Wichita State volleyball begins long-awaited home portion of schedule

Wichita State volleyball coach Chris Lamb, tired and disappointed after a loss at Creighton, sat in the hallway in Sokol Arena on Saturday and started cheering for the Bluejays.

“I hope you win about 25 straight matches,” he told somebody wearing Creighton colors.

WSU’s non-conference schedule is over and it is time for RPI math to dominate the conversation. Lamb is rooting for all 10 teams the Shockers played to win and lift his team’s power ranking. He usually knows how to pick a winner. He is a master of non-conference scheduling and six NCAA Tournament banners, accomplished via at-large bid, prove the point.

The Shockers (6-4) enter Missouri Valley Conference play on Friday against Illinois State (6-5) after an up and down non-conference session. They lost to Kentucky, the only ranked team on the schedule. They lost to North Texas after winning the first two sets. Wins over Baylor (9-2), Butler (6-3), Texas State (6-7) and Texas-San Antonio (2-5) offer promise, as each is either off to a strong start or picked to finish high in its conference.

WSU’s opponents won around 57 percent of their non-conference matches, which puts Lamb in the neighborhood of where he wants to be, should the Shockers need an at-large bid.

“If you’re a Missouri Valley Conference team, you better win two-thirds of your games and your non-con (opponents) winning percentage better be in the 60s,” he said. “UTSA is (2-5), but they’re going to win a lot (in Conference USA). The Baylor win looks good. They’re not going to drop that far (in the RPI). They’re playing a bunch of winners. We think most of our schedule is going to win more.”

With three road trips finished, WSU can turn its attention to its first home matches and MVC play. No MVC team distinguished itself as a favorite during the non-conference. Indiana State (8-3) and Drake (8-3) benefited from easy schedules. Illinois State started 3-1 with a win over Ohio State before stumbling. Northern Iowa (5-5) played its usual demanding schedule, losing to two ranked teams, but also lost at home to Northern Illinois 3-0.

Lamb said the buzz around the conference is that freshmen are playing major roles. That is certainly true at WSU, where freshmen accounted for 52 percent of its kills in three Bluejay Invitational matches, 92 percent of the aces and 67 percent of the blocks.

“Seeing our team grow, since it is a very young team, it sure makes it fun to play,” sophomore libero Dani Mostrom said. “Confidence is a key issue. You could tell that a couple of the young ones were nervous starting the season out. I think we’re ready to work our butts off in the Valley.”

WSU’s youth — 13 freshmen (four redshirts) are on the roster — forces Lamb to scale back his usual experimentation and thick playbook. He is trying to keep things simple.

“We’re learning average volleyball stuff every day,” he said. “We don’t have a million offensive routes. We don’t have 10 different defenses for things, too many people switching assignments.”

The Shockers played five five-set matches, including a school-record four in a row, and won four of them. Of all the lessons learned in the first three tournaments, the ability and desire to keep playing through adversity might top the list.

“I was very impressed that they expect to win and there’s no quit,” Lamb said. “These guys have been in a lot of dogfights.”

Worth noting — Illinois State was picked third in the MVC preseason poll and received three first-place votes. The favored Shockers received four. The Redbirds return four starters, plus MVC Libero of the Year Emily Orrick. All-MVC pick Ashley Rosch ranks third in the MVC with an average of 3.35 kills. Orrick leads the MVC with an average of 4.87 digs. … WSU middle Katie Reilly ranks fifth in the MVC with a .344 attack percentage. … WSU plays Indiana State at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Shockers have won 24 straight matches against the Sycamores.

This story was originally published September 18, 2014 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Wichita State volleyball begins long-awaited home portion of schedule."