Shockers vs Drake

[1972Shocker]

The next 6 matches are against the bottom 6 teams in the league so I guess they can all be seen as trap games.

So what do we hope to accomplish tonight vs Drake.

For the team it is to prove they can stay focused and play a high level of volleyball regardless of the quality of competition.

For the fans it is a chance to show support for one of the most successful programs in Shocker sports history.

This ladies really deserve a show of our support and appreciation.

Hopefully, those non-volleyball fans who plan on attending Shocker Madness will take a couple extra hours out of their day to come out and help us show this team and its coaches how much we appreciate what they have done for WSU and for Wichita.

It has the potential to be a special night. Hopefully Shocker fans are up to the task.

:clap: :goshocks: :clap:

[shocks02]

I'll be there for my 3rd volleyball game. Go Shox! :wsu_posters:

[ShockerFever]

I decided to remain confined to a computer on a Saturday night, and I almost regretted it... :shock:

Shocks win in 5 scary sets: 25-14, 25-12, 26-28, 23-25, 15-8.

Definitely a win that should have happened in 3 as the ladies were up pretty modestly early in both sets 3 and 4. They finally finished off a nothing-to-lose, carefree Drake team in the 5th.

Nice crowd. I guess they clocked it at around 5900 for the actual volleyball match.

22-0, 11-0! That's all that matters.

:posterwu:

[Rosewood]

Never apologize for a win but yeeks.

I was on my way back from Neewollah and listened on the radio. There wasn't much to listen to and I turned it off at 13-6 in the third as I got to an office I was stopping at on my way home.

I turned on the car a bit later and was really surprised to hear they were still playing. It took MK forever to spit out that they were in the 4th set though.

I'm glad I got to hear them wake up and get the win.

So did Drake and CU switch teams or something?

Yea, I'm way to dead for shocker madness. Plus my CF is full.

[SubGod22]

The Shox were beating themselves. Many unforced errors and just boneheaded plays.

[1972Shocker]

The Shox were beating themselves. Many unforced errors and just boneheaded plays.

I agree, especially in the 3rd set. A repeat of what happened against Creighton after dominating the 1st two sets.

They got up 13-6 in the 3rd and then totally lost focus and intensity. A lot of service errors, poor passes and unforced hitting errors. They let Drake back in the set and as so often happens momentum shifts and the underdog gains confidence and becomess the aggressor. That carried over into set 4. Gotta give Drake some credit also.

Lambo fell back on his steady senior, Angela Jakubov, late in the 4th set and into the 5th and Angela was solid. Angela is not spectacular, but she simply does not make a lot of unforced errors.

Emily Stockman and Kelly Broussard, as per usual, lead the way for the Shocks.

This team needs to eliminate these lackadaisical spells and learn to keep their focus and intensity throughout the match.

Hopefully, we've got that our of our system and Lambo will use it as a learning experience.

But a win is win is a win and we are still, very fortunately, undefeated.

:goshocks:

[Aargh]

It's the first VB game I've been to. When the Shox imploded in the 3rd set I wasn't worried. When they did it again in the 4th, I was worried that I might be the jinx.

They were serving into the net. A player who had made a weak dig stood there watching and blocked the player trying to get to the ball. Drake figured out how to block Stockman.

The 5th set was pretty much no contest.

Playing to the level of the competition is only a problem when you do it against weaker opponents. Then it's a killer.

[shox8498]

A couple of observations:

- Yeah, we might've lost some focus after 2+ sets, but......
- Drake made some nice adjustments in the match, their blocking game was tough to handle at times.
- #21 for Drake seemed to be always serving at critical times. She was tough on us.
- Mo State didn't wear Drake down enough on Friday night, so the Bulldogs were energized and prepared.
- We didn't wear Creighton down enough on Friday, they went into Springfield and took MSU in 5 sets tonight.

[1972Shocker]

A player who had made a weak dig stood there watching and blocked the player trying to get to the ball.

You are referring to Melissa Granville. Unfortunately, the play you are referring to was a duplicate of a play Melissa made against Creighton on Friday night. Those things will happen on occassion especially when you get thrown into a scramble mode. Melissa is in a little bit of a funk right now, but I'm confident she will get things sorted out.

But Melissa wasn't the only one. It was pretty much a team funk during that 3rd set, but Drake was energized after that, became the more aggressive team unitl the Shockers righted the ship in the 5th set.

Sometimes you have to win a few ugly ones in order to have a perfect season. The thing with this Shocker team is that, so far, they always seem to find a way to come through when they absolutely must.

[shockerfan132]

In the instance where Melissa was in the way.. here's something that might have explained what happened..

If a player makes a service reception/dig error, it is completely pointless for them to run out of the way in any direction, it may impede any other players from making the play. The best instinct for Melissa and most other defensive players is to stand there, most other players running after the shanked pass should have a sense of awareness to know where everyone is on the court at that time regardless of if they are looking at them or looking at the ball.

I have complete faith in Melissa Granville. She is the most knowledgeable player of the game of volleyball with maybe Emily Stockman being the one exception. What a great group of girls..

Keep it up lady shocks.. you're doing great!

[SubGod22]

I aslo forgot to mention that I decided to blame the ball girls for the poor play by really screwing up the flow of the sets by not paying attention and trying to roll the balls onto the court of play.

I know that really had nothing to do with it but it was pretty sad. I don't know how many times the server was yelling at the ball girl to toss them a ball. Maybe it was just two of the three. The one on the far end from where I was looked to be working fairly hard at doing it right.

I've changed my mind. It was all the ball girls fault. Even the fans around me were getting really irritated...

[1972Shocker]

I aslo forgot to mention that I decided to blame the ball girls for the poor play by really screwing up the flow of the sets by not paying attention and trying to roll the balls onto the court of play.

I know that really had nothing to do with it but it was pretty sad. I don't know how many times the server was yelling at the ball girl to toss them a ball. Maybe it was just two of the three. The one on the far end from where I was looked to be working fairly hard at doing it right.

I've changed my mind. It was all the ball girls fault. Even the fans around me were getting really irritated...

Yeah, that was irritating. Part of it though was due to the head official talking the the ball girls immediately before the match, apparently telling them to stay out of the way as much as possible. The little girl in the middle seemed totally afraid to move after that. In fact, some 3 year old boy was running down most of the balls in the middle.

Not sure what prompted that, maybe the Drake coach said something about it. While this is a nice thing to let the little girls do, I do think at times that some of them are a little young. Not sure how much training they get, but doesn't seem like much.

It was very annoying. Not a huge deal, but needs to be cleaned up especially if we host a regional. Need to have older kids and give them better instruction and training.

[1972Shocker]

While the ball girls performance was annoying, I blame the two losses on the crowd turnout.

While 5,900 is a good crowd, I think it was somewhat disappointing considering it was free admission and Shocker Madness followed.

I previously warned Shocker fans that if they did not have a fantastic crowd (i.e. 8,000) that the team would throw a couple of sets just to delay the basketball proceedings. Just kidding! ;-)

As I previously mentioned we totally lost focus in Set 3. Nine attack errors, seven serve errors and two ball handling errors just won't cut it.

On a positive note this excerpt at the end of today's Eagle article shows good team leadership IMHO:

the players held a closed-door meeting, which was designed to bring the focus back, which at times was lost Saturday night.

"We're a team and we're in it together and we know that," Stockman said. "We weren't going to let anybody walk out with their head down. It was us sticking together."

[PointShockers]

I am glad somebody has finally mentioned the "poor play" of the ball girls. While I can't blame them for the Shocker implosion in sets 3 & 4 last night, I find they are a major distraction during most matches and I believe they can be a disruption to the flow of the match.

I think they need to be moved around during the match so they will stay alert. Case in point, if you re-watch the UNI telecast, you will notice the middle ball girl laying down during the match!!! Or, perhaps an older/younger girl pairing so the older girls can teach the younger ones.

Definitely not a great match last night -- perhaps the worst of the year - but a win, and probably a wake up call to the Shocks.

[SpanglerFan316]

A couple of observations:

- Yeah, we might've lost some focus after 2+ sets, but......
- Drake made some nice adjustments in the match, their blocking game was tough to handle at times.
- #21 for Drake seemed to be always serving at critical times. She was tough on us.
- Mo State didn't wear Drake down enough on Friday night, so the Bulldogs were energized and prepared.
- We didn't wear Creighton down enough on Friday, they went into Springfield and took MSU in 5 sets tonight.

I think we need to give Drake some credit for its service game. Serving is often a weak spot for the Shocks this year.