Shocks Head to New Orleans and Houston

[1972Shocker]

This weekend the Shocker volleyball team heads to New Orleans and Houston to face the Tulane Green Wave and Houston Cougars.

Tulane is up 1st at 7:00 pm on Friday. The Green Wave are 12-5 overall and 1-3 in The American. Wins this season have come against Louisiana, South Alabama twice, Grambling, Mississippi State, USM, Nicholls, Oklahoma, Northwestern State, Alcorn State, North Florida and Tulsa. Losses have come against Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, SMU, Temple and UConn. Tulane is led by Lexie Douglas who is averaging 2.35 kills per set. Justin Bowers averages 5.62 assists and Jenne Ibieta averages 4.87 assists, while Kaylie McHugh averages 5.10 digs per set. As a team, the Green Wave are hitting .202, while holding opponents to a .175 clip. Tulane is led by head coach Jim Barnes.

Tulane's overall record is pretty good but their non-con schedule was not very strong and they are off to a slow start in AAC play. But they do have a Top-100 RPI of 92 at this point but I am not expecting that to last.

The Shocks then head over to Houston for a Sunday noon matchup with the Cougars.

The Cougars are 5-7 overall and 1-3 in The American. Wins this season have come against Southern, Stetson, Mississippi State, Prairie View A&M, and UConn. Losses have come against McNeese twice, UT Arlington, LSU, Tulsa, SMU and Temple. UH is led by Brianna Lynch who is averaging 2.64 kills per set. Abby Irvine averages 5.96 assists, while Katie Karbo averages 5.40 digs per set. As a team, the Cougars are hitting .164, while holding opponents to a .162 clip. UH is led by head coach Kaddie Platt.

Lambo mentioned that Houston is a bit of an enigma on his Monday radio show. The Cougers were on a 24-match AAC losing streak heading into last weekend. However, they broke that streak with a sweep of UConn at home and then took Temple to 5 sets on Sunday losing the 5th set 13-15. Both UConn and Temple gave the Shocks very competitive matches. Houston like Tulane did not face a overly tough non-con schedule but their non-con season was disrupted by Hurricane Harvey and 3 of their matches were cancelled. So perhaps they are rounding into better form at this point.

Based on the assist averages it looks like both teams are probably running a 6-2 offense.

:poster_shocks:

Shocker Match Notes

[1972Shocker]

[flyingMoose]

Let's put this in here, same weekend and all.

Creighton 0-3 at Marquette
16 15 21

Marquette took control about two-thirds of the way through the first set and basically maintained control the rest of the match. Pablo had the Jays as a 54% favorite, so only the magnitude of the result is surprising.

[1972Shocker]

Wow. That is a surprising result. Not that Marquette is not good but to sweep by those scores is very surprising.

Marquette had 45 kills to only 27 for Creighton. The loss broke a 28-match Big East winning streak by Creighton.

I'm thinking we may have caught Marquette at the right time.

[1972Shocker]

Based on Lambo's comments in his UCF post-match interview with Mike Kennedy I would anticipate that Tabitha Brown will get more balls tossed her way tonight. After the UCF match Lambo said that he didn't Tabitha was getting enough opportunities and it was a discussion he was going to have with Emily.

And Tabitha's involvement could also be impacted by Mikaela's status. On Monday, Lambo did not think she was seriously injured but he also did not say for sure she would be available this weekend. I kind of got the feeling she was day-to-day although he did not say that specifically either. If Mikaela can't go this weekend or is not at 100% than Tabitha as target gets even bigger.

[kcshocker11]

Based on Lambo's comments in his UCF post-match interview with Mike Kennedy I would anticipate that Tabitha Brown will get more balls tossed her way tonight. After the UCF match Lambo said that he didn't Tabitha was getting enough opportunities and it was a discussion he was going to have with Emily.

And Tabitha's involvement could also be impacted by Mikaela's status. On Monday, Lambo did not think she was seriously injured but he also did not say for sure she would be available this weekend. I kind of got the feeling she was day-to-day although he did not say that specifically either. If Mikaela can't go this weekend or is not at 100% than Tabitha as target gets even bigger.

You might want to phrase that a little differently.

[1972Shocker]

You might want to phrase that a little differently.

LOL

[WuDrWu]

Phrasing!

[1972Shocker]

I put on a jacket but I'm still phrasing!

Tulane gets to focus totally on the Shockers this weekend as their match with Memphis on Sunday has been postponed due to impending weather conditions related to Tropical Storm Nate. It doesn't appear that any changes have been made to the Shockers vs Houston math on Sunday. Another new factor to Lambo to worry about in the AAC. Hurricanes and not just the Golden ones.

"Our mindset is on Wichita State, so the postponement doesn't affect our approach or getting ready for this opportunity to play a ranked opponent and the best team in The American," Tulane head coach Jim Barnes said. "We're getting some people back healthy, and this week we feel like we've been able to train really hard in a way we haven't been able to do the past couple weeks. We're trying to get back to 100 percent, and this week is critical that we get back our edge, especially defensively. Wichita State's the best team in our league, so we've got a huge challenge on Friday."

[flyingMoose]

Set One

5-9 Tulane and the Shocks take a timeout. Tulane is hitting .636 and has yet to make an error. Lambo noted in pre-match that Tulane plays big and can make a lot of errors. But when they get it together ...

[Shock Top]

Nice little run but they need to be prepared that the first set is likely going to be lost. Just get them mentally ready to play like this for the reaming sets and they will be golden.

Edit: Nevermind! Go girls!

[flyingMoose]

10-17 becomes 14-17 and the Green Wave takes a timeout. A couple of Tulane errors and a couple of kills in the run. Tulane now has four errors and is hitting .269.

Tulane error, bad set and ace by Alex ties the match at 17, and Tulane takes their second timeout. Shocks .214 v .222 for Tulane.

[flyingMoose]

18-17 becomes 18-19 and the teams start trading sideouts until the Shockers get three points in a row to take a 24-22 lead. A kill by Alex takes the set.

Shockers 25-23 Tulane

Shockers hit . 262 v .195. Tulane had seven hitting errors versus five for the Shocks.

[flyingMoose]

Set Two

The Shocks build a 9-5 lead using three kills by Emma in part. A long series of sideouts make it 15-11 and when the Shocks score 16 on a block, Tulane takes a timeout.


Shockers 25-16 Tulane

The Shockers gradually stretch out the lead and take the set on a kill by Alex. Tulane never used their second timeout.

Shockers are hitting .358 v .178. Tulane lead in blocks, 4 to 3. Tulane now has 14 attack errors while the Shockers have only 8.

[flyingMoose]

Set Three

2-0, but Tulane gets a lead out to 6-9. The Shocks then run off five in a row for 11-9, and Tulane takes a timeout. A service error and three attack errors by Tulane were part of that run.

15-13 becomes 18-13 (Tabitha kill and service ace part of the last three points) and Tulane takes their second timeout.


Shockers 25-16 Tulane

A kill by Tabitha ends this one.

Shockers hit .351 v .144. Tulane had 22 attack errors v 12 for the Shockers.

Tabitha 14-3-34 for .324
Alex 10-1-18 for .500
Abbie 7-2-10 for .500
Emily 6-1-11 for .455
Emma 6-1-10 for .500

Oh, Mikaela 3-4-13 for -.077


Lambo not pleased with back row play. Got out with the win, but not thrilled. Being in a different building with them pumped to play a ranked team was part of it.