Wichita State volleyball overcomes more road adversity to improve to 2-0

It wasn’t just all sightseeing for the Wichita State volleyball team in its trip to Washington D.C. this weekend.

The Shockers found themselves entrenched in a battle with Howard on Sunday afternoon, against the second straight 2017 NCAA Tournament-qualifying team to open their season. But WSU gutted out a victory, in four sets (25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20) over a scrappy Howard team to improve to 2-0 on the season.

WSU coach Chris Lamb said in his post-game radio interview that he was concerned about the team’s focus after spending Saturday visiting the different monuments in the nation’s capital. But like it did on Friday in its season-opening win at James Madison, WSU prevailed over the adversity.

“It’s a whole different test when you feel like you’re not getting what you want against a team on the other side of the net that you feel like is somebody you’re supposed to be beating,” Lamb said on the radio. “It’s a different kind of challenge and it’s a different kind of nerves and it gets to all of us. But the girls did a good job of keep pushing and fighting and staying composed.”

The positives start with WSU doing enough to beat a quality RPI opponent on the road. The offense showed flashes of promise, as the team’s hitting percentage rose to .270 this match. Emma Wright (7 kills on .429 hitting percentage) remains steady and efficient in the middle, while Abby Pugh (8 kills without an error on 13 swings) continues to give WSU a punch off the bench.

What is concerning Lamb is the amount of sloppy swings to start the season. After WSU committed 37 errors, which surpassed last season’s high by 12, in its season-opener, WSU added 22 more errors on Sunday. Another of Lamb’s worries is the team’s blocking, which was almost non-existent on Sunday with two total blocks in four sets.

“I’m starting to get worried we’re going to be the lowest blocking team in Shocker history,” Lamb joked on the radio. “This is the second match in a row where we don’t seem to be doing a good job there, but there’s a reason for that. We’ve been playing for some digs.”

Libero Giorgia Civita has certainly been up for the challenge, as the sophomore came through with her second straight standout game on back-row defense to open her season. After producing a career-high 34 digs in five sets on Friday, Civita followed it up with 27 digs in four sets on Sunday.

Tabitha Brown powered WSU’s offense with a team-high 16 kills on 42 swings, while Alex Koon added 10 kills and Chase Jackson added eight.

Kali Eaken took control at setter and played the majority of the match, finishing with 31 assists. Lamb still rotated at the position, but this time Kora Kauling (nine assists) split time with Jordan Roberts (six assists), who made her season debut and impressed Lamb with her play in the third and fourth sets.

“Jordan still hasn’t had a lot of playing time and she gets thrown in some situations where the energy has been crazy and that’s when she comes into matches,” Lamb said on the radio. “For her to keep us swinging like that, I’m pretty proud of her.”

Brown was productive early in the match, producing five kills while Jackson and Pugh combined for seven kills off the bench in WSU’s 25-20 victory in the first set. Howard responded with its best play of the afternoon, hitting .484 collectively in the second set to power past WSU, 25-21, to even up the match.

WSU would win the next two sets, and as a result the match, because of Lamb’s defensive adjustments. Although WSU never hit its stride offensively, it was still able to win because it limited Howard to a .113 hitting percentage the final two sets.

Howard led 20-18 in the third set, but WSU won seven of the next nine points to rally for the momentum-swinging victory capped by a Brown kill on set point. After breaking free from a 14-14 tie in the fourth set, WSU kept a steady lead to finish out the match with a 25-20 win.

The Shockers will finish up their season-opening, three-match road trip to the East coast with a 4 p.m. match against a VCU team that finished 30-3 last season and returns five starters. The action in Richmond, Va. will be available to stream on ESPN+.