Wichita State’s Brown continues hot streak in volleyball sweep of Indiana State

Wichita State volleyball coach Chris Lamb told Tabitha Brown she could work her way into elite status as an attacker. She showed bursts of that potential during her first season as a Shocker.

After this weekend, that potential seems a lot closer to reality for the sophomore outside hitter.

One night after setting a career-best with 20 kills, she came back with 17 and a .500 attack percentage in a sweep (25-20, 25-14, 25-9) of Indiana State on Saturday at Koch Arena. Five errors on 73 swings in the two matches is top-level efficiency for a left-side hitter.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever had a performance like that on a conference weekend,” Lamb said. “We’ve tried to get her comfortable and her body right. She’s not afraid to make mistakes and she’s not afraid to dominate and be the best player.”

WSU (20-7, 13-3 Missouri Valley Conference) reached the 20-win mark for the 14th straight season. It won its 31st straight match against Indiana State (10-18, 4-12), 25 in a sweep. The Shockers remain one game behind MVC leader Missouri State entering the final conference weekend.

Brown totaled eight kills in the first set and five in the second. She didn’t make an error in the final set, totaling four kills on six swings.

“It is kind of a matter of comfort, getting my mind right and being confident,” she said. “They’ve really helped me build that confidence. We’ve been working on specific things, a lot more fundamentals (in individual practices).”

WSU operated out of a hybrid 6-2 with Emily Hiebert getting most of the work at setter and Jody Larson devoting most of her time to attacking. Larson added 12 kills and Hiebert contributed four kills, 39 assists, six digs and a solo block.

“We just tried to keep things very easy,” Lamb said. “You still saw a 6-2, you just saw it lean on the 5-1 more. We just opted when to use it and when to not, look for matchups and kept them guessing.”

Wichita State’s offense and Hiebert found a rhythm that kept the Shockers ahead all night. WSU hit .358 for the match, topped by a final-set at .680 with 17 kills and no errors.

Libero Dani Mostrom had 25 digs, helping frustrate a Sycamores attack that failed to find any traction after a brief burst in the first set. Indiana State hit .059 for the match, negative-.047 in the second set and .097 in the third. It finished with 28 kills and 21 attack errors.

Mostrom, Larson and middle Katy Dudzinski played their final matches in Koch Arena and enjoyed the traditional senior night pre-match flowers, introduction and highlight video.

“We knew what the job was that we had to accomplish,” Mostrom said. “We also wanted to almost hold onto the moment and remember and make our last time at home something we would always want to play for.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2016 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Brown continues hot streak in volleyball sweep of Indiana State."