Wichita State volleyball searching for more offense on the left as MVC play starts

Wichita State’s volleyball team is in solid shape entering Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend. However, coach Chris Lamb is more into evolving, so the Shockers could morph into some dramatically different shapes over the next 18 regular-season matches.

WSU’s performance in four tournament weekends provided two good chips for an NCAA selection committee to consider, if needed, in November. Lamb is confident wins over No. 24 Kentucky and at Marquette, picked second in the Big East, will stand up over the next two months.

“We’ve won not playing well and we’ve lost playing well,” Lamb said. “We didn’t play good against IUPUI. We also played really good against Hawaii and didn’t get that one. We got Marquette and we got Kentucky, and something like that needs to come from all that.”

The Shockers (9-5) open MVC play against Indiana State (11-4) on Friday and defending champion Illinois State (10-3) on Saturday at Koch Arena.

Lamb’s concern is that WSU’s power ranking will take a hit from some of the weaker wins. WSU’s opponent’s winning percentage is 47 percent, below where Lamb wants it as a part of the RPI calculation. The loss to IUPUI (9-5) is a negative and wins over struggling Oregon State (2-8 entering Thursday night’s match with No. 18 Oregon), Abilene Christian (0-13) and South Dakota State (1-15) will likely drag down WSU’s RPI (power ranking.

“That stuff is just back-breaking,” he said. “Hopefully, when they get in conference they bring that back, but you’re really searching for a 62, 65 non-con winning percentage.”

The NCAA releases its first RPI ranking on Oct. 5. The MVC may offer help after building a non-conference record of 85-52 (62 percent), an improvement from 2014 (55-57, 49.1 percent) and 2013 (65-54, 54.6 percent). Seven of the 10 MVC schools built winning records in non-conference play. Once conference play starts, improvement in the RPI must come from non-conference opponents winning.

“Now you are in the good side of .500,” Lamb said. “I call it the oven of mediocrity. We’re going to bake in the oven of medioctrity now for two months. There’s nothing we can do with our RPI. It’s all based on whoever we put on the schedule the first four weeks. Now we’re hoping and praying those (non-conference opponents) can go into conference and win.”

In 2012, the last time the MVC generated NCAA at-large teams, the conference went 70-60 (53 percent) and put six schools in the top 100 of the RPI.

The Shockers can ignore the RPI over the next two months if they win enough. Lamb’s biggest concern is scoring, especially from the left. His middles, with sophomore Abbie Lehman and senior Katie Reilly, score efficiently. He may shake up the offense and alternate setters. He can pair sophomore Emily Hiebert with Regan Peare, Jody Larson or McKenzie Fyfe if he wants to change styles.

“The 6-2 is very much a real part of what we’re training,” he said. “We’ve got firepower. We’ve got lots of options.”

Lamb tried Larson, Jenny Whitledge, Mikaela Raudsepp, MaryAshton Floyd and Shimen Fayad on the left. All can point to good moments. Nobody grabbed the job.

“Some are swinging better, but some are passing better,” Lamb said. “We’re absolutely still evaluating. There’s not a coach in America not hoping to, throughout the season, get better on the left and part of that is erring less.”

Worth noting — Both matches will be shown on ESPN3. … Lehman ranks third in the MVC in attack percentage at .403 with Reilly eighth at .366. Indiana State’s Cassandra Willis ranks fifth (.395) and is second in blocks with an average of 1.22 a set. … Illinois State has won 20 straight matches against MVC schools entering Friday’s match at Missouri State. The Redbirds, who went 18-0 and won the MVC Tournament in 2014, start 2015 against preseason favorite WSU and runner-up Missouri State.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Wichita State volleyball searching for more offense on the left as MVC play starts."