Another First - Shocks Host USF and UCF

[1972Shocker]

While I was anticipating a bigger challenge today against UCF then we had against USF on Friday I was not ready for what hit the Shocks in Set 1. I'm sure UCF focused just about all of their time and energy this past week preparing for the Shocks as the Shocks' travel partner Memphis does not appear to be strong at all. I think it is safe to say that UCF did their home work well and had a very good plan to open the match and the athletes to execute it well as the Knights jumped out to a 10-4 lead. The Shocks battled back to actually take an 18-17 lead. However, UCF scored 5 out of the last 6 points in the set to win 25-21.

The Shocks maintained a 1 or 2 point lead throughout most of Set 2 until two consecutive kills by UCF tied the score at 18-18. This time the Shocks closed strong lead by RFr. Middle Emma Wright to tie that match with a 25-20 win.

The mad scientist apparently did his thing during the intermission as it looked like a totally different match after that as the Shocks dominated Sets 3 and 4 winning by 25-12 and 25-15 to close out their 4th consecutive AAC win.

Mikaela Raudsepp went down late in the 4th set and left the floor gingerly and with assistance. I really did not see what happened. Mike Kennedy said he did not think it looked too serious based on how they handled Mikaela after that but we will have to wait and see. Fr. Chase Jackson filled in for Mikaela to close out the set and match. Hopefully, Mike's assessment is accurate.

[The Mad Hatter]

Based on how they were treating it, Mikaela's injury appeared to be a muscle injury not a joint injury. Hopefully she recovers quickly.

[1972Shocker]

Here is the GoShockers.com match report with highlights and a link to the post-match interviews of Lambo and Alex Koon by Mike Kennedy.

[flyingMoose]

Today (I think) is the first release of the RPI by the NCAA.

There is a site that calculates their version of the NCAA RPI including Bonuses. Last week, they had the Shockers at #20 with them moving down to #23 this week. In the very early afternoon, we should have the real deal.

[1972Shocker]

Match report from UCFKnights.com

"There is no doubt that they're the best conference team we've played in my 10 years at UCF. I thought we fought tooth and nail against a team made up of a majority of upperclassmen. When I looked over at our side to see freshmen and sophomores on the court, it made me very proud of them for how hard they competed."

[1972Shocker]

Emily Hiebert won her 2nd AAC Offensive Player of the Week Award.

Emily averaged 2.71 kills, 11.14 assists, 1.71 digs and 0.29 blocks per set, while hitting .607 in the two wins. She also guided the Shocker offense to a .349 team hitting percentage.

With Cincy's Jordan Thompson on th sidelines I'm thinking that Emily, the do everything floor leader of the Shocks, has to be one of the leading candidates for AAC Player of the Year.

[1972Shocker]

Emma Wright seemed to make so very good strides this weekend at the M-2 position. In 7 sets she was 13-2-24 for a very solid 0.458 hititng percentage. If you eliminate the 1st set of the UCF match when she was 1-2-5 she was 12-0-19 for an oustanding 0.632 hitting percentage. Hopefully, she is gaining confidence she can get the job done and is figuring some things out.

Lambo said Emma wasn't totally responsible for her poor 1st set against UCF. He put part of the blame on Emily for putting Emma in some bad situations. But even with that Emma had a very solid weekend. Hopefully, there will be more of that to come.

If we can stabilize that M-2 position along with Alex Koon's solid play on the right side then Lambo will have solved two the bigger question marks with this team.

Hopefully, Mikaela isn't seriously injured. Perhaps we will find out more on Lambo's weekly radio show tonight.

[1972Shocker]

On his radio show Lambo reported that Mikaela slipped on a wet spot and banged her hip on the floor and apparently had a bit of a stinger which scared her. She was up and walking around today and probably has a bruised hip. Lambo said they will take it day by day but he did not seem overly concerned about it.

My comment is that if they have to hold Mikaela out for a weekend perhaps this next weekend is one of the better ones for that to happen with a road trip to Tulane and Houston on the board. Although Houston did play well this past weekend against UConn and Temple.