Why Wichita State volleyball saw a successful season end with disappointing NIVC loss
In a return to postseason play for the first time in five years, the Wichita State volleyball team never could establish a rhythm in Sunday’s match against Grand Canyon.
The Shockers scrapped to keep the match close, but their own mistakes proved fatal in a 3-1 season-ending loss (25-15, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23) to Grand Canyon in a first-round match in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship hosted at Koch Arena in front of 649 fans on Sunday night.
It was a disappointing end to a successful season for Wichita State, which once again navigated injuries to finish with an 18-13 record and fourth-place finish in the American Athletic Conference. The Shockers ended the regular season winning seven of their final eight matches to move up to No. 60 in the NCAA’s final power rankings.
Grand Canyon (18-10) advanced to the NIVC regional championship round and will face Drake (27-7) at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Koch Arena.
A sloppy start haunted WSU to open Sunday’s match, as the Shockers committed eight attacking errors, five service errors, one blocking error and one ball-handling error in a disjointed 25-15 loss in the first set.
But WSU would prevail in a back-and-forth second set, as Sophia Rohling (eight kills), Morgan Weber (five kills, 13 digs) and Morgan Stout (seven kills) scored kills during a late 4-1 rally and then Brylee Kelly (12 kills, 12 digs) put down the final two balls to secure a 27-25 victory to even the match.
Grand Canyon nearly allowed WSU back in the game in the third set, as it nearly squandered a 23-19 lead with four late errors and then a Kelly kill evened the score at 24. But a service error by WSU’s Lily Liekweg (match-high 18 digs) gave the ball back to the Lopes, which finished off the set with an ace to grab control of the match.
The Shockers didn’t go down without swinging, as they climbed out of an early 6-1 deficit in the fourth set to tie the score at 21. Natalie Foster (12 kills) delivered a kill, then Foster and Kelly blocked a GCU attack to briefly give WSU a 23-22 lead. That would prove to be the Shockers’ final point of the season, however, as Grand Canyon scored the final three points, including an ace from former Shocker Megan Taflinger, to close out the match.
Following a losing 2019 season, WSU has delivered three straight winning seasons and believes another strong year could be on the way in 2023 with its whole roster eligible to return. Liekweg, the team’s top libero, played her final match on Sunday, but the Shockers could return all-conference hitters in Kelly (first team), Foster (first team) and Rohling (second team) as a potent nucleus for next season.
This story was originally published December 5, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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