Strong RPI offers Wichita State volleyball backup plan for MVC Tournament

All eight Wichita State NCAA volleyball banners look similar, enough so coach Chris Lamb calls them the blue dot banners.

Six of them are different, however, and Lamb regards them with a special pride.

Starting with the 2007 NCAA berth, the Shockers earned an at-large bid six times, no easy task for a Missouri Valley Conference school. Those bids offer proof of WSU’s ability to schedule strong opponents and beat them.

The top-seeded Shockers (24-8) are in strong shape for another NCAA at-large berth, if needed, as it enters the MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo. WSU started the week No. 34 in the NCAA’s power ranking (RPI). It will play either Illinois State (No. 65) or Northern Iowa (No. 52) on Friday in a semifinal. No. 40 Missouri State or No. 39 Southern Illinois are the likely opponents on Saturday, which means an RPI-tanking loss is unlikely.

“The important thing for the Shockers is not to lose ground,” he said. “I want to believe that whoever we play next wouldn’t have us go backwards.”

Lamb’s guide is teams in the top 42 are usually selected for at-large bids, although he can cite examples of top-40 teams left out.

“I think it’s good we’re ahead of Marquette, because you just feel like they want to put two teams in from the Big East,” he said. “Marquette’s got a good argument, and we beat them. You look at some of the teams that are kind of around you and feel like you want to stay ahead of them.”

WSU’s resume is highlighted by a win at No. 36 Marquette, which is fourth in the Big East, and a home win over No. 19 Kentucky, third in the SEC. WSU defeated No. 92 Northern Illinois, which earned the top seed in the MAC Tournament and lost in the final. It also split with Missouri State and swept Northern Iowa on its way to a 15-3 MVC record.

It lost to No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 24 Illinois, No. 26 Hawaii, No. 64 New Mexico State and No. 116 IUPUI. SIU defeated the Shockers twice and finished second in the MVC.

The Valley last grabbed an at-large bid in 2012, when Creighton won the automatic bid and WSU and Northern Iowa also made the field. That ended a stretch of seven straight seasons with at least one at-large bid, three in 2007 and 2010.

The Shockers can make all those numbers irrelevant with two more victories.

“We want to focus on the task at hand and make sure we win this tournament,” libero Dani Mostrom said. “We want to know for sure we’re in the NCAA Tournament. We’d like to be able to relax.”

Shockers honored — WSU’s Katie Reilly, Emily Hiebert, Abbie Lehman and Mikaela Raudsepp earned spots on the MVC’s Scholar-Athlete team. Mostrom earned honorable mention.

Reilly, a senior with a 3.93 grade-point average in exercise science, is on the team for a third season.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Strong RPI offers Wichita State volleyball backup plan for MVC Tournament."