Wichita State volleyball opens season with dramatic, five-set road victory
The Wichita State volleyball team opened its season with an intense victory on the road over a 2017 NCAA Tournament team, defeating James Madison, 3-2 (27-25, 25-18, 21-25, 24-26, 19-17), in the decisive fifth set on Friday in Harrisonburg, Va.
Even with several question marks entering the season, the Shockers rose to the challenge in the face of adversity in a road environment against a quality opponent. WSU won the first two sets, lost the next two, then staved off three match points to rally for a victory despite 37 attack errors.
“We played matches last year where we would have six, seven attack errors the entire match,” WSU coach Chris Lamb said in his post-game radio interview. “This is a young team that’s not ready for that stuff and they totally had to scramble. I’m super proud of them because (James Madison) is a tournament team.”
The star of the match was libero Giorgia Civita, who made a career-high 34 digs in a stellar performance along the back row. While Tabitha Brown (13 kills on .120 hitting percentage) struggled with her offense, her off-season work on her back-row defense translated to 19 digs, which tied her career-high.
While it wasn’t a sterling offensive performance, two of WSU’s returners delivered career-high performances in expanded roles. Middle blocker Emma Wright finished with a career-high 17 kills on a .375 hitting percentage to go along with 1.5 blocks, while Alex Koon registered a team-high and career-high 19 kills. In her college debut, redshirt freshman Megan Taflinger finished with 12 kills.
Instead of choosing one setter to replace four-year standout Emily Hiebert, WSU coach Chris Lamb opted to use a 6-2 rotation for the first time in more than a decade. He rotated between transfer senior Kali Eaken and redshirt freshman Kora Kauling, while Eaken (35 assists, 13 digs) got the start and the double-double and Kauling (28 assists) also played in crucial points.
“I’m proud of Kora Kauling,” Lamb said on the radio. “We’re putting a lot on her and that was one of those matches where you’ve got to be strong in there. She was right there fighting. Because of hte way they were playing defense, we were asking her to be more aggressive in the middle and take more chances and she did.”
The drama only built as opening night went along, as James Madison stormed back to win the third and fourth sets late to force the tiebreaker.
Even when WSU jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the fifth, James Madison reeled off four straight points to tie the score at nine. The two teams would basically trade points from there on out, as WSU would have to fight off three match points to stay alive.
The final one came on a stuff block by Koon to tie the score back up at 17, then Wright produced another block on the next point to give WSU the 18-17 lead. James Madison would end on the match on an attacking error.
It was another comeback, much like what WSU did in the first set when it reeled off six straight points to erase a 12-6 deficit, sparked by kills from Chase Jackson and Taflinger and a service ace by Eaken. The Shockers won the set by scoring five of the final six points, capped by kills from Wright and Pugh.
WSU hit its stride in the second game, winning six of the first eight points capped by two straight kills from Wright. WSU’s lead never wavered with Wright scoring seven kills en route to a 25-18 victory.
The Shockers faltered down the stretch in both the third and fourth sets. WSU was tied at 19 in the third set before dropping six of the next eight points. WSU rallied from a 22-20 deficit in the fourth game to serve on match point, up 24-23, before losing three straight points to force a fifth set.
After an off day, WSU (1-0) will be back in action on Sunday with a 2 p.m. match set against Howard.
This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 8:48 PM.