Defense powers Wichita State volleyball to sweep of 2021 NCAA tournament team
The Wichita State volleyball team picked up its first sweep of the 2022 season on Friday night, defeating Northern Colorado in three sets to conclude the Omaha Challenge.
It’s another impressive chip in WSU’s 3-2 start to the season, as Northern Colorado was coming off a Big Sky championship and 2021 NCAA tournament appearance and was off to a 3-0 start, including a sweep of North Carolina.
Following a disappointing 4-set loss to Omaha on Thursday, the Shockers responded with one of their most crisp performances of the season on Friday to hold a talented Northern Colorado offense to a .144 hitting percentage.
That’s the level of defense coach Chris Lamb expected of WSU entering the season, as junior libero Lily Liekweg recorded a match-high 16 digs and outside hitter Morgan Weber chipped in 10 more.
After failing to establish the middle attack in the loss to Omaha, WSU setter Kayce Litzau (35 assists) found a groove with sophomore middle blocker Natalie Foster for a season-high 15 kills on a .583 hitting percentage.
Sophia Rohling continued her strong start to the season with 11 kills on a .370 hitting percentage, while Brylee Kelly added eight kills.
All three players were heavily involved in WSU’s block, as Rohling registered three stuffed blocks alone, while Kelly added 3.5 blocks and Foster added 2.5 blocks.
The match featured just two lead changes, both coming early in the first set, as WSU was fully in control for the entirety of the Northern Colorado match.
That wasn’t the case the day before against Omaha, as the Shockers struggled to execute late in sets and fell behind 2-0 when they dropped the opening two sets, 25-22 and 26-24.
After rallying to win the third set, 25-18, WSU failed to produce after tying the score, 10-10, in the fourth set. Omaha outside hitter Marriah Buss, a Shocker transfer, delivered seven kills in the set alone to seal the victory for the Mavericks.
Litzau finished with 38 assists and a season-high 15 digs, while Kelly powered WSU’s offense with a team-high 17 kills, Rohling added 14 kills and Liekweg added 11 digs.
The Shockers will have a busy coming week, as they travel to Lawrence for the Kansas Invitational to face UNLV (noon) and KU (6:30 p.m.) in a doubleheader on Thursday and to Kansas City on Saturday for the KC Classic to face Northern Illinois (2 p.m.) and Kansas City (7 p.m.) in a doubleheader.
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