1st Place Shocks Host 2nd Place Missouri State

[1972Shocker]

In the Shocks (8-1, 15-5) only match of the week they take on travel partners Missouri State (7-2, 16-7) to open the 2nd half of the Valley regular season.

Missouri State opened Valley play with 2 consecutive 5-set home losses to the Shocks and Salukis. Since then they have won 7 straight.

It seems like the Lady Bears are playing better now than they were at that time.

The Bears have very good talent including returning Valley Player of the Year Lily Johnson who averages 4.5 kills per set.

In his Monday radio show I think Lambo said the Bears had gone to more of a 6-2 offense since they played them to open Valley Play.

If you only go to an occassional match this might be one you will want to catch. Sole possession of 1st place is on the oline for the Shocks and these two teams as often as not need 5 sets to determine the outcome. Should be a good one.

Shocker Match Notes

Bear Match Notes

Wichita Eagle Pre-Match Article Focusing on Abbie

[1972Shocker]

Tonight is a Wichita Eagle Family Night

4 , 4 , 4 and 4 for ONLY $32 (4 drinks of any kind, not just coffee -- not even sure they offer coffee)


Also I have 1 ticket for tonights match that someone can have gratis. PM me if you are interested.

[WuDrWu]

The Bears are struggling some on the left, rotating 3 different girls there at times. Lily, House and the other middle are problems.

I suspect the Shocks will have something a little different for the Bears tonight. You just can't keep doing the same things all season, or these coaches will pick you apart.

Looking forward to it...next 2 Fridays should go a long way to deciding the regular season champ.

[1972Shocker]

next 2 Fridays should go a long way to deciding the regular season champ.

They very well could if WSU can win them both. But if they lose one or both of them then the race is wide open. I have enjoyed Valley play as much as ever this year. WSU, MSU, SIU, UNI and ILS are all very solid teams. Loyola, Drake and Indiana State are all capable of pulling an upset of the top 5 teams. Only Bradley and Evansville are easy touches.

[flyingMoose]

Missouri State 3-1 Shockers
17, 20, (18), 21

[1972Shocker]

An ugly Shocker error-fest leads to a 17-25, 20-25, 25-18, 21-25 four set loss.

Credit to Missouri State but this was probably the worst the Shockers have played this year if not in many years, especially the 1st two sets. I was tempted to leave at the end of the 2nd set but toughed it out.

Simply a very disappointing performance by the Shocks in front of a pretty good sized crowd of 3,004.

Losing to MSU is not a disaster. They are a good team with very good athletes. However, playing so poorly is a concern.

[flyingMoose]

Post-game comments

Aces-to-errors: 1-10 for Shocks, 4-10 for Bears. Seven of the service errors were by the littles, disappointing because they had worked hard on their serving. (Back to using Gabi and Hannah in the back in addition to Dani as the libero.) The lone ace was by Tabitha who immediately followed with a service error that did not even reach the net. (Most of the match, someone subbed in to serve for Tabitha.)

Hitting percentage: .167 v .200. Our percentage was over 130 points less than our season average while the Bears at .200 was near their average. We got basically nothing out of the left side. Although all of their swings were not from there, Mikaela and Tabitha hit a combined .020. The Shockers had 19% hitting errors, not a level that will win many Valley matches - 10 of the 27 errors were blocks by the Bears. We only had six blocks.

An adjustment was made after the second set to get Abbie more involved. She led the Shocks with 17 kills and .297.

Lambo noted that Melissa Stokes told him earlier after their 0-2 conference start that they would have to run the table - their RPI was just not good enough to get them in the NCAAs otherwise. (Me: So perhaps they are playing with a greater sense of urgency.)

[flyingMoose]

Other Friday matches

Southern Illinois 3-1 DRAKE

NORTHERN IOWA 3-0 Evansville

Illinois State 3-0 BRADLEY

Indiana State 3-1 LOYOLA

[boyshocker]

.

[flyingMoose]

Saturday Matches

NORTHERN IOWA 3-1 Southern Illinois
14, 15, (20), 16

Illinois State 3-0 LOYOLA

DRAKE 3-1 Evansville

BRADLEY 3-1 Indiana State

[JayJ79]

four teams all within half a game of the top of the conference standings. (WSU and MSU at 8-2, UNI and SIU at 8-3)

SIU had to play tonight without one of their key players, Meg Viggars (setter/hitter in their 6-2 system) after she suffered a finger injury late in Friday's match at Drake.

[boyshocker]

Post-game comments

Aces-to-errors: 1-10 for Shocks, 4-10 for Bears. Seven of the service errors were by the littles, disappointing because they had worked hard on their serving. (Back to using Gabi and Hannah in the back in addition to Dani as the libero.) The lone ace was by Tabitha who immediately followed with a service error that did not even reach the net. (Most of the match, someone subbed in to serve for Tabitha.)

Hitting percentage: .167 v .200. Our percentage was over 130 points less than our season average while the Bears at .200 was near their average. We got basically nothing out of the left side. Although all of their swings were not from there, Mikaela and Tabitha hit a combined .020. The Shockers had 19% hitting errors, not a level that will win many Valley matches - 10 of the 27 errors were blocks by the Bears. We only had six blocks.

An adjustment was made after the second set to get Abbie more involved. She led the Shocks with 17 kills and .297.

Lambo noted that Melissa Stokes told him earlier after their 0-2 conference start that they would have to run the table - their RPI was just not good enough to get them in the NCAAs otherwise. (Me: So perhaps they are playing with a greater sense of urgency.)

Finally sat down and watched (can't watch Patriots if winning)... In years past if someone had a night like our lefts we would have seen a sub, instead it looked like we gave them more balls. Not sure why wait to the break to get Abby involved and Would have liked to have seen more Jody too with sets in the offense. When those two got sets in their wheelhouse they buried it, Not sure setting got a high grade in this one.
Seemed our new six rotation players got exposed on defense, wondering how the extra work is affecting their hitting? Guess there is a reason there aren't many of them. Got to be physically and mentally tough to do it, bet that is something Lamb would rather work on in the spring.

someone stated it was the worse performance they have ever seen, not sure about that but it was the biggest drop in performance I can remember from one week to another.

[flyingMoose]

RPIs from 24 October with last week's RPI in parentheses:

32 (32) Shockers
51 (63) Missouri State
53 (57) Northern Iowa
56 (52) Southern Illinois

[LuskingforGuttin]

We are playing a whole lot better the past few weeks. Wichita State is still the gold standard in this conference. I am just really pleased that we came out and played well.

As for the RPI, I don't believe that anybody besides WSU has a shot at an at large bid. If we win out, I might have to rethink that, but it seems to me like we will not come close to matching the number of NCAA participants that the MVC had last year.

[flyingMoose]

The latest Bracketology thoughts - current RPI .. team .. (future RPI)

Missouri Valley Conference

32 Wichita State (31)
51 Missouri State (52)
53 Northern Iowa (50)
56 Southern Illinois (58)

The MVC didn't do as well as they wanted to OOC, and the RPI's are suffering. These four teams have also created a logjam at the top of the conference standings. Missouri State and Wichita State are 8-2 in conference, while Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois are 8-3 in conference. There is a 6-team tournament, so whoever finishes #1 doesn't matter a whole lot. Northern Iowa is hosting the tournament regardless of the conference standings.

Wichita St. is the only team that looks comfortable to get an at-large bid. I think next behind them, Missouri State might be able to sneak into the discussion. I am sure the Bears weren't expecting Illinois to be the 9th best team in the B1G, but it is what is.

Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois are not out of the at-large discussion either. These four teams can all help each other and their at-large situation if they can avoid losing to any of the teams below the top 4. Top-50 victories are crucial for the NCAA committee so there may actually be a large difference if two teams finish 49 and 50 instead of 52 and 53.

Prediction: The MVC gets two bids. Wichita State is one, and the other one could be the conference tournament champion or an at-large bid via Mo St, UNI, and S. ILL. If I had to pick today, it'd be Missouri State as the other team joining Wichita St.