Shockers vs Denver (Tape Delay)

[1972Shocker]

Shockers vs Denver is scheduled to be played at 8:30 CDT this evening.

However, due to scheduling conflicts the game will be broadcast over the radio and internet on a tape delayed basis and will start between 10:00 and 10:30. I think Mike said on KNSS 1240.

[1972Shocker]

Denver swept DePaul this afternoon by scores of 30-25, 30-23 and 30-21 which are similar to the scores the Shocks put up in its sweep of DePaul this afternoon.

This sets up tonights match between Denver and the Shocks as the Championship match of the Denver Invitational.

As I mentioned on the Auburn game thread the Shocks need to clean up the Service Errors as they had 14 in their 3 games with Auburn this morning (7 by Emily Stockman). I don't see Emily making that many errors agains this season in a 3 game match. I'd like to see the Shocks cut down their service errors to 2 or 3 per game. Last year the Shocker averaged 1.95 Service Aces and 2.17 Service Errors per game. So far this year they are averaging 1.88 Aces and 3.25 Errors per game.

Emily did have another solid hitting game against Auburn (16-8-29 = .276)

Our middles were agains very efficient against Auburn:
Stephanie Tokarz (9-3-19 = 0.316) is apparently benefitting from some adjustments in positioning made by Lambo.
Katie Niggemeyer (5-0-9 = 0.556) was solid and according to Lambo was working her tail off.
Angela Jakubov (5-0-19 = .263) needs to improve her kill ratio,, but AJ simply does not make a lot of attack errors.

Stephanie and Katie each had 3 block assists each.

Encouraging signs with our middles. It's a shame Sarah McGee broke her finger and is missing out on this developmental period.

While the Shocks hit a solid 0.291 vs Auburn, they held Tigers to a hitting % of 0.040. Auburn hit 0.153 vs Denver last night.

[1972Shocker]

Denver and the Shocks have very similar resume's coming into this tournament.

Both teams are 1-2 after playing tough competition in tournaments last weekend.

#21 Oklahoma swept Denver by scores of 30-25, 30-24 and 30-21.

Alabama beat Denver in 4 games by scores of 30-13, 27-30, 30-25 and 30-27.

Denver beat Seton Hall in 4 by socres of 30-17, 30-18, 18-30 and 30-17.

As you can see Denver played OU and Alabama very competitively just as the Shockers did with KSU and Cal Poly.

Both teams have defeated Auburn and DePaul this weekend by similar scores.

Both teams have most of there players back from last year, with Denver graduation only 1 player and the Shockers none.

The Shockers have added a very talented and athletic player in Emily Stockman.

The Shockers may have a slight height advantage on the front line, but Denver has solid, experienced attackers and like the Shockers bring a balanced attack that spreads the attacking around.

Stat leaders in the two matches with Auburn and Depaul were
Holly Benson (5'10" Jr) with 35 kills, Kim Muller (6'2" Sr) with 24 kills, Alyssa Hamption (5'10" Sr) with 20 kills, Kerry Porter (6'1" Jr) with 16 kills, and Alyta Baris (5'11" Sr) 13 Kills.

Holly Benson, like Emily Stockman, hails from Colorado Springs so I sure they have competed against each other in the past.

Should be a good match that I expect will go at least 4 games and possible 5.

:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:

[The Mad Hatter]

Big 3-0 win for the Shocks with Tokarz dominating. Denver is not the kind of team you expect to sweep, so it looks like the improvement we showed in our previous two matches was legit. This is a good way to be playing with some big non-conference and conference matches coming up.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers sweep Denver by scores of 30-25, 30-23 and 30-24.

Shockers rallied from a 15-18 deficit to win Game 1 wiith a 15-7 run to close things out.

Shockers lead game two from wire to wire.

Shockers trailed game three early at 4-7. Worked back to a tie at 12-12. Teams traded points back and forth and Shocks lead 24-23 at which point the went on at 6-1 run to close out the game.

Stephanie Tokarz with perhaps her best offensive match as a Shocker.
Based on Mike Kennedy's description sounds like the had great success on the quick sets to Stephanie in the middle.

Will check on stats tomorrow.

Hopefully, Shocks have found some help in the middle. Competition will get very tough again next week in Hawaii and Shockers will get a good measuring stick on how much they have improved.

Stockman, Broussard, and Abby Harsh made the All-Tournament team.

:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:

[The Mad Hatter]

For all the improvement from last weekend, Lamb sure didn't sound too happy. I hope he's wrong about already seeing Sara tire.

[WuDrWu]

Very solid perfromance this weekend for the Ladies.


About the only thing to complain about were the service errors and Sara not being the best player on the court which I actually think will make us a much better team in the long run.


WSU was much the best team in the tournament and it showed in the All Tourney selections.


Harsh, Stockman and Broussard named All Tournament.


On to Hawaii and 2 more top 20 programs.

[WuDrWu]

Stephanie Tokarz with perhaps her best offensive match as a Shocker.
Based on Mike Kennedy's description sounds like the had great success on the quick sets to Stephanie in the middle.

Stephanie's line from last night. 15-1-18 .778



I would agree that qualifies for best game in her career.

[1972Shocker]

Stephanie Tokarz with perhaps her best offensive match as a Shocker.
Based on Mike Kennedy's description sounds like the had great success on the quick sets to Stephanie in the middle.

Stephanie's line from last night. 15-1-18 .778



I would agree that qualifies for best game in her career.

That's a tremendous line. Hopefully, they have figured out a way to use Stephanie effectively. I don't expect that every outing form Stephanie but she sure was effective last night. Katie Niggemeyer also picked up her performance in the middle this weekend.

Next weekend will be about as good a test as we can get to see where we stand before we head into conference play.

With #16 Hawaii and #19 Santa Clara to face the Shocks another 1-2 weekend is very possible. However, I think the Shocks are capable of winning both against Hawaii and Santa Clara, although with Hawaii at home in front of a huge crowd that will be a very difficult task indeed.

:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:

[1972Shocker]

For all the improvement from last weekend, Lamb sure didn't sound too happy. I hope he's wrong about already seeing Sara tire.

No he didn't did he. Thank goodness they swept through this tournament without losing a game.

Maybe he is already thinking about what they will be facing next weekend.

[The Mad Hatter]

Given Lambo's comments, I looked to find out how Sara's attack attempts per game this year compares to last when she wore out.

Last year, Sara averaged 11.53 attack attempts per game. So far this year, she is at 9.16 per game. Obviously we have been better at limiting her attempts, but this apparently isn't enough for Lamb. I wonder what range he wants her attempts to be in?

It is also of note that Emily is leading the team in attack attempts at 11 per game.

[1972Shocker]

I'm not exactly sure what Lambo's specific concerns about Sara are, but I thought he said something about having to rely on her too much in out of system situations.

In any case, Shocks have another great opportunity to make a statement next weekend in Hawaii.

:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:

[SpanglerFan316]

How is Sara's health?

[1972Shocker]

How is Sara's health?

As far as I know it's OK. However, I think Lambo wants to make sure that she holds up and is strong as possible when post-season play gets here.

[The Mad Hatter]

How is Sara's health?

It sounds like Lamb is worried that she is getting too much work after coming off the knee injury. He certainly seemed to want us to find someone else (or multiple people) to set when we get out of system so Sara isn't having to jump as often.