‘We’re a different team’: The WSU volleyball team is winning again, off to 8-1 start
The Wichita State volleyball team is off to an 8-1 start to its season and the Shockers have set themselves up to threat for the West division championship in the American Athletic Conference.
After laboring through a 9-19 season in 2019, its second straight losing season and its worst record since coach Chris Lamb’s first season in Wichita back in 2000, WSU has surprised many around the conference with its strong start. Picked by league coaches to finish fourth in the West, WSU swept Tulsa and split with preseason favorite SMU this past weekend at Koch Arena to start 3-1 in conference play.
One reason for WSU’s strong start has been the team’s improved defense. After ranking last in the conference in blocking and opponent hitting percentage in 2018 and finishing middle of the pack or near the bottom in 2019, the Shockers rank third in the American this season in blocking (2.16 per set) and first in opponent hitting percentage (.123) by a wide margin.
“We haven’t played a team yet that is approaching blocking as aggressively as we are,” Lamb said Monday on his weekly radio show. “It’s a different look for pin players trying to attack it and it’s a whole bunch of pressure for quick hitters and middle hitters trying to deal with that kind of pressure. We have yet to be talked out of playing that way.”
The best example came over this past weekend when WSU’s defense registered 28 block assists and limited one of the league’s most potent attacks in SMU to a .107 hitting percentage. Senior middle Brooke Smith, a Goddard native, earned AAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for her performance against SMU, as she tallied a team-high 14 block assists, including a career-high nine in the first meeting, in two matches against SMU.
WSU opened the season on an eight-match winning streak, as the first win over SMU last Friday improved the team to an 8-0 start. The Shockers appeared poised to sweep the preseason division favorites the next day, too, as they won the first two games, 26-24 and 25-18, over the Mustangs.
But the Shockers were unable to close out the match win, as they lost 25-20, 25-19 and 16-14 to be forced to settle with a split.
“We were winning rallies and that’s always good to see out of a young team. It shows you’re working hard,” Lamb said. “And then just like that, the tide turned. We were cruising and then the next thing you know, we didn’t have the win.”
Lamb pointed out while SMU’s hitters were all veterans who have gone through adversity like that over the years, WSU is relying heavily on underclassmen who haven’t had a chance before to experience winning and then face adverse situations like the ones that came about last Saturday.
He believes the sheer physical ability of WSU’s pin hitters this season gives the offense a ceiling to be one of the best offenses under his reign. The Shockers have had success this season finding a trio of sophomores in Nicole Anderson (2.97 kills per set), Sophia Rohling (2.73) and Brylee Kelly (2.44), while junior Megan Taflinger (2.39) is the known commodity leading the way.
But Lamb still sees room for improvement, both from the hitters and from setters Kayce Litzau and McKayla Wuensch.
“When we pass well, we need to get a better swing,” Lamb said. “It comes back to setting, which we’ve talked a lot about. The setters have got to locate better so we can get more comfortable, powerful swings off good passing.”
Senior Emma Wright has paired with Smith to form one of the better blocking duos in the conference, while sophomore Sina Uluave has transitioned flawlessly to her new position in the back row and ranks in the top-10 in the conference in digs per set (4.24).
After a trying season in 2019, Lamb has been pleased with how his team has progressed so far during the 2021 season. WSU will be back in action this coming weekend at Koch Arena, where the Shockers (8-1, 3-1 AAC) will host Memphis (3-5, 0-4 AAC) for a 7 p.m. Friday match and a 1 p.m. Saturday match.
“We’re a different team (from last season). The same girls are better and the returners are better,” Lamb said. “I’m telling you, the freshmen have come in with this youthful enthusiasm and they’ve made those girls better. All of our returners are better because of the freshmen and sophomores in this program who fight and help us along the way.”
Wallace on fire, as baseball wins series vs. SIUE
After being swept by a top-20 Oklahoma State team to start the season, the WSU baseball team rallied to win the decisive third game to take the series from Southern Illinois Edwardsville over the past weekend.
The story of the series was the hitting of Paxton Wallace, who missed all of the last abbreviated season. The junior from Greenbrier, Arkansas is back in WSU’s lineup and feeling better than ever, as he hit .615 from the plate with eight hits, a double, a triple, two home runs, 11 runs batted in and posted a 1.308 slugging percentage in the three-game series against SIUE.
Wallace’s two homers highlighted WSU’s 10-4 series-opening win, as he drove in seven runs — the most for a Shocker since Johnny Coy did it against North Dakota in 2012. Sophomore outfielder David VanVooren also posted a career-high three hits in the game, as junior Liam Eddy earned his first win of the season on the mound after giving up four earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in six innings. Eddy has struck out 15 hitters and walked only one in his first two starts of the season.
Garrett Kocis also homered twice for the Shockers in the second game of the series, but it came in a 9-7 loss after WSU’s bullpen gave up three runs in the top of the ninth inning.
The Shockers (2-3) play a mid-week game at Oral Roberts on Tuesday before returning home to kick off another three-game series at Eck Stadium against Dixie State. WSU plays 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday with the games streaming on ESPN+.
COVID-19 wreaks havoc for women’s basketball
It’s not just the WSU men’s basketball program that has been severely affected by COVID-19 this season. The women’s basketball team has had eight games postponed due to positive tests within the program and derailed what should have been a promising season.
There’s been almost as many team quarantines as games played this season for the Shockers, as they look to finish off a disjointed regular season with a road game at Tulsa (5-12, 4-12 AAC). The Shockers (4-11, 1-9 AAC) will look to snap a five-game losing streak.
WSU has been led this season by junior Asia Strong, who is averaging 15.5 points per game — fifth-best in the conference. Her 43.7% shooting also ranks fifth in the conference.
Track team wins title, sees records fall
It was a successful trip to the Air Force Academy over the past weekend, as the WSU women’s track and field team won the team championship and the men’s squad saw perhaps its best hurdles race in program history.
Joseph Holthusen and Antonio Norman both registered their names further up in the all-time program record books in the 60-meter hurdles. Holthusen ran a time of 7.74 for third place, while Norman was just behind him at 7.79 for fourth. Holthusen missed the school record by just .02 seconds and Norman moved into third all-time.
Holthusen’s time ranks No. 13 in the country (top 16 qualify for the NCAA championships), while Norman is No. 25 in the 60 hurdles. Another Shocker, Michael Bryan, is currently in the mix to qualify for nationals with his best weight throw ranking 20th in the country right now.
The women’s team was led by Winny Koskei, fresh off her AAC cross country title, as she claimed the mile in a time of 5:18.26 and the 3,000 meters in a time of 11:16.87. The Shockers swept the top three spots in both of those races with Yazmine Wright and McKenna Paintin in the mile and Hope Saunders and Paintin in the 3,000.
WSU’s indoor regular season is completed, but have a handful of athletes in qualifying contention for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 12-13. Koskei is also set to run at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on March 15.
Softball sweeps Creighton, freshman earns conference honors
The only thing better for the WSU softball team than sweeping Creighton at home to improve to 5-2 this season? Watching the accolades roll in from the conference office on Monday.
Freshman second baseman Addison Barnard was named the AAC Player of the Week, while senior pitcher Bailey Lange earned weekly honor roll for the second straight week after their performances against Creighton last weekend.
Barnard started all three games for the Shockers and went 5-for-9 (.556) at the plate with three home runs, a triple and eight runs batted in. She is the first Shocker to earn Player of the Week honors from the AAC since Madison Perrigan on April 15, 2019. It is also just the fourth time a WSU player has earned the award since the school joined the American.
WSU run-ruled Creighton 14-2 and 13-3 in last Saturday’s doubleheader, then finished off the sweep with a 4-0 victory. Lange threw two complete games and finished with a 0.58 ERA on five hits and one earned run. She struck out 13 hitters in 12 innings of work.
The Shockers return to action this weekend when they travel to Arlington, Texas for a tournament. WSU will play Missouri State, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, North Texas, Texas Arlington and Iowa State over a span of three days.
Women’s tennis doubles team picks up a win
The WSU women’s tennis team was unable to win over the past weekend, losing to both No. 25 Arizona State and conference foe Houston.
But the Shockers did find something positive in the continued strong play of the No. 23-ranked doubles team of Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Marta Bellucco, who won their straight match, including their second ranked win of the season when they topped Arizona State’s 50th-ranked doubles team in a 6-4 victory.
While the men’s tennis team was idle this past week, the senior All-American duo of Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien are ranked No. 32 in the ITA preseason doubles rankings. It is their third straight and 12th overall appearance in the rankings. The duo is off to a 2-2 start at No. 1 doubles this season.
The WSU women’s tennis team (3-9) will play its next conference match at SMU on Friday, while the men’s team (6-4) is back in action twice this week at the Coleman Tennis Complex when it hosts Omaha on Wednesday and Memphis in a conference match on Friday.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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