Shockers vs SMU With Sole Possession of 1st On the Line (& Tulsa on Sunday)

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks have replaced really good players before but I will be very sad to see the Emily and Abbie duo move on and it won't be easy replacing that combo.

[flyingMoose]

You can catch Lambo's post game interview with Mike at the link in this match report.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/...n-smu-3-1.aspx

Also Sully's RH report

[flyingMoose]

The three undefeated teams meet in the Valley this weekend with Missouri State on the road at Drake and then Northern Iowa

Friday

Missouri State 3-2 at Drake
(22) 20 18 (30) 9

for Drake's first loss.

The Missouri State at Northern Iowa match is on ESPN3 at 7pm tomorrow.

[1972Shocker]

Not sure why Katie Hegarty was unable to play tonight for SMU. After missing all but the first 3 non-con matches for SMU she played in all 6 of SMU's previous AAC matches. Perhaps she aggravated whatever injury kept her out during the non-con.

[WuDrWu]

The Shocks have replaced really good players before but I will be very sad to see the Emily and Abbie duo move on and it won't be easy replacing that combo.

Excellent points. I do think the more important (clearly) piece to replace is Emily, and it's also the one we're most likely to replace as I believe Kora Kauling will slide nicely into the setter position and become a superstar in the same type mold of Emily or Chelsey Feekin.

Unfortunately, while I do think Emma Wright and Brooke Watson will develop into fine middles, they don't look like Abbie Lehman.

[1972Shocker]

Excellent points. I do think the more important (clearly) piece to replace is Emily, and it's also the one we're most likely to replace as I believe Kora Kauling will slide nicely into the setter position and become a superstar in the same type mold of Emily or Chelsey Feekin.

Unfortunately, while I do think Emma Wright and Brooke Watson will develop into fine middles, they don't look like Abbie Lehman.

I'm sure you meant Brooke Smith. The thing with Emily and Abbie is that, IMHO, while they are both outstanding players individually they are even better collectively as a combo. A lot of that has to do with the fact that they have played together so such a long time and as a result they make each other even more effective.

I agree though that Emily is clearly the most important piece of the puzzle to replace. Emily simply does so many things well to help this team win. She is as good as I have ever seen at saving balls at the net that are slightly overpassed or that result in a 50-50 joust usually against a big middle for the opponent. She is also a very good blocker. And, of course, she is on the floor for just about every single point the Shockers play and she has to cover a lot of ground.

As far as Emma, Brooke go, and I will throw Abby Pugh into the mix, they do all do have a long way to go and they can't match Abbie's mobility and quckness. However, Ashley Andrade took awhile to reach her potential and perhaps one or more of these young ladies will develop similarly to what Ashley did as a Shocker.

So glad Lambo was able to convince Abbie to give D-I volleyball a try over a D-II basketball career.

[ShockTalk]

Home from the match. SMU must have been playing on emotion and adrenaline in the first game. The Shox righted the ship in games 3 and 4 after a closely contested 2nd game . Just an amazing performance by most. I was very impressed with Giorgia Civita

This

Glad you enjoyed it. Giorgia is really good, but she was incredible tonight. Shocks struggled early, tons of mistakes, then went into overdrive and SMU folded like a cheap suit.

This,too

Season-high 3,687 in attendance tonight. Great crowd.

And this

[1972Shocker]

Have to agree with the kudos for Giorgia. She can really handle the heat.

It was a very good crowd. Still a bit short of making the Shocks Top 10 list. Close though. Only 256 short.

Would like to see the Range Ball drill Lambo pulled out his practice bag of tricks. He described that as an old high school beat 'em up kind of drill. Somthing worked. 95 digs.

Really enjoying the new lighting environment at Koch Arena.

[1972Shocker]

Taylor Eldridge continuing his good start on the Shocker beat with nice coverage of the WSU win over SMU.

The 3 slo-mo highlights imbedded in the article were a nice touch as well.

SMU entered the match as one of the better defensive teams in the Americans, ranking tops in the conference with 17 digs per set.


The Mustangs lived up to their reputation on Friday, finishing with 17.5 digs per set and limiting WSU’s offense to a .275 hitting percentage. But the Shockers beat SMU at its own game, as they finished with a season-high 95 digs (nearly 24 per set) and libero Giorgia Civita finished with a match-high 29 digs.


“You’re going to make me cry,” Lamb said when told the stat after the match. “I have been begging...begging for digs.”

The Shocks were down 0-1 and tied at 17-all in the 2nd set. From that point on the Shocks outscored the Mustangs 58-25.

Here is a write up on the match form the Sunflower.

I did not find much coverage from the SMU side of the ledger outside a fairly nondescipt report on their website.

[flyingMoose]

I did not find much coverage from the SMU side of the ledger outside a fairly nondescipt report on their website.

The original article on their site had a quote from their coach along the lines that the Shockers were long and athletic and senior-laden. However, that quote was gone this morning. Well, the Shocks aren't that senior-laden, but there are definitely a couple of seniors that she will be glad not to see next year.

[1972Shocker]

The original article on their site had a quote from their coach along the lines that the Shockers were long and athletic and senior-laden. However, that quote was gone this morning. Well, the Shocks aren't that senior-laden, but there are definitely a couple of seniors that she will be glad not to see next year.

I did not see that quote on the SMU web site but I did see it in Sully's Roundhouse report.

"They're very disciplined and efficient," SMU coach Lisa Seifert said. "They're senior-laden, athletic, long, hard to stop."

No doubt that Emily and Abbie are a load. Mikaela was probably the best of our outside hitters against SMU. Throw in the contributions of Hanna and Gabi (32 combined digs) on defense and all told it was a very good effort by our Seniors.

But I agree I don't think opposing coaches will be too unhappy about not having to deal with Emily and Abbie next year.

[flyingMoose]

I did not see that quote on the SMU web site but I did see it in Sully's Roundhouse report.

That is surely where it was. *Sigh*

[291185]

Giorgia can handle the heat - Surfing on the web / on her recruiting video (youtube):
1) Giorgia played Italian National Squad in U18 European Championship and U23 World Championship in Turkey in 2015.
2) Giorgia played with stars like OH Paola Egonu
3) On the other side I guess she can be in a better athletic shape and beeing faster on the court

[flyingMoose]

The Missouri State at Northern Iowa match is on ESPN3 at 7pm tomorrow.

Missouri State 3-1 at Northern Iowa
23 27 (20) 22

Northern Iowa plays Drake on Tuesday to complete the first set of matchups between these three teams.

[WuDrWu]

Missouri State 3-1 at Northern Iowa
23 27 (20) 22

Northern Iowa plays Drake on Tuesday to complete the first set of matchups between these three teams.

Lily Johnson (MSU Sr OH) is simply an incredible volleyball player. She has carried that program, quite impressively, for 4 seasons.