Shocks Host Drake (Fri) and UNI (Sat)

[flyingMoose]

The latest Bracketology thread (there was not one last week) is up on Volley Talk. Assuming the Shockers are the AQ, he currently sees Missouri State being one of the last four in (there are three weeks remaining, so things can change), and Southern Illinois as being one of the last eight out. One of the comments seems to say the resumes for the Shockers and the Bears are pretty close. That conclusion is driven by RPI and "good wins" rather than conference records.

An attempt to cut and paste the parts of the thread of interest to us failed miserably because of all the "codes" in it. You may read the thread at your leisure.

[boyshocker]

Good observation Doc. Our passing and defense was outstanding especially in the 1st two sets.

The most exciting thing to me was that pretty much all phases of the Shocker game were clicking at a high level and it was done with a minimum of errors.

Not sure I totally understand why we clicked so well after switching back to the 5-1 at halftime of the Drake match but at this point I assume Lambo will stick with what is working well until it doesn't.

I agree, there were times when we did a two-man serve receive with Dani and Jody that was impressive too. I need to qualify that I sit with a couple of current and retired vb coaches so not my fault if I sound dumb. They thought Emily's setting against UNI was the best she has had, thought she had been setting too many tight sets for our hitters to get good swings. One reason for some low hitting numbers at times.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks have 4 matches remaining in the regular season. At Loyola and at Bradley this weekend then hosting SIU and Evansville to close out the regular season the following weekend.

A win over Loyola would not clinch a top 2 seed and a 1st round bye in the Valley tournament but it would very close to that as it is hard to imagine the Shocks losing to Bradley or Evansville.

SIU has matches at home against Illinois State and Indiana State this weekend in which they should be favored.

SIU also has a tough final weekend with a road trip to Koch Arena before heading over to Springfield.

The remaining schedule would seem to favor the Shocks a little bit but it is very likely that the Valley regular season championship will come down to the WSU - SIU match a week from this Friday.

Lambo's radio show is on KNSS 1330 tonight from 5:30p to 6:00p preceding the Gregg Marshall Show.

[boyshocker]

One thing I wish was in the box score were the serve receive percentages, sometimes it looks like we have to be in the high nineties.

[1972Shocker]

They thought Emily's setting against UNI was the best she has had, thought she had been setting too many tight sets for our hitters to get good swings. One reason for some low hitting numbers at times.

Could be although the quality of passing has a whole lot to do with the resulting quality of sets. Our passing was really bad at SIU for example. Our play against Drake in the first 2 sets where we used the 6-2 and the final two sets when we used the 5-1 was like night and day. Lambo said in the UNI post-match interview Mikaela plays better when she plays faster and that Emily sets at a quicker pace than McKenzie does. McKenzie tends to set a higher, slower set.

I also wonder if Emily perhaps gets into a more consistent rhythm when she is playing 6 rotations instead of 3 although I think the quality of the passes she gets is a huge key.

In any case, let's hope this team has finally found how it plays best and can ride this through the final 4 matches and into post-season play.

[flyingMoose]

McKenzie tends to set a higher, slower set.

Because she is so close to the floor.

[1972Shocker]

One thing I wish was in the box score were the serve receive percentages, sometimes it looks like we have to be in the high nineties.

I think Lambo said at the VB101 scrimmage that in the stats they keep at practices and in matches they rate the passes on a good, fair, poor system or something along those lines. So they are striving from quality as well as quantity.

[flyingMoose]

Here is the current projected season-ending RPI of the six likely-to-make-the-Valley-tournament teams from the RPI Futures thread on Volley Talk using their current Pablo rating: this week..(last week)..team..conference-record

33 (31) Shockers 15-3
43 (53) Southern Illinois 13-5
44 (49) Missouri State 12-6
54 (55) Northern Iowa 11-7
59 (60) Illinois State 12-6
93 (85) Loyola 10-8

The +1/-1 conference-wins list has an error for the Shockers (there is no value for 14 wins), but here it is for everyone else.

33. Wichita State (16 Wins-30) (-) (15 Wins-33)
43. Southern Illinois (13 Wins-45) (14 Wins-38) (12 Wins-55)
44. Missouri State (12 Wins-45) (13 Wins-38) (11 Wins-55)
54. Northern Iowa (11 Wins-55) (12 Wins-49) (10 Wins-62)
59. Illinois State (12 Wins-60) (13 Wins-55) (11 Wins-69)

[WuDrWu]

Pretty much a mortal lock that ku will be a 1 seed and our girls will have to travel to Lawrence yet again. They've lost 2 matches, both to Texas. They were ultra competitive tonight at KU losing in 5.

KU is young and big and talented and going to be exceptional in the foreseeable future, especially with club volleyball getting so much better in the Kansas City area.

[WuShock16]

Pretty much a mortal lock that ku will be a 1 seed and our girls will have to travel to Lawrence yet again. They've lost 2 matches, both to Texas. They were ultra competitive tonight at KU losing in 5.

KU is young and big and talented and going to be exceptional in the foreseeable future, especially with club volleyball getting so much better in the Kansas City area.

What would it take for the Wahine Shockers to go into Allen Fieldhouse, channel their inner Jackie Church/Emily Adney, and come out victorious?

[WuDrWu]

An immediately eligible 6'3" jumping jack 6 rotation transfer.

With an attitude.

And a quiet but understandably fiery hatred for ku.

[Cdizzle]

An immediately eligible 6'3" jumping jack 6 rotation transfer.

With an attitude.

And a quiet but understandably fiery hatred for ku.

Do I have to be female? I really feel like I check off a lot of the bullets on this list.

[WuDrWu]

Do I have to be female? I really feel like I check off a lot of the bullets on this list.

Sadly, in today's world, I imagine you only need to "identify" with females. Welcome.

[1972Shocker]

Do I have to be female? I really feel like I check off a lot of the bullets on this list.

So from that can I conclude your name is Jack, you have an attitude and you hate KU.

[Cdizzle]

So from that can I conclude your name is Jack, you have an attitude and you hate KU.

Nailed it. But I'm even more qualified. I still have 4 years of eligibility.