hitting percentage was not great, Lambo liked a lot of the other things she did.

[flyingMoose]

The first RPI from the NCAA was released today. Missouri State has the best RPI of the Valley schools at 22. The Shockers are next at 64. That is a win-the-conference-tournament-or-go-home number. You normally need an RPI in the mid 40s to get an at-large bid.

[flyingMoose]

Other Scores

Southern Illinois!! 3-2 Missouri State
(22), 9, (23), 23, 8

In the latest RPI cited above, the Salukis were at 66.

[flyingMoose]

The projected RPI thread is up and continues to have some interesting numbers. This thread from Volley Talk has a projected season-ending RPI based on the win probabilities for the remaining games on the schedule using the current Pablo rating.

Valley teams of interest along with their Pablo-based projected conference records:

24 - Missouri State (16-2)
38 - Shockers (14-4)
60 - Illinois State (12-6)
66 - Southern Illinois (10-8)

Given there is any validity to the projected RPIs, no, I do not know how the Shockers will move from the (actual) 60s to the (projected) 30s. I suppose they need the "Kentuckys" on their schedule to go crazy.

[WuDrWu]

Other Scores

Southern Illinois!! 3-2 Missouri State
(22), 9, (23), 23, 8

In the latest RPI cited above, the Salukis were at 66.

I'm sorry...but how did NINE and EIGHT EVER HAPPEN against the same Missouri State team we saw Friday???


Duh, of course the 8 was in the 5th to 15 (smh) but still....9? And it wasn't even THAT close. SIU really shut down Lily Johnson. 14-8-52 .115 in five sets, compared to 20-6-56 .250 in addition to 21 digs against WSU in just 4 sets.

[1972Shocker]

I'm sorry...but how did NINE and EIGHT EVER HAPPEN against the same Missouri State team we saw Friday???


Duh, of course the 8 was in the 5th to 15 (smh) but still....9? And it wasn't even THAT close. SIU really shut down Lily Johnson. 14-8-52 .115 in five sets, compared to 20-6-56 .250 in addition to 21 digs against WSU in just 4 sets.

That was a very surprising outcome.

[ShockerFever]

I'm sorry...but how did NINE and EIGHT EVER HAPPEN against the same Missouri State team we saw Friday???


Duh, of course the 8 was in the 5th to 15 (smh) but still....9? And it wasn't even THAT close. SIU really shut down Lily Johnson. 14-8-52 .115 in five sets, compared to 20-6-56 .250 in addition to 21 digs against WSU in just 4 sets.

How you ask?

It's the Super Bowl effect. Just like in men's basketball (although opposing wins have been pretty scarce lately), teams come into an environment and crowd volume they never get to play in front of, play against the perennial league flag carrier, and amp up their games to levels they normally don't sustain. Granted, Missouri State was a good team obviously. But Friday night and now Monday night give some leeway to this theory. It also supports the "letdown" effect.

[1972Shocker]

Although Shimen's hitting percentage was not great, Lambo liked a lot of the other things she did.

I for one would sure like to see Shimen cut down on her errors. 8-7-21 for a 0.048 hitting percentage is pretty inefficient especially when the rest of the team had an attack line of 40-5-73 = 0.479. While Shimen did have 3 of the 4 Shocker service aces she also countered that by having all 3 of the Shocker service reception errors. She also had both of the Shockers 2 blocking errors. She obviously has had better matches statistically but on the whole she has not played consistently clean volleyball. I do expect Shimen will play cleaner Volleyball as she gains experience at this level.

The fact that Lambo seems to have locked Shimen in as a 6 rotation player who rarely leaves the floor lately tells me that she is in fact doing some things that Lambo values. Either that or he simply does not have any good alternatives to go to. Jody Larson sure has not lived up to the pre-season hype she received and she did not even see the floor tonight. In fact, considering the nature of the match I was a little surprised to see that Lambo only played 9 players tonight. Not sure what, if anything to make of that. Perhaps Lambo has finally decided how he is going to go with this core group so they can figure out who they are. 17 matches into the season it is probably time for that especially if they may be looking at "a win the Valley Tournament or stay home" scenario that @flyingMoose: has suggested based on their current RPI. Perhaps the Shocks can change that dynamic if they find themselves here and finish strong over the remaining 14 regular season matches.

It is good to see Mikaela Raudsepp coming on though. 8-0-13 = 0.615 is a very nice attack line. Then again perhaps Evansville, even at their place, doesn't provided the best measuring stick.

Emily, Abbie, Katie and Dani have been consistently solid this year. However, the key to how successful this team can be may depend on how Shimen, Mikaela, Katy D, Mash and Jenny play going forward. Mikaela seems to have found her groove. Hopefully, she can sustain it.

[flyingMoose]

I for one would sure like to see Shimen cut down on her errors. 8-7-21 for a 0.048 hitting percentage is pretty inefficient especially when the rest of the team had an attack line of 40-5-73 = 0.479. While Shimen did have 3 of the 4 Shocker service aces she also countered that by having all 3 of the Shocker service reception errors. She also had both of the Shockers 2 blocking errors. She obviously has had better matches statistically but on the whole she has not played consistently clean volleyball. I do expect Shimen will play cleaner Volleyball as she gains experience at this level.

The fact that Lambo seems to have locked Shimen in as a 6 rotation player who rarely leaves the floor lately tells me that she is in fact doing some things that Lambo values.

In his post-match comments, Lambo talked about Shimen getting down on herself when her offensive stats are not great, and the staff building her up by pointing out the other contributions she makes. I suspect with her being a freshman with a lot of potential, they have decided to ride out the rough patches in her game.

Jody Larson sure has not lived up to the pre-season hype she received and she did not even see the floor tonight. In fact, considering the nature of the match I was a little surprised to see that Lambo only played 9 players tonight. Not sure what, if anything to make of that.

In his pre-match comments, Lambo talked about not having a lot of prep time for this match, so they went with a rotation that had some of the players in the positions they played a lot last year. (Obviously, Shimen and Katy would be excluded from that list of players.) With the time before the UNI/Drake weekend, they plan to look at some other combinations in practice.

What do I know about volleyball, but Jody does not seem to have a big enough arm to play the left side where "all" the sets go when you are out-of-system and the defensive block is sitting on you. However, I think she plays the back as well as Jenny and gives you a pipe-set option. But what do I know about volleyball. Maybe the spectacular digs I see are because she is out of position defensively.

[boyshocker]

Moose I think you might be right about Jody on the left, I think it was the Kentucky match she hit very well from the right. Her and Emily closed that match out for us. I agree that she is a great option on the back row. From the stats Evansville looks to really be bad, wonder what Drake is going to look like?

[1972Shocker]

From the stats Evansville looks to really be bad, wonder what Drake is going to look like?

I don't think Drake played a real challenging non-conference slate however, I do expect them to significantly tougher than Evansville. Drake swept Evansville 15, 11, 18 in Des Moines. They followed that up with by being swept at home by SIU 20, 16, 18. Then they proceed to knock off Loyola 3-1 in Chicago then Loyola turns around an beats SIU in Carbondale then SIU turns around and beat Missouri State in Carbondale. UNI beat SIU 3-1 in Cedar Falls but then had to come from behind to beat Evansville at home in 5 sets before losing at Indiana State in 5 and being swept by Illinois State this past weekend.

The league appears to a be a little schizophrenic so far. That could be because a lot of the teams are young and the balance among the top 8 teams in the league outside of Evansville and Bradley appears to be about as good as it has ever been. Not sure the Shocks can just show up against Drake and UNI and expect to win especially on the road.