Tweet
Tonight's match against Drake (2-6, 5-14) would, on paper, seem to be a relatively easy win for the Shocks (7-1, 15-4).
However, I think Drake is a much improved team over the past few years and has brought in some good young talent and is gradually building their program under 3rd year Coach Amy Farber Knowles.
Drake has won at least one game in its matches with the other 4 top MVC teams. They lost a 5th game to Creighton by a score of 15-17. They won one game against UNI in Cedar Falls. They lost a 5th game to Illinois State by a 12-15 score. They also took a game from MSU in last night's match. The CU, ILS and MSU matches were all in Des Moines.
Drake 6'1" Freshman OH Angela Bys had a 27 kill, 10 dig double-double last night against WSU. 27 kills in a 4 game match is outstanding.
This is an important match in that the Shocks have battled back from the early home loss to UNI to get into a 1st place tie. We certainly don't want to let that slip away against one of the bottom half teams. I expect that Lambo will have the Shocks properly focused.
Assuming the Shocks take care of business tonight, the second half of the season sets up pretty well (maybe). They have a road match at ORU next Tuesday, then have 5 home MVC matches and 4 road MVC matches remaining.
We get Illinois State, Missouri State and Creighton at home with only UNI among the Top 5 teams remaining on the road. Maybe that's good, maybe not. We have a 24 MVC road match winning streak. All 3 of our MVC losses last year and our only MVC loss this year have all been at home. We need to develop the same toughness at home that we exhibit on the road.
:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:
However, I think Drake is a much improved team over the past few years and has brought in some good young talent and is gradually building their program under 3rd year Coach Amy Farber Knowles.
Drake has won at least one game in its matches with the other 4 top MVC teams. They lost a 5th game to Creighton by a score of 15-17. They won one game against UNI in Cedar Falls. They lost a 5th game to Illinois State by a 12-15 score. They also took a game from MSU in last night's match. The CU, ILS and MSU matches were all in Des Moines.
Drake 6'1" Freshman OH Angela Bys had a 27 kill, 10 dig double-double last night against WSU. 27 kills in a 4 game match is outstanding.
This is an important match in that the Shocks have battled back from the early home loss to UNI to get into a 1st place tie. We certainly don't want to let that slip away against one of the bottom half teams. I expect that Lambo will have the Shocks properly focused.
Assuming the Shocks take care of business tonight, the second half of the season sets up pretty well (maybe). They have a road match at ORU next Tuesday, then have 5 home MVC matches and 4 road MVC matches remaining.
We get Illinois State, Missouri State and Creighton at home with only UNI among the Top 5 teams remaining on the road. Maybe that's good, maybe not. We have a 24 MVC road match winning streak. All 3 of our MVC losses last year and our only MVC loss this year have all been at home. We need to develop the same toughness at home that we exhibit on the road.
:posterwu: :goshocks: :posterwsu:
Comment