Shockers v Loyola

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 3-2 Loyola

20, 17, (20), (23), 14

In the post-game, Lambo noted that Loyola changed their system after the first two sets and turned the match around. The Shocks used the 6-2 for the entire match. They hit .250 to .186. The Shockers kill percentage was 38% versus 36% (Loyola was at 40% starting the week), and their error percentage was 13.4% (Lambo thinks 12% is a good number) versus 17.4%.

Katie had an 11-0-21 line to hit .524. Abbie had 8 kills on 16 swings and hit .375. Lambo would like her to get six or seven swings per set. Jody had 15 kills, and Shimen and Mikaela had 12 kills. Only Mikaela at .250 hit better than .200 among those three.

[flyingMoose]

Other Saturday Scores

Missouri State 3-0 Bradley
17, 18, 15

Illinois State 3-2 Southern Illinois
23, 21, (29), (18), 12

Indiana State 3-1 Evansville
(24), 12, 22, 11

Northern Iowa 3-0 Drake
13, 20, 18

[1972Shocker]

That was a tough battle. Both teams really gave a lot of effort. Shocks went with the 6-2 again tonight. Less than 2k showed up tonight with 1st place in the Valley standings on the line. That was a little disappointing, but with the Royals playing a game that ended around 6:30, the match being available on ESPN3 and college football in full swing perhaps that is not too surprising.

The Valley is proving to be a real grind this year for the most part.

[JayJ79]

four teams currently tied for 3rd at 5-3. crazy. (though that will change after Tuesday, when UNI plays at Loyola and the ISUs face off in Terre Haute.

[WuDrWu]

Morgan Reardon is really good. Maybe better than Lily Johnson (maybe not too) but she is great. She was also battling tonight and really was showing a LOT of emotion late.

The Valley race is wide open even though the Shocks have an advantage now, but the conference tournament is going to be crazy.

I think the game also being on Cox22 affected the crowd. Not a big advantage for the team tonight. Gotta change that!

[KraRam]

Would someone be willing to explain the 6-2 and other formations? Love watching the games but need to get some education on the strategy and formations. Thanks

[1972Shocker]

I will attempt it but don't claim to have a great understanding of the game of volleyball. In a 5-1 a team plays only 1 setter through all 6 rotations. When the setter plays the 3 front row rotations you are operating with only 2 front row attackers. Players on the back row can attack but only from the behind the 10 foot line.

In a 6-2 you rotate your setters in and out of the line-up using double substitutions so that your setter is always on the back row and you always have 3 big attackers on the front row able to attack at the net. Once the setter is ready to rotate to the front row you sub in an attacker for the setter and you sub your other setter in for the attacker that is rotating to the back row.

The advantage of the 6-2 is that you always have 3 front row attacking options with the 6-2 whereas with the 5-1 you are operating with only 2 front row attackers abut half the time.

The one downside of the 6-2 is that you eliminate the setter as an attacker because since they are always playing out of the back row. So in the 6-2 you will not see the setter make any attacking dumps at the net since they can only attack from behind the 10-foot line. Not sure this a big deal for setters like McKenzie Fyfe but it can be an effective weapon for setters like Emily Heibert, Chelsey Feekin or Mary Elizabeth Hooper.

Obviously, you need the necessary depth of attackers and two quality setters to play the 6-2 and you need to be able to adequately defend and pass with your 6-2 rotation. You also have to make sure you manage your subs properly as you are limited to 15 subs per set. (This was increased from 13 to 15 in 2012).

That last time I remember the Shocks having a team that relied on the 6-2 was when Andee Hartig and Abby Harsh shared setting duties during in the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

[flyingMoose]

Game article

[xazshox]

More on the 6-2

72, that was an excellent job you did of describing the 6-2 formation. I ran across Shannon Lamb in the concourse at CKA 2 or 3 yrs ago & she explained it to me, but Chris Lamb never used it until this season. He's been talking about using it all season, but he also said that the team had to get used to it before he would use it. A key to it was that the 2nd setter, McKenzie Fyfe, had to show him she could do it. Based on what the team said after the win over Loyola last night, she did great. I think one thing that allows WSU to use the 6-2 is that they have quality depth at the outside hitter positions on both sides. Katy Reilly & Jody Larson are both strong players on the right side who can also play on the back row. Reilly is especially adept at the slide which is very hard to defend

On the left side, WSU also has terrific depth with Michaela Raudstepp, Shimen Fayad, & Mary Ashton Floyd. So, they have the ability to rotate outside hitters out when they rotate to the back row or they can keep them in. Jenny Whitledge usually substitutes for someone when they rotate to the back row because she is such an outstanding passer. With the 6-2, I noticed that Katy Dudinski, normally used in the 5-1 as a 2nd Middle Blocker, did not play last night. I assume that Abbie Lehman, the 1st middle blocker, did get substituted at times when she rotated to the back row. This year's WSU team is still pretty young with only 2 seniors in Mary Ashton Floyd & Katy Reilly, but they have some upcoming OH'ers with talent such as 6-5 RS Frosh, Kara Malenski (sp?).

[WuDrWu]

Excellent points and explanations everywhere. One thing interesting in McKenzie's case to think about....she basically can't play if we don't run a 6-2. She's neither tall enough or athletic enough to play the front row for a team like WSU. It's just interesting to me to think about things like that.

I was convinced if we played the 6-2 it would be Regan Peare instead, but McKenzie has proven she just sets too good to be beat. And she was very solid last night.

Having both Jodi and Shamin able to successfully play all 6 rotations helps to allow the 6-2 because you don't have to waste your subs on them. Fayad in particular is hitting that learning curve hard lately. She's becoming very strong on the left.

[1972Shocker]

but Chris Lamb never used it until this season.

I think he did use it back in the 2004-05 seasons when Andee Hartig out of Great Bend and Abby Harsh out of Newton shared setting duties. Those teams were quite good. However, once Andee graduated he went back to the 5-1, I assume because of personnel reasons. Not too mention he had a series of outstanding setters with good size in Abby Harsha, Mary Elizabeth Hooper, Chelsey Feekin and now Emily Hiebert.

Also I wonder if the increase in allowable subs per set from 13 to 15 in 2012 has made a difference in the use of the 6-2. Lambo mentioned a couple weeks ago in the pre-match chalk talk that they made this rule change with very little notice and that it takes a few years, especially in VB where your are generally recruiting kids in their sophomore years of high school, to adjust your personnel to the system you want to run.

[1972Shocker]

For me one of the real treats associated with Shocker Volleyball is to listen to Lambo talking Volleyball. If you are not a member of the Shocker Match Club you might want to consider that if you have the wherewithal as it gains you admittance to the pre-game chalk talks in the Champions Club 45 minutes prior to game time (among other things).

My problem is that I always seen to struggle with my schedule and have difficulty making those chalk talks on a regular basis. But you can learn a lot just by absorbing Lambo's insights into the game and into his teams and the opponents' teams. The down side of listening to Lambo is it shows me how little I really know about the game of Volleyball at this level.

You can join the Match Club for as little as $125 per season. (Diggers $125 - $299). There are 4 other levels above that although I think the Golden Aces ($5,000 & Above) was probably created for Brian McNeil of Rotek Services to acknowledge the outstanding financial support he gives to Shocker Volleyball, although @WuDrWu: is probably in that very exclusive Club Level as well. In any case, it would be interesting to know how much revenue Shocker Volleyball generates from the Shock Match Club memberships.

[im4wsu]

That was a tough battle. Both teams really gave a lot of effort. Shocks went with the 6-2 again tonight. Less than 2k showed up tonight with 1st place in the Valley standings on the line. That was a little disappointing, but with the Royals playing a game that ended around 6:30, the match being available on ESPN3 and college football in full swing perhaps that is not too surprising.

The Valley is proving to be a real grind this year for the most part.

And don't forget the home game at Kansas vs Texas Tech. ROTFLMAO

[Shocker-maniac]

That was a tough battle. Both teams really gave a lot of effort. Shocks went with the 6-2 again tonight. Less than 2k showed up tonight with 1st place in the Valley standings on the line. That was a little disappointing, but with the Royals playing a game that ended around 6:30, the match being available on ESPN3 and college football in full swing perhaps that is not too surprising.

The Valley is proving to be a real grind this year for the most part.

I believe that the attendance is somewhat understated. To what extent I do not know. We entered in the gate from the ticket office and the scanners could not read our season ticket pass cards. They tried both scanners and neither one could read it. The lady told me that they had not been able to scan the cards the entire evening. We arrived at approximately 6:58 PM. I do know if this was an issue at other gates.

[boyshocker]

Wonder if we had another passer if Larson would be the other setter?