WICHITA, Kan. - Winners of five straight matches, Wichita State is set to take on Missouri State for the second time this season Friday night at 7 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena. The Shockers will look to remain atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings, as they enter Friday's match with an overall record of 15-5 and 8-1 mark in the Valley.
 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAY

Wichita, Kan.

Charles Koch Arena

Promotions

Tickets

Game Notes

MATCH 21

Missouri State (16-7, 7-2) at WSU (15-5, 8-1)

Oct. 21

7 P.M. CT

The Valley on ESPN3

GoShockers.com (Mike Kennedy)

GoShockers.com

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SERIES HISTORY

Shockers vs. Missouri State: 30-44

Last Meeting: Sept. 23, 2016 (WSU 3-2)

Shockers in Wichita: 12-18

MVC STANDINGS

1. Wichita State (15-5, 8-1)

2. Southern Illinois (16-7, 7-2)

3. Missouri State (16-7, 7-2)

4. Northern Iowa (15-7, 6-3)

5. Illinois State (12-9, 5-4)

6. Loyola (10-12, 5-4)

7. Drake (12-10, 3-5)

8. Indiana State (8-12, 2-6)

9. Bradley (6-14, 1-8)

10. Evansville (4-18, 0-9)

Quick Hits
• WSU is 3-3 against the RPI top-50 and 6-5 against the top-100
• WSU is listed at 32 in the latest NCAA RPI with Missouri State at 63
• Missouri State leads the series with Wichita State, 44-30 and is 18-12 against the Shockers in Wichita
• Emily Hiebert is the MVC Player of the Week and Abbie Lehman is the MVC Defensive Player of the Week
• WSU is ranked eighth nationally in hitting percentage, 18th in assists per set and 17th in kills per set
• Abbie Lehman is ranked 15th nationally in hitting percentage, while Emily Hiebert is ranked 28th in assists per set
• Hiebert collected her 3,000th career assist on Sept. 26 against Evansville
• The Shockers are 12-1 in three-set matches, 1-3 in four-set matches and 2-1 in five-set matches this season
• WSU is ranked 18th in the nation in attendance (1,895 average) and had a season-high crowd of 2,370 Sept. 26 against Evansville at Charles Koch Arena
• The Shockers are 6-1 at home this season
• Wichita State is 8-2 in the last 10 matches
• WSU is hitting .331 in seven home matches
• At home, Katy Dudzinski is hitting .506, while Lehman is hitting .461, Hiebert is hitting .413, Jody Larson is hitting .301, Mikaela Raudsepp is hitting .270 and Tabitha Brown is hitting .248
• In the last 10 matches, WSU is hitting .301 while holding opponents to a .195 hitting percentage
• Dudzinski is hitting .441 in the last 10 matches, while Lehman and Hiebert are hitting .386, Larson is hitting .289, Raudsepp is hitting .251 and Brown at .233
• Hiebert leads the Shockers with 11 double-doubles, while Jody Larson has nine
• WSU has had three different players with 15 or more kills in a match this season: Lehman, Raudsepp and Larson
• WSU has had four different players with 15 or more digs in a match this season: Dani Mostrom, Jody Larson, Emily Hiebert, and Giorgia Civita
• WSU has won 20 or more matches for 13-straight years
• WSU has finished in the top-three in the Valley standings for the last 13 years
• The Shockers have won six MVC regular-season titles and three MVC Tournament titles

On the Web
Friday's match will be on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/listen with Mike Ken­nedy calling the action. The match will also be televised on The Valley on ESPN3 with Chris Solwecki and Jenne' Blackburn.
 
Scouting Missouri State
The Bears are 16-7 overall and 7-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against Arkansas, No. 14 Illinois, Pacific, McNeese State, No. 12 Ohio State, Western Illinois, IUPUI, Arkansas State, Milwaukee, UNI, Drake, Bradley, Loyola, Evansville, Illinois State and Indiana State. Losses have come against Xavier, No. 15 Hawaii, No. 8 UCLA, Iowa State, Marquette, Wichita State and Southern Illinois. As a team, they are hitting .230, while holding opponents to a .190 clip. They are led by Lily Johnson who is averaging 4.48 kills per set, while Daniele Messa averages 9.62 assists and Emily Butters averages 4.06 digs per set. The Bears are led by head coach Melissa Stokes.

Series History vs. the Bears
Missouri State leads the overall series with the Shockers 44-30. The Bears
also lead the series in Wichita 18-12. WSU head coach Chris Lamb is 24-17 overall against the Bears and 10-8 in Wichita. The Shockers are 24-9 against the Bears since 2004.

Last Meeting vs. MSU
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 23, 2016 in Springfield, Mo. The Shockers won 3-2 by scores of 26-24, 20-25, 25-12, 21-25 and 15-10. Mikaela Raudsepp led the Shockers with 15 kills, while Emily Hiebert had 46 assists and Dani Mostrom had 26 digs.

Last Time Out
Wichita State won 3-1 at Indiana State on Friday by scores of 25-13, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-18. Mikaela Raudsepp led the Shockers with 16 kills, while Emily Hiebert had 45 assists and Jody Larson had 17 digs. WSU won 3-0 at Illinois State on Sunday by scores of 25-19, 26-24 and 25-23. Raudsepp led the Shockers with 17 kills, while Hiebert had 37 assists and Larson had 20 digs.

Shockers in the RPI
Wichita State is 32nd in the third official RPI release of the season. WSU is 3-3 against the top-50 and 6-5 against the top-100. Wins include Creighton (27), Marquette (30), Colorado State (41), Southern Illinois (52), Missouri State (63) and Texas State (78). Losses are against Texas (2), Cincinnati (45), Iowa State (49), UNI (57) and UTSA (64).

Hiebert and Lehman Honored by The Valley
Wichita State volleyball student-athletes Emily Hiebert and Abbie Lehman have been honored by the Missouri Valley Conference for their play the week of Oct. 10-16. Hiebert earned Player of the Week honors, while Lehman was named Defensive Player of the Week.

They both led the Shockers to a 3-0 week and into first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

Hiebert averaged 12.40 assists, 1.50 kills, 0.10 aces, 2.40 digs and 0.40 blocks per set, while hitting .591. She also guided the team to a .316 hitting percentage in the three matches.

In the three-set win over then first-place Southern Illinois, Hiebert had a match high 42 assists along with seven digs, one block and three kills. She hit .500 in the match and led the team to a season-best .461 hitting percentage. In the four-set win at Indiana State, she had a match-high 45 assists along with six digs, one block and eight kills and hit .583. In the three-set win at Illinois State, she had a match-high 37 assists along with 11 digs, two blocks, one service ace and four kills and hit .667.

Lehman averaged 1.60 blocks, 2.00 kills, 0.20 digs and 3.15 points per set,
while hitting .370. She also led the Shocker defense in holding the three opponents to a .184 hitting percentage. In the three-set win over then first place Southern Illinois, she had a match-high five blocks and had seven kills on eight swings and hit .875. In the four-set win at Indiana State, she had three blocks, one dig and eight kills. In the three-set win at Illinois State, she had a match-high eight blocks along with one dig and five kills.

It is Hiebert's first Player of the Week honor of her career and Lehman's fourth Defensive Player of the week honor.

Dudzinski's Efficient Night
Senior middle blocker Katy Dudzinski had 11 kills on 13 swings and hit .846 against Southern Illinois on Oct. 10. The hitting percentage put her fourth in the Shocker record books for hitting percentage in a match with a minimum of 10 attempts. The school record is 1.000 set by Abbie Lehman in 2014, while Janelle Watton hit .917 in 1991 and Chelsey Feekin hit .900 in 2013.

Hiebert's Double-Doubles
Junior setter Emily Hiebert has double-doubles in 11 of 20 matches this season and owns 36 career double-doubles, which ranks her ninth in the Shocker record books.

Moving on Up
Senior libero Dani Mostrom and junior setter Emily Hiebert continue to climb the Shocker career records list for digs and assists. Mostrom is now second in career digs with 1,750 and needs 452 more to move into first place, while Hiebert is sixth in assists with 3,287 and needs 134 more to move into fifth place.

Team Effort
Wichita State hit a blistering .461 as a team on Oct. 10 against SIU. The Shockers had 49 kills on 89 swings with just eight errors. It was a season-best in hitting percentage for the Shockers and just missed the top-10 in hitting percentage at Koch Arena. The .461 ranks 11th in the record books for team hitting percentage at WSU's home venue. The record is .583, which WSU set against Drake in 2003.

Dudzinski Heating Up
Senior middle blocker Katy Dudzinski has heated up over her last 10 matches. She is averaging 2.06 kills per set and hitting .441. She had a career-high 12 kills at UTSA on Sept. 17 and had 11 kills on 13 swings and hit .846 against Southern Illinois on Oct. 10.

Lehman Sizzling
Junior middle blocker Abbie Lehman has been on fire in her last 17 matches. She is averaging 2.69 kills per set and hitting .437 in the last 17 matches. In 316 total swings, she has just 18 errors. In 20 total matches this season, she is hitting .410.

Seven Points
Wichita State held Evansville to seven points in the second set of the win on Sept. 26 in Wichita. That is tied for the second fewest points allowed by WSU in a set in the 25-point scoring era. It ties the seven that WSU gave up to Grambling State on Sept. 5, 2009. The record is four which WSU gave up to Evansville on Nov. 21, 2015.

Double-Digit Kills
Wichita State used a balanced offensive attack to earn a five-set road win at Missouri State on Sept. 23. The Shockers got double-digit kills from five players including 15 from Mikaela Raudsepp, 13 from Tabitha Brown, 11 from Katy Dudzinski and Abbie Lehman and 10 from Jody Larson. It was the first time the Shockers had five players in double-digit kills since Oct. 23, 2015 when they won in five sets at Illinois State. In that match, Larson had 19, Shimen Fayad had 14, Lehman and Raudsepp each had 12 and Katie Reilly had 11.

MVC Opener
Wichita State opened Missouri Valley Conference play on the road at Missouri State on Sept. 23. With the win, the Shockers are now 18-16 overall in conference openers and 12-5 under head coach Chris Lamb. The Shockers are also 17-16 in conference road openers and 12-5 under Lamb. It was the first time the Shockers opened MVC play on the road since 2012.

Hiebert and Lehman Named to All-Tourney Team
Junior setter Emily Hiebert and junior middle blocker Abbie Lehman both earned all-tournament team honors at the Roadrunners Roundup. In the three matches, Hiebert averaged 1.36 kills, 10.91 assists, 0.09 aces, 3.09 digs and 0.45 blocks per set while hitting .375. Lehman averaged 2.91 kills, 0.09 aces, 0.64 digs and 1.09 blocks per set while hitting .372.

Hiebert and Larson Earn All-Tourney Honors
Junior setter Emily Hiebert and senior outside hitter Jody Larson earned all-tournament team honors at the Rams Volleyball Classic. The tournament consisted of just the matches against Colorado State and Texas. In those two matches, Hiebert averaged 12.00 assists, 1.43 kills, 0.29 aces, 3.00 digs and 0.71 blocks per set, while hitting .471. Larson averaged 4.86 kills, 2.00 digs and 0.57 blocks per set, while hitting .354.

Hiebert Named MVP
Junior Emily Hiebert earned MVP honors at the Shocker Volleyball Classic, while senior Jody Larson and junior Mikaela Raudsepp were both named to the all-tournament team. Hiebert averaged 11.40 assists, 1.30 kills, 0.20 aces, 2.90 digs and 0.70 blocks per set in the three matches. Larson averaged 3.00 kills, 0.60 assists, 0.20 aces, 3.70 digs and 0.60 blocks per set, while Raudsepp averaged 2.80 kills, 0.40 digs and 0.30 blocks per set.

Tournament Title
Wichita State won the Shocker Volleyball Classic title after defeating Marquette in three sets on Saturday night. It was the first time the Shockers had won their own tournament since 2009 when tournament MVP Emily Stockman led them to the title. Other champions since that time include Portland (2010), BYU (2012), Hawaii (2013) and Illinois (2015).

Home Opener
Wichita State opened up the home portion of the schedule on Fri., Sept. 2 against Cincinnati. With the four-set loss, WSU is 24-16-1 in home openers overall and 13-4 in home openers under Head Coach Chris Lamb. The four losses were in 2001, 2004, 2014 and 2016.

Top-20 Win
Wichita State earned a top-20 win on Saturday at the Iowa State Challenge. The Shockers defeated No. 18 Creighton in five sets. It was the first top-20 win for Wichita State since Dec. 1, 2012, when the Shockers defeated No. 20 Kansas 3-1 to advance to the Sweet 16.

20 Digs 
Freshman Giorgia Civita collected 21 digs against No. 18 Creighton on Aug. 27. She is the first true freshman to have 20 or more digs in a match since Mikaela Raudsepp had 20 against Texas State on Sept. 5, 2014.

Raudsepp and Hiebert Named to All-Tournament Team
Juniors Mikaela Raudsepp and Emily Hiebert both earned all-tournament team honors at the Iowa State Challenge. Raudsepp, an outside hitter from Dundee, Ore., averaged 2.88 kills, 0.25 aces and 0.62 digs per set, while hitting .333 in the two matches. Hiebert, a setter from Newton, Kan., averaged 7.00 assists, 0.88 kills, 0.25 aces, and 2.50 digs per set, while hitting .353 in the two matches.

Family Connection
Sisters Dani Mostrom and Gabi Mostrom are the fifth set of sisters to play volleyball at Wichita State. They are only the second set to play together at WSU joining Marsha and Pam Olmsted who played together for the Shock­ers in 1976. The other Shocker sisters include: Valerie and Kim Wadsworth, Jessica and Taylor Keys and Angie and Michele Hallagin.

Sophomore Tabitha Brown, who transferred from Alabama, joins her brother Zach Brown at Wichita State. Zach is a junior on the men's basketball team.

International History
WSU welcomes freshman libero Giorgia Civita to the team in 2016. Civita is from Milan, Italy and is looking to become just the seventh international player to play for the Shockers. Others include Kim Henry (1989-92) from Canada, Swee Ng (1992) from Malaysia, Marsha Van Cedar (1994-95) from Canada, Tomoko Matsuda (1996) from Japan, Lucia Zhanje (2000) from Zimbabwe and Shimen Fayad (2014-15) from Canada. One other international player was on the roster in 1992, but never played in a match (Tamie Bearup, Italy).

Season Openers
Wichita State is 19-20-2 in season openers overall and 10-7 in season openers under head coach Chris Lamb.

WSU Receives Votes in AVCA Poll
The Wichita State volleyball team received votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll, which was released Aug. 10. The Shockers received 21 points in the poll.

The Shockers open the season on the road Aug. 26, at the Iowa State Challenge in Ames, Iowa, against Iowa State.

WSU returns five starters and nine letterwinners to a team that went 27-9 in 2015 and won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Shockers will play five teams in 2016 that are ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll including Texas (2nd), Creighton (18th), Colorado State (25th), Iowa State (RV) and Marquette (RV).28, at the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii, against Oregon State.

Shockers Picked First in Preseason MVC Poll
The Wichita State volleyball team is picked first in the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Shockers received seven first-place votes and 97 points in the poll. The Shockers return nine letterwinners and five starters from a team that went 27-9 overall and 15-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play in 2015. Last season, the Shockers won the MVC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Lehman and Hiebert Named to Preseason All-Valley Team
Junior middle blocker Abbie Lehman and junior setter Emily Hiebert were named to the preseason all-conference team. Lehman earned honorable mention All-America and first team all-Valley honors in 2015 and averaged 2.97 kills and 1.11 blocks per set, while hitting .423. Hiebert earned first team all-Valley honors in 2015 and averaged 10.43 assists, 0.26 aces and 2.23 digs per set.

Five Starters Return
The Shockers return five starters (Abbie Lehman, Emily Hiebert, Mikaela Raudsepp, Jody Larson, Katy Dudzinski) in 2014 from a team that went 27-9 a year ago. WSU also returns libero Dani Mostrom. Starters not returning from last year's team are Katie Reilly, who graduated, and Shimen Fayad, who transferred to Cal State Fullerton.

Television Schedule Announced
Nineteen Wichita State volleyball matches during the 2016 season will be televised on The Valley on ESPN3 – the league's co-branded digital network with ESPN. The regular-season live events will be produced and transmitted by production units on each of the league's campuses. Three of the Wichita State home matches will be produced by COX Channel Kansas and made available for ESPN3 clearance, but subject to blackout restrictions. The three matches that will be televised on COX are Sept. 26 against Evansville, Oct. 10 against Southern Illinois and Nov. 11 against Illinois State.

Shockers 15th Nationally in Attendance in 2015
WSU volleyball ranked in the top-15 nationally in attendance in 2015. The Shockers had a total attendance figure of 31,650 and averaged 2,261 fans per match, which was 15th nationally.

Lamb Returns for 17th Season
Head coach Chris Lamb, four-time MVC Coach of the Year, returns for his 17th season after guiding the Shockers to 13-straight 20-win seasons. In 2011, he became the winningest coach in Shocker volleyball history and in 2013 he won his 300th career match.

Valley Titles
WSU has won six out of the last 12 MVC regular-season titles. The Shockers collected titles in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2015.

Shockers on the Web
All Wichita State volleyball matches will be broadcast on goshockers.com/listen in 2016. WSU Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will perform play-by-play duties for all of the matches.