Eagle VB Articles

[flyingMoose]

Hmm. Since the Eagle will be doing volleyball articles on at least a weekly basis, let's try throwing them all in here.

Here is the one in today's paper, focusing on Jenny and Giorgia.

[1972Shocker]

Excellent article. Hoping all goes well for Jenny and Giorgia this year coming off of season ending injuries. Jenny's injuries in particular sounded devastating. Torn ACL, torn MCL, 2 torn menisci and bone bruises to her thigh bone and shin bone. Mama Mia! I guess the silver lining is she didn't break her ankle as well.

[flyingMoose]

I guess the silver lining is she didn't break her ankle as well.

Or her spirit by all appearances.

[boyshocker]

Stopped by and stuck my head in practice for a bit and notice a few things. Wouldn't be surprised if we have a few true freshman in the rotation this year. From what I can guess I believe Chase Jackson is the one who looked very impressive on the outside and Brooke from Goddard High also looked very good. Both seemed to be getting reps with the returning starters. GIO looked healed, would think she would lead in the fight for the libero jersey. There was a DS that looked good also but had no idea who she was, thinking a transfer or true freshman?

[1972Shocker]

There was a DS that looked good also but had no idea who she was, thinking a transfer or true freshman?

We have no DS on the roster who is a transfer. So it would have to have been Jenna Mak, the only true frehsman DS on the roster. We do have 2 redshirt Freshman who are defensive specialists. That would be Aspen Kridner out of Goddard and a bit surprisingly (to me anyway) Giorgia Civita is the other DS listed as a redshirt freshman and her bio says she has received a medical hardship waiver.

Giorga played in 11 of the Shockers 32 matches (and 39 of 111 sets) last year which would exceed the 30% threshold for a medical redshirt. I'll have to see if I can find out more about that at the VB101 dinner this coming Saturday.

I think we can probably replace Dani's digging and passing if Giorgia is fully recovered and can stay healthy. However, one thing Dani did very well IMO was the role of secondary setter in out-of-system plays.

However, the biggest hole we have to fill IMHO is replacing the all-around ability of Jody Larson. She brought a strong and diverse skill set to the floor and was our best back row attacker by far in addition to doing everything else well. A true 6-rotation player that allowed Lambo to do a lot of different things.

[boyshocker]

I don't believe it was any of the redshirt freshman, think she is a new face. I remember reading somewhere that Gio got the medical hardship. I wonder if they looked at her amount of playing time when considering it? I agree about Jody, have we every had to replace probably 90% of our passing(Dani and Jody)? Would have been nice to have her this first year in the AAC but it was also nice to not see MS win the the valley title the last two years. Probably going to have to replace her with a couple of players. Hopefully we have another carnivore coming up in the system.

[1972Shocker]

At the VB 101 Dinner I was able to ask Lambo about how they managed to secure a medical redshirt for Giorgia. He said well since she played in less than a third of our matches last year she qualified. I told him I thought the rule was 30% and asked him if was different for Volleyball. He said no I think your are right it is 30%. I then told him the stats on goShockers.com showed that Giorgia played in 11 of 32 matches last year. He than said well 11 of 33 would be third so 11 of 32 would less. Then he caught himself and said, no wait a minute, that would be more. He then said I'm not sure. Maybe you can find Korey Torgerson (Associate AD - Compliance) and he can probably answer that. He said I'm just glad she received the redshirt.

I suggested that the stats on goShockers.com may not be accurate and that I have seen box scores in the past that included players who didn't play in that match. He said yeah that happens. He said on some road matches he has seen players listed in the box score who did not even make the road trip.

I do not know Korey Torgerson so I did not run him down. So I don't know the answer for sure. The way that the NCAA calculates this is that 30% of 32 matches is 9.6 matches the result of which is always rounded up to the next whole number. So she would have been allowed to play in 10 matches last year and still qualify for a medical redshirt.

According to the box scores on goShockers.com Giorgia did play in and was credited with stats in the Shockers 1st 11 matches. It could be that an athlete automatically gets a medical redshirt if they meet the 30% rule but can still get a waiver if they go over that based on the facts and circumstances with a case specific application to and ruling from the NCAA.

The bottom line is I don't know the answer for sure but glad Giorgia was granted the medical hardship waiver.

It does tell me how important Korey Torgerson and his compliance staff are to the WSU coaches in dealing with the arcane and myriad NCAA rules and regulations. Probably something they don't receive enough recognition for.

[1972Shocker]

Not an Eagle article but an WSU volleyball article nonetheless about Shocker senior DS Gabi Mostrom.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/8/22/mostrom-balances-academics-and-volleyball.aspx

[WuDrWu]

Not an Eagle article but an WSU volleyball article nonetheless about Shocker senior DS Gabi Mostrom.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/...olleyball.aspx

I know you know this @1972Shocker:, but that's a heck of a family. After reading the article, the only thing I'm certain of is that Gabi is infinitely more intelligent than I am.

[WuShock16]

After reading the article, the only thing I'm certain of is that Gabi is infinitely more intelligent than I am.

That's the ONLY thing that you are certain of?

I'm sorry but if you open the door, I'm walking right through it...and I'm confident that you would do the same to me.

[1972Shocker]

Nonconference Performance Remains Vital for WSU's NCAA Resume

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article168988427.html

Sounds like Lambo has not been bashful with his new conference colleagues. "The new guy didn't hold back."

AAC Volleyball will be better for it.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita Eagle/Paul Suellentrip Article on Abbie Lehman's growing versatility.

The key — and the mystery — to how the lineup is shaped rests on the growing skills of senior Abbie Lehman.

“There’s kind of the super-woman lineup and then there’s a more balanced, team kind of lineup,” Lamb said. “Abbie — it’s pretty cool when some of your better players are still on the steep learning curve.”

Interesting that Fr Setter Kora Kauling is on call if Lambo decides to go to a 6-2 attack. Fitting I guess since Kora is 6-2. Lambo seems to have trended towards finding setters on the taller side of the spectrum.

Lambo is never satisfied with the status quo is he. One thing that makes his teams so tough. You never know what they are going to throw at you. Looking forward to seeing what this team can do.

:poster_shocks:

[1972Shocker]

So it kind of sounds like the key to Abbie being the key is for the freshman middles, redshirts Emma Wright and Abby Pugh plus true frehsman Brooke Smith to step in and play well.

[1972Shocker]

Lambo has been somewhat critical of the AAC's volleyball non-conference scheduling.

He would have loved this if the Shocks were still in the Valley. Evansville is 5-1 and Drake 5-2 to start the season. However, based on last year's RPI ratings Evansville's 6 opponents had an average RPI of 306.3 and Drake's 7 opponents an average RPI of 237.4. Overall Evansille's non-con schedule has an average RPI rating, again based on last year's RPI's) of 245.3 and Drake's non-con will have an average RPI of 253.4.

All-in-all though Lambo is on target. The AAC's scheduling is not very good. In fact, overall it is worse than the Valley's based on last years RPI ratings.

Overall the AAC has an average opponent non-con RPI of 171 this year. The Valley's average non-con oppoent RPI is 157.

In the AAC Wichita State (81), Cincy (81), SMU (110), Temple (133) and UCF (135) have reasonably good schedules. In the Valley Illinois State (90), Missouri State (93), UNI (103) and SIU (110) have reasonably good schedules. The average opponent RPI for these top 5 and top 4 schedules are 99 for the AAC and 99 for the Valley.

The rest of the AAC has an average opponents RPI of 213 and the rest of the Valley has an average opponents RPI of 194.

The problem the AAC has this season is that Cincy's prospects were dealt a mortal blow when their 6-4 OH Jordan Thompson, the unanimous pick to be the AAC Player of the Year, went down for the season. Also SMU appears they may be down a bit this season and Temple has not been quite as good as expected either. So at this point Wichita State's wins over Marquette, Miami (OH) and Lipscomb may be the best wins in the AAC non-con so far. SMU has wins over Arkansas State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UCF has a win over FGCU all of whom were Top 60 in the RPI last year.

The Valley has a couple of Top 20 wins with UNI knocking off #19 Missouri and MSU beating #20 Ohio State. UNI lost a 5 setter to #13 Kentucky and Illinoins State lost a 5 setter to #15 Florida State.

As bad as the Evansville and the Drake non-con schedules appear to be they aren't as bad as ECU's. The Pirates non-con opponent average RPI is 277.

Of course, if you do schedule tougher you need to win your share of those matches to make it count.