Wichita State opens MVC volleyball play with 3-1 win over Indiana State

Wichita State volleyball coach Chris Lamb told his team they would face the best Indiana State team of their careers on Friday at Koch Arena.

It wasn’t a hard sell, even though the Shockers had won 27 straight matches against Indiana State, 24 by sweep. Indiana State won Friday’s first set — its first at WSU since 2002 — before WSU righted itself and won the match 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22).

“We knew going into the game it was going to be a tough matchup,” WSU libero Dani Mostrom said. “We knew not to take it lightly.”

WSU won its Missouri Valley Conference opener by cutting down on unforced errors after a messy first set, relying on middle Abbie Lehman to power the scoring and with a boost off the bench from Mikaela Raudsepp. Most of all, the Shockers (10-5, 1-0 MVC) cut down on Indiana State’s easy scoring lanes and kept the ball off the floor.

“We knew we needed to try to dig a lot more balls,” Mostrom said.

Lehman led the Shockers with 14 kills and hit .429. Setter Emily Hiebert added five kills, two aces, 46 assists and 13 digs. Katie Reilly and Shimen Fayad both had eight kills and Jody Larson contributed seven kills and 12 digs. She combined with Lehman and Raudsepp to make WSU’s blocking strategies a factor in the later sets.

The Sycamores (11-5, 0-1) hit .286 in the first set and dropped in the next three, ending the match iwth a .191 attack percentage. In the first set, WSU committed seven attack errors and three service errors. It finished with 19 and four, fewer than Indiana State in both categories.

“My read on their outside hitters changed during that match,” Lamb said. “It goes way past stuff-block totals. As the match goes on, can you start bringing those guys down, bring their numbers down. The block should have something to do with that. Tonight, we were able to bring people down.”

Left Bree Spangler led the Sycamores with 19 kills, hitting .300, with eight kills in the final set.

Raudsepp recorded two solo blocks and four kills. Lamb credited her energy and defensive presence with cooling off Indiana State’s Kyndedi Nalls, who had seven kills and one error in the first two sets and four and four in the final two.

“Without scoring a bunch, Mikaela had a lot to do with this turnaround,” Lamb said. “You just love Mikaela. You’ve got a great motor. You’ve got great spirit out there.”

WSU rallied midway through the first set after falling behind 14-7 with an uninspired series of play. The Shockers closed within 22-21 and 23-22, but failed to pull even.

In the second set, WSU trailed most of the way with Indiana State’s Spangler and Nalls finding holes in the defense. The Shockers led 22-20, then allowed the Sycamores to go up 23-22. Larson’s kill tied the set and she combined with Lehman for a block and a 24-23 lead. Larson finished the set with another kill to tie the match.

WSU hit .345 in the third set with Lehman recording four kills on five swings. The Shockers led the entire fourth set and back-to-back aces by MaryAshton Floyd gave them a 17-11 edge. Indiana State cut the lead to 22-21 before its errors gave the Shockers two points. Lehman’s kill ended the match.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Wichita State opens MVC volleyball play with 3-1 win over Indiana State."