Shocks @ Bradley (Friday) and @ Loyola (Saturday)

[flyingMoose]

Are you at the match?

Have Mike's phone number?

[1972Shocker]

Not sure what the final stats will show but at 14-10 in Set 3 both Emily (18 and 11) and Jody (17 and 12) had assist + digs double-doubles.

Jody was having a tough attacking night though.

This was a good win tonight. Loyola is certainly a team capable of pulling an upset.

It will be interesting to hear Lambo's thoughts on his new 6-2 scheme.

Update: Final double-double numbers: Emily 24 and 13; Jody 17 and 12

[1972Shocker]

Have Mike's phone number?

Mike's in Wichita. Men's basketball game today.

I think Chris Solwecki did the audio stream for last night's Bradley match.

[flyingMoose]

Mike's in Wichita. Men's basketball game today.

I think Chris Solwecki did the audio stream for last night's Bradley match.

Oops! Of course. Then again, I don't pay enough attention to MBB to realize they had a game until I saw the result on the Web site.

[WuDrWu]

Are you at the match?

Unfortunately, no.

[WuDrWu]

Have Mike's phone number?

Yes, but it does me no good today.

[WuDrWu]

I followed it on Twitter.

[flyingMoose]

Sunday Match

Missouri State 3-0 LOYOLA
16, 19, 16

[WuDrWu]

In the span of a couple of weeks we've gone from believing we have the best team in the league to knowing we're no better than 2nd.

MSU is firing on all cylinders right now. It's kind of amazing to me they can use Lilly as much as they do with zero issues.

[flyingMoose]

It's kind of amazing to me ...

What is amazing to me is that the Shockers are on their third "team," maybe the fourth - 5-1 with littles, 5-1 without littles, and now a 6-2 of sorts, with a match of Jordan 6-2 thrown in. But the constant tinkering is a hallmark of Lambo's program.

[boyshocker]

Is it possible this is the year the tinkering might have done more harm than good?

[1972Shocker]

What is amazing to me is that the Shockers are on their third "team," maybe the fourth - 5-1 with littles, 5-1 without littles, and now a 6-2 of sorts, with a match of Jordan 6-2 thrown in. But the constant tinkering is a hallmark of Lambo's program.

From what has been reported maybe a 5th "team". It sounded like Lambo was planning on a 6-2 coming out of the spring season until the season-ending injury to Jenny Whitledge on the 1st day of fall practice. Jenny who would have been a key component in that "team". Then he switched back to the little 5-1, then to the big 5-1, then to the single-match experiment with the Jordan/Alex 6-2 and now his Emily/Jody 6-2 with an extra little mixed in. Perhaps kind of melding the other 4 iterations together.

Lambo is thinker and a tinkerer but this year seems to be somewhat on the extreme. What is telling us, I think, is that post-Jenny injury Lambo has just never be totally comfortable with this year's team. I am also thinking that Giorgia's injury may have been a bigger issue than most of us realized although that is total specualtion.

[1972Shocker]

In the span of a couple of weeks we've gone from believing we have the best team in the league to knowing we're no better than 2nd.

MSU is firing on all cylinders right now. It's kind of amazing to me they can use Lilly as much as they do with zero issues.

Yeah, MSU is really playing well and I don't really see them losing again in the regular season. And with us losing twice to UNI an argument could be and the way we are playing lately saying we are "no better than 2nd" is the apporpriate phrase. No guarantee we will hold on to 2nd place with matches remaining at home vs Illinois State and on the road at SIU.

The remaining schedule of the top 5 teams looks like this:

MSU (12-2) and WSU (11-3): Home vs Illinois State (9-5) and Indiana State (4-10) and road matches at SIU (11-4) and Evansville (1-14).
SIU (11-4): At Evansville (1-14) and home vs Wichita State (11-3) and Missouri State (12-2).
UNI (10-4); Home vs Loyola (7-8) and Bradey (2-13) and road matches at Illinois State (9-5) and Indiana State (4-10).
ILS (9-5); At Wichita State (11-3) and at Wichtita State (12-2) and home vs Northern Iowas (10-5) and Drake (5-9).

Illinois State clearly has the toughest closing schedule. UNI will be favored to win all 4 of their remaining matches which would put them in at 14-4. Friday's WSU match with Illinois State will also be a very key match for the Shocks. The final weekend with WSU and MSU at SIU will be very interesting with a lot riding on the outcome of those matches.

[flyingMoose]

RPIs from 7 November with last week's RPI in parentheses:

36 (35) Shockers
46 (47) Northern Iowa
49 (46) Missouri State
58 (62) Southern Illinois


The current winning percentages for the out-of-conference schedules:

63.6 Shockers
53.0 Missouri State
57.9 Northern Iowa
56.6 Southern Illinois

Northern Iowa is up 1+ from last week, and Missouri State is down 1+. That is my best explanation for their swapping places in the RPI order. The Shockers are also down a bit and Southern Illinois is basically unchanged.

[JayJ79]

MSU is firing on all cylinders right now. It's kind of amazing to me they can use Lilly as much as they do with zero issues.

Lily Johnson has made 1366 attacks this season (stats through 11/6 matches), that is third highest in division I behind Krissa Gearring (SEMO, 1371) and Anna Logan (Butler, 1367). No one else has more than 1349 attacks.