WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State caps off its 2016 home campaign this weekend when the Shockers host Illinois State on Friday and Indiana State Saturday on Senior Night. WSU will face Illinois State at 5 p.m. on Friday and the Sycamores at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Charles Koch Arena.
 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAY

Wichita, Kan.

Charles Koch Arena

Tickets

Promotions

Game Notes

MATCH 26

Illinois State (16-10, 9-5) at WSU (18-7, 11-3)

Nov. 11

5 P.M. CT

Cox Channel Kansas (Cox 2022 HD)

ESPN3 (Subject to Blackout)

GoShockers.com

GoShockers.com

MATCH 27

Indiana State (10-16, 4-10) at WSU (18-7, 11-3)

Nov. 12

7 P.M. CT

The Valley on ESPN3

GoShockers.com

GoShockers.com

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SERIES HISTORY

Shockers vs. ILST: 31-34

Last Meeting: Oct. 16, 2016 (WSU 3-0)

Shockers in Wichita: 17-13

Shockers vs. INST: 48-12

Last Meeting: Oct. 14, 2016 (WSU 3-1)

Shockers in Wichita: 25-3

MVC STANDINGS

1. Missouri State (21-7, 12-2)

2. Wichita State (18-7, 11-3)

3. Southern Illinois (20-9, 11-4)

4. Northern Iowa (19-8, 10-4)

5. Illinois State (16-10, 9-5)

6. Loyola (12-16, 7-8)

7. Drake (14-14, 5-9)

8. Indiana State (10-16, 4-10)

9. Bradley (7-19, 2-13)

10. Evansville (5-23, 1-14)

Quick Hits
• WSU is 4-6 against the RPI top-50 and 6-7 against the top-100
• WSU is listed at 36 in the latest NCAA RPI with Illinois State at 112 and Indiana State at 225
• Illinois State leads the series with WSU, 34-31 but WSU is 17-13 against the Redbirds in Wichita
• WSU leads the series with Indiana State, 48-12 and is 25-3 against the Sycamores in Wichita
• The Shockers have won 30-straight meetings with Indiana State
• Abbie Lehman is the MVC Defensive Player of the Week this week
• WSU is ranked ninth nationally in hitting percentage, 20th in assists per set and 16th in kills per set
• Lehman is ranked 14th nationally in hitting percentage, while Emily Hiebert is ranked 53rd in assists per set
• Hiebert collected her 3,000th career assist on Sept. 26 against Evansville
• The Shockers are 15-2 in three-set matches, 1-4 in four-set matches and 2-1 in five-set matches this season
• WSU is ranked 13th in the nation in attendance (2,140 average) and had a season-high crowd of 3,122 Oct. 28 against UNI at Charles Koch Arena
• The Shockers are 7-3 at home this season
• WSU is hitting .282 in 10 home matches
• At home, Katy Dudzinski is hitting .451, Lehman is hitting .395, Emily Hiebert is hitting .379 and Jody Larson is hitting .296
• Wichita State is 8-2 in the last 10 matches
• In the last 10 matches, WSU is hitting .274 while holding opponents to a .172 hitting percentage
• Dudzinski is hitting .416 in the last 10 matches, while Lehman is hitting .389, Hiebert is hitting .348 and Larson is hitting .270
• Hiebert leads the Shockers with 13 double-doubles, while Larson has 12
• 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
Both matches will be on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/listen with Chris Solwecki calling the action Friday and Mike Kennedy on Saturday. Friday's match will also be on COX and ESPN3 with Mike Kennedy and Jenne' Blackburn and Saturday's will be on The Valley on ESPN3 with Solwecki and Blackburn.
 
Scouting Illinois State
The Redbirds are 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against Niagara, Miami (Ohio), Utah, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, UNI, Syracuse, North Dakota State, Loyola twice, Bradley twice, Indiana State twice and Evansville twice. Losses have come against No. 21 Loyola Marymount, No. 12 UCLA, Saint Louis, Rice, Seton Hall, Drake, Southern Illinois twice, Missouri State and Wichita State. As a team, they are hitting .243, while holding opponents to a .175 clip. They are led by Aly Dawson who is averaging 3.25 kills per set, while Jordan Weatherless averages 6.54 assists and Courtney Pence averages 5.37 digs per set. The Redbirds are led by head coach Melissa Myers.

Series History vs. the Redbirds
Illinois State leads the overall series with the Shockers 34-31. WSU leads the series in Wichita 17-13. WSU head coach Chris Lamb is 26-10 overall against the Redbirds and 14-4 in Wichita. The Shockers have won 26 of the last 32 meetings overall.

Last Meeting vs. ILS
The last meeting between the two teams was Oct. 16, 2016, in Normal, Ill. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 25-19, 26-24 and 25-23. Mikaela Raudsepp led the Shockers with 17 kills, while Emily Hiebert had 37 assists and Jody Larson had 20 digs.

Scouting Indiana State
The Sycamores are 10-16 overall and 4-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wins this season have come against Samford, Nicholls State, Morehead State, Marshall, Louisiana-Lafayette, Bradley, Eastern Illinois, Evansville twice and Loyola. Losses have come against South Alabama, West Virginia, UNC-Wilmington, North Texas, Butler, Western Michigan, Loyola, Illinois State twice, UNI, Southern Illinois twice, Wichita State, Missouri State, Bradley and Drake. As a team, they are hitting .201, while holding opponents to a .214 clip. They are led by Kynedi Nalls who is averaging 3.38 kills per set, while Rachel Griffin is averaging 8.60 assists and Shannon Murphy is averaging 4.03 digs per set. The Sycamores are led by head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner.

Series History vs. the Sycamores
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Sycamores 48-12. WSU also leads the series in Wichita 25-3. WSU head coach Chris Lamb is 31-4 overall against the Sycamores and 15-1 in Wichita. The Shockers have won 30 in a row against INS.

Last Meeting vs. INS
The last meeting between the two teams was Oct. 14, 2016, in Terre Haute, Ind. The Shockers won 3-1 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.

Last Time Out
WSU defeated Bradley 3-0 on Friday night by scores of 25-18, 25-14 and 25-20. Mikaela Raudsepp led the Shockers with 15 kills, while Emily Hiebert had 26 assists and Dani Mostrom had 20 digs. WSU defeated Loyola 3-0 on Saturday night by scores of 29-27, 25-21 and 25-15. Tabitha Brown and Abbie Lehman each had 11 kills, while Hiebert had 24 assists and D. Mostrom had 14 digs.

Shockers in the RPI
Wichita State is 36th in the sixth official RPI release of the season. WSU is 4-6 against the top-50 and 6-7 against the top-100. Wins include Creighton (16), Marquette (31), Missouri State (49), Colorado State (47), Southern Illinois (58) and Texas State (80). Losses are against Texas (2), Cincinnati (42), Iowa State (41), Missouri State (49), UNI twice (46) and UTSA (63). Illinois State is 112 and Indiana State is 225.

Lehman Named MVC Defensive Player of the Week
Wichita State volleyball student-athlete Abbie Lehman has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6.

Lehman, a junior middle blocker from Newton, Kan., led the Shockers to two road wins last week. She averaged 4.17 kills, 0.50 digs, 1.67 blocks and 5.08 points per set, while hitting .575.

In the three-set win at Bradley, she had 14 kills on 23 swings and hit .565. She also added one dig and a match-high four blocks. In the three-set win at Loyola, she had a team-high 11 kills on 17 swings and hit .588. She also added two digs and a match-high six blocks.

It is the fifth MVC Defensive Player of the Week honor of her career.

Senior Night
This weekend will be the final home matches of the season for the Shockers. On Saturday, WSU will honor seniors Dani Mostrom, Katy Dudzinski and Jody Larson. Mostrom and Dudzinski are in their fifth season with the Shockers, while Larson is in her second. During those five years, they have been part of two Missouri Valley Conference regular-season titles, two MVC Tournament titles, three NCAA Tournament appearances and one Sweet Sixteen appearance.

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 13 of 25 matches this season and owns 38 career double-doubles, which ranks her eighth 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 1,835 and needs 367 more to move into first place, while Hiebert is fifth in assists with 3,437 and needs 528 more to move into fourth 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 13 matches. She is averaging 2.09 kills per set and hitting .420. 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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.