Shocks Open Valley Play at MSU on Friday; at home vs EVN on Monday

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks travel to Springfield on Friday to take on a very good Missouri State team at 7:00 pm.

The Bears will no doubt be out for revenge for the Shocks come from behind 5-set win in Springfield in last year's MVC Tournament Championship game in a typical WSU-MSU battler royale coming from 2 sets down to defeat the Lady Bears 24-26, 20-25, 27-25, 25-17 and 18-16. I had the pleasure of attending that match and it was terrific.

Whether or not the Shocks can repeat that feat with the injuries they are dealing with remains to be seen but won't be easy.

Regan Peare is out of the year with her knee injury. Lambo is room temperature on Jody Larson's availability. She did practice on Wednesday. Not sure how she felt today.

Lily Johnson of MSU is the reigning MVC player of the year and deservedly so. She is outstanding. MB Lynsey Wright is a load as well.

This is one you will want to tune in to on ESPN3.

Shocks host lowly Evansville on Monday at 7:00 pm and should take care of business against the Aces. This is one of the two non-weekend (Friday/Saturday) matches that each Valley team now has due to the compression of the regular season allowing teams to have a 4th weekend of non-conference play. Something Lambo was very much in favor of.
The other will be a big Monday match with SIU on October 10th. The Shocks travelled to Evansville and Carbondale last year for this non-weekend matches.

Paul Suellentrop's Article on the Injury Situation

Hopefully the injury bug is behind us of the rest of the season.

[1972Shocker]

goShockers.com Match Notes

Springfield News Leader Article

[LuskingforGuttin]

I would be surprised if this one isn't a 5 setter. I think MSU narrowly pulls it out. Should be a great match.

[LuskingforGuttin]

Just got a notification that there will be free 'Wichita is not a state' shirts to the first 100 fans. Haha. This thing is apparently going to be a thing that stands the test of time.

[Cdizzle]

I hope Wichita is still the biggest and most legible word on the shirt. The free advertising has been great.

[WstateU]

Just got a notification that there will be free 'Wichita is not a state' shirts to the first 100 fans. Haha. This thing is apparently going to be a thing that stands the test of time.

Probably 'leftovers' from the original order 10 years ago. :)

[1972Shocker]

Just got a notification that there will be free 'Wichita is not a state' shirts to the first 100 fans. Haha. This thing is apparently going to be a thing that stands the test of time.

Hope so. Seems to have been a sold good-luck talisman for the Shocks. But only 100?

[1972Shocker]

I would be surprised if this one isn't a 5 setter. I think MSU narrowly pulls it out. Should be a great match.

Could well be. The Shocks and Bears have done that many, many times. A lot may depend on the availability of the Shocks' Jody Larson at a close to a full strength level. I could see where she might be available to play some but hard to believe she will be close to fulls strength. If Jody can't go, which is possible, then it will depend on what Lambo can cook up as a strategy to compensate for that loss.

The Bears have played well at home going 4-0 including the win over #12 Ohio State. Shocks very unlikely to be at full strength. The edge would seem to be with the Bears in this one.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks and Bears going to a 5th set. No surprise there. Scores have been (with Shocks 1st) 26-24, 20-25, 25-12, and 21-25.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks off to an early 3-0 lead thanks primarily to errors by the Lady Bears. They need to take advantage of the charity.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks now up 7-1 and MSU takes their 2nd and final time-out.

[1972Shocker]

Bears score two straight to pull within 12-8 and Shocks call their 1st timeout. Still some work to do.

[shocks771]

Big win!! Congrats ladies!!

[1972Shocker]

Bears pull to within 3 at 13-10 but a kill by Tabitha and a solo block by Mikaela gave the Shocks a 15-10 5th set win.

Big early Valley road win for the Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

15 of the last 33 against MSU have gone 5 sets. Shocks have won 7 of the last 8 in Springfield.

Lambo's post-game comments:

Another match where our littles got out-played. Georgia was unable to play tonight. Knee injury. Not sure how serious.

Balance scoring was a key to the win. Shocks with 5 player with between 11 and 15 kills with Emily chipping in 8. Dani had 26 digs and Emily 18 to go along with her 46 assists just missing a triple double.

Emily Heibert just does so much for the Shocks.

Jody Larson had not jumped until this morning and while she had 10 kills she also had 9 errors but it was good to have her back.

Shocks had trained the 6-2 all spring and had planned on playing in that offense until Jenny got hurt. They are now rounding into form with the 5-1 as they continue to train in it.