How this setter helped Wichita State become the hottest volleyball team in the AAC
No team has climbed in the American Athletic Conference volleyball standings faster than Wichita State the last three weeks.
The Shockers, once picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches’ poll, currently are tied for second place at the midpoint of the conference season, thanks to a seven-match winning streak featuring four road victories and three in the fifth set.
So what has allowed WSU to transform from a pesky unit pegged for the bottom of the conference to arguably the hottest team in the AAC?
The answer, at least part of it, begins with the rapid improvement of sophomore setter Kayce Litzau, who began the season as the No. 3 setter on WSU’s roster. As the Shockers (13-6, 7-3 AAC) prepare for the next road swing on the schedule at South Florida (6-15, 0-10 AAC) on Friday night and at Central Florida (16-6, 9-1 AAC) on Sunday afternoon, Litzau is pushing for all-conference honors as WSU’s sole setter running a 5-1 offense.
“She is putting herself in the equation as one of the best setters in the conference,” WSU coach Chris Lamb said on his radio show on Monday. “When the Shockers are handling the ball and playing defense, if we can get it to Kayce and let her do her work, things are going pretty well for us right now.”
There has been a correlation between WSU’s drop-off since its unbeaten 2017 championship team and Lamb’s confidence in the team’s setting situation. The long-time coach has spent the past three middling seasons looking for an answer. He believes Litzau may have developed into one.
When the 5-foot-10 setter from Wisconsin arrived to WSU in 2019, Litzau had many of the physical tools that Lamb believed could make her a special player. But she lacked the timing, the rhythm, the knowledge that only experience of setting at a high level can give.
Now in her third year with the program and with Lamb’s recent commitment from switching from a 6-2 offense, where two setters split time, to a 5-1 offense, where one setter runs the entire show, Litzau has blossomed.
“It was just a matter of when we could get her caught up,” Lamb said. “I’ve been waiting for the day when other coaches go, ‘Wow, how did you get that kid?’ Because she’s long enough, talented enough and now she’s becoming good enough.
“Kayce has really come a long way. This is someone in their third year in the program and yet facing her steepest learning curve and she’s gained more from August until now than she ever did at any other point.”
Even with WSU down to just two healthy middle hitters and injuries limiting the abilities of Sophia Rohling, WSU’s preseason all-conference right side, and Kailin Newsome, a dynamic freshman outside hitter, Litzau has still managed to make lemonade for the Shockers.
WSU is hitting .255 during its seven-match winning streak, which would rank third in the conference, and Litzau is averaging 11.1 assists per set, which would rank first. She’s even become more involved in the attack, as she’s registered 22 kills in her last 18 sets.
“If our league had a Most Improved Player award, then Kayce would absolutely be a candidate for that,” Lamb said. “She has these young hitters scoring at a really nice rate when she’s setting them and that’s worth a lot to us. I’d put her in the top-third in our conference at the setting position and she has the stats to validate that.”
As Lamb mentioned, Litzau’s elevated play is bringing out the best in her hitters.
Lamb has been waiting a long time for Brylee Kelly, a fourth-year sophomore outside hitter, to become WSU’s consistent, go-to option on the outside and she has fulfilled that this year working with Litzau. Kelly is averaging 3.6 kills per set in AAC play, which ranks fourth in the conference, and hitting .270 on heavy volume.
Another player to take off with Litzau has been Natalie Foster, a 6-4 freshman who has thrived in the “M2” role — the team’s second middle blocker away from the setter in the 5-1 offense — that Lamb has used to develop stars in the past.
Just this past weekend, Foster hammered a career-best 18 kills while hitting .417 in a four-set win at Temple to earn honor roll honors from the AAC this week. During WSU’s seven-match winning streak, Foster is averaging 3.1 kills per set and hitting .404 in the middle.
“Most coaches run their offenses where that position gets the least amount of work, but we’ve had girls like Sarah McGee and Abbie Lehman who have led our team in attempts,” Lamb said. “Natalie Foster is starting to ratchet herself up there. If you write down all of her M2 responsibilities on a piece of paper, tell me who’s doing more in our conference right now than Natalie Foster?”
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