Emily Hiebert follows long line of successful setters at Wichita State

Wichita State setters spend most of their time with their hands outstretched, ready to accept blame.

Joining the Missouri Valley Conference’s longest line of setting success comes with a lot of responsibilities, prime among them making everybody else feel good. Wichita State opens its volleyball season at No. 19 Kentucky in the Bluegrass Battle tournament on Friday with redshirt freshman Emily Hiebert taking over at setter.

Hiebert, from Newton, practiced last season and studied Chelsey Feekin, the co-MVC Player of the Year and perhaps the best setter in Shocker history. Hiebert (5-foot-11) inherits a 22-person roster with one senior and 13 players with no regular-season college experience.

“She’s ready,” junior middle blocker Katie Reilly said. “She’s a stud. She knows how to run the game.”

Every Shocker setter since 2005 earned a spot on the All-MVC first team, a streak no other school can match. It started with Andee Hartig in 2005, continued with Abby (Harsh) Wahl the next two seasons and Mary Elizabeth Hooper from 2008-11.

Feekin earned honorable mention All-American honors in 2012 and third-team in 2013. WSU went 28-7 last season, winning the MVC regular season and tournament, and played in a seventh straight NCAA Tournament.

“I learned so much just from watching — her composure and her choices on the court,” Hiebert said. “She was very good at doing middle transition and she was able to read the other team’s blockers, which opened up our hitters.”

Hiebert spent her redshirt season working on her footwork and her hands. She is a speedy athlete who could get to almost every ball. Now she gets the ball in solid position to connect with her hitter. Lamb worked on her tendency to double-hit by standing behind her, while she perched on an exercise ball, and dropping volleyballs for her to set.

Hiebert is right-handed and not as natural a scorer as Feekin, a lefty. Much of her practice time is spent developing her left hand as a dumping weapon.

“I just need to get used to it,” she said. “In practice, they want me to do it a lot so I can get more comfortable with it. At first, it was weird, but now it’s starting to become more natural.”

She may develop into a better blocker and is already a good defensive player. Her ability to follow Lamb’s detailed scouting reports is crucial to running the offense.

A year ago, Lamb’s many offensive formations and twists overwhelmed her. With thousands of repetitions, she is comfortable running the attack. Assistant coach Matt Hoffman worked on her peripheral vision, with purple, orange, red and yellow flash cards, to combat blockers. He stood across the net holding the construction paper and she called out the color while setting.

“We played this spring against formidable teams and you didn’t go ‘We’re disadvantaged at the setting position,’” Lamb said. “Nobody works harder, nobody. You realize, two hours into a drill, that Emily’s been here the whole time while everybody else is coming and going.”

Lamb understands the mental demands of playing setter. It’s often seen as a thankless position, and Lamb wants his setters to embrace that selfless role. When the Shockers score, it’s usually the hitter who hears the cheers. When an attack goes bad, the setter looks bad.

“He really makes the setters feel very important in everything that is going on,” Wahl said. “He is the first to notice a great set, even when nobody else does.”

Hooper said, “Having a coach who realizes how much pressure is on us is really helpful.”

Setters are coached to take that pressure off their hitters and protect their confidence. When a spike goes into the net or into a block, the setter’s response is “I’ll get you a better ball next time,” regardless of where the fault lies.

“You take responsibility for everything,” Hooper said. “Your hitters will trust you more.”

Lamb preaches that the hitters are pressured by the immediate swing from offense to defense and back again, asked to hammer a ball over the net and then gather themselves to dig and pass with accuracy and calm. While outside hitters and middles are enduring these quick-changes, setters must keep the mood positive.

“They’ve got it tough,” Lamb said. “I can make a long laundry list of things that are harder about these other jobs that aren’t setting. We have extra space in our brain for leadership and for handling our teammates.”

Leading. Scoring. Running the offense. Her predecessors are confident Hiebert can follow their path because Lamb will accept nothing less. He will work with her tirelessly. His schemes will put her and the attackers in the right places.

“She’ll be great,” Feekin said. “She works so hard and she has so much time to grow.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2014 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Emily Hiebert follows long line of successful setters at Wichita State."