Non-conference schedule strength boosts Wichita State volleyball in RPI

While Wichita State is helping itself in the Missouri Valley Conference, opponents from August and September are giving the Shockers an equally significant boost.

WSU (19-7, 10-2 MVC) continued a rise in the NCAA’s power ranking (RPI) by moving up to No. 34 on Monday, up from No. 55 on Oct. 12. Look at the top of the SEC standings, where Texas A&M and Kentucky are tied. New Mexico State is on a 12-match win streak. Marquette, winners of six straight, is third in the Big East.

There’s more, but the point is made.

The Shockers play Drake (14-16, 5-8) on Friday and Northern Iowa (15-11, 9-4) on Saturday at Koch Arena. With its RPI in good shape, WSU can focus on finishing strong, knowing it possesses a good NCAA at-large resume, if needed. WSU is 3-3 against teams in the top 50, with wins over No. 13 Kentucky, No. 24 Marquette and No. 44 Missouri State.

“The non-con is up to 57 percent wins,” WSU coach Chris Lamb said. “As I suspected, our non-cons have had good conference seasons.”

WSU is doing its part by winning eight straight before Monday’s 3-2 loss at Southern Illinois. That streak put WSU in first place in the MVC with six matches remaining, four at Koch Arena. It can win its second MVC title in three seasons by winning out.

The loss at SIU signaled an end to WSU’s hardest road stretch of the season. It played four straight away from home and seven of nine. While SIU (19-7, 10-3) moved within percentage points of the Shockers, they won at third-place Northern Iowa, fifth-place Illinois State and sixth-place Missouri State in the past month.

“It’s been a grind,” Lamb said.

WSU focused on its serve-and-passing game in recent weeks and Lamb liked the results. The Shockers, while performing adequately in those areas, didn’t rank as high in comparison to MVC teams as Lamb wanted. The Shockers are cutting down on service errors, at least until they committed 14 at SIU.

“Inside this four-game road trip we put so much time into serving, passing and defense and for the most part it was good,” he said. “Both areas went backward on Monday night, so I was a little disappointed we weren’t able to sustain that higher level of defense I thought we were playing and sustain that focus in the serving-and-passing game.”

Northern Iowa, which plays at Missouri State on Friday, is pushing back toward the top of the Valley after losing three in a row in early October. The Panthers have won six of seven matches. Freshman middle Piper Thomas averaged 3.2 kills with a .271 hitting percentage last week in wins over Illinois State and Indiana State. Junior Amie Held moved from libero to a six-rotation attacker on Oct. 2. She leads UNI with averages of 3.5 kills and 4.3 digs in the 10 matches since the change.

“Their team numbers have climbed and (Thomas’) numbers have climbed a lot,” Lamb said. “They’re still running away with the defensive title, best team defense, and now they’ve battled back with the serve-and-passing game.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Non-conference schedule strength boosts Wichita State volleyball in RPI."