Wichita State volleyball starts second half of MVC schedule

The race is for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference volleyball standings. Unless, that is, Illinois State repeats its collapse of 2013.

For the second season in a row, positioning for the postseason tournament is the goal for most of the MVC. The weakness of the conference means only Illinois State, No. 44 in the NCAA’s power ranking, is in position to grab an NCAA at-large bid, if necessary. No other MVC team is in the top 50 and Wichita State is in the unusual position of clinging to a spot in the top 100 at No. 96.

“The conference tournament is going to mean everything, and it may mean everything to Illinois State,” Wichita State coach Chris Lamb said. “We’ll see what happens.”

The Redbirds are in first place by two matches at 9-0 in the MVC at the halfway point. Behind them are Northern Iowa and Missouri State at 7-2 and Wichita State and Indiana State at 6-3. Illinois State’s position is bolstered by the fact it swept WSU, MSU and Indiana State on the road and gets all three at home in the second half. It defeated Northern Iowa 3-1 at home and its rematch on Nov. 15 is its lone remaining road match against a team with a winning record.

Last season, however, the Redbirds won their first seven matches and finished the first half 8-1. They finished 11-7 in the MVC.

WSU (12-7, 6-3) starts the second half in search of the winning streak that could put it back in the race. The Shockers, winners of two straight, face Loyola (7-11, 3-6) on Friday and Bradley (0-19, 0-9) on Saturday at Koch Arena. They swept both earlier in the season.

Lamb’s goal for the second half is for the Shockers to continue to make improvements that may sound small. Freshman attacker Mikaela Raudsepp, who started 18 matches, has not practiced this week due to concussion symptoms, Lamb said, after a ball hit her in the face before last week’s match at Evansville. A decision on her playing this weekend will be made Friday, he said.

“We’ve probably got to score two more points a game, we’ve probably got to dig three more balls a game,” he said. “We’ve probably got to hit two fewer balls out a game. We’re still searching for consistency.”

Two freshmen have emerged in recent matches to give Lamb confidence. Middle blocker Abbie Lehman averaged 2.83 kills and hit .567 last weekend in two victories. She has eight or more kills in eight straight matches with an attack percentage of .500 or better in six. Outside hitter Jenny Whitledge contributed career-high 15 kills and 13 digs against Missouri State and followed up with seven against Southern Illinois and 12 against Evansville.

“Those two have really shown that they can be impact players in the Valley,” Lamb said.

Start your scrimmages — WSU’s baseball team starts its fall scrimmage series at 2 p.m.. Friday at Eck Stadium.

The second game is at 10 a.m. Saturday with the finale at 5 p.m. Sunday. All games are seven innings and admission is a can of food for the Kansas Food Bank.

The Shockers will wrap up their fall with a Halloween Screamage on Oct. 30. The Shockers will play the game in costume and WSU athletes will hand out candy. There will be a costume contest for students.

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Wichita State volleyball starts second half of MVC schedule."