WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State hits the road to open the 2016 season in Ames, Iowa at the Iowa State Challenge. The Shockers will play host Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 26 and No. 18 Creighton at 4 p.m. on Aug. 27. It will be Wichita State's first trip to Ames since the NCAA Tournament in 2009.
On the Web
Both of Wichita State's matches this weekend at the Iowa State Challenge will be on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/watch with Mike Kennedy calling the action.
Series History vs. Tourney Field
The Shockers are 21-32-1 all-time against the 2016 tourney field:
Iowa State - 0-7-1 Creighton - 21-25
Scouting Iowa State
The Cyclones finished 19-11 in 2015 and 11-5 in the Big 12 and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. ISU is receiving votes in the AVCA preseason poll and returns six starters and 12 letterwinners and is picked to finish third in the Big 12. The Cyclones are led by head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.
Last Meeting vs. ISU
The last meeting between the two teams was Dec. 5, 2009, in Ames, Iowa, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cyclones won 3-0 by scores of 27-25, 25-21 and 25-18. Emily Stockman led the Shockers with 12 kills and 12 digs, while Mary Elizabeth Hooper had 30 assists.
Scouting Creighton
The Bluejays finished 27-9 in 2016 and 17-1 in the Big East and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they advanced to the Sweet 16. CU is ranked 18th in the AVCA preseason poll and returns four starters and 11 letterwinners and is picked to finish first in the Big East. The Bluejays are led by head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
Last Meeting vs. CU
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 13, 2014, in Omaha, Neb. Creighton won 3-1 by scores of 25-15, 16-25, 27-25 and 25-19.
Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 16 kills, while
Emily Hiebert had 40 assists and
Dani Mostrom had 20 digs.
Season Openers
Wichita State is 19-19-2 in season openers overall and 10-6 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.
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 fourth in career digs with 1,554 and needs two more to move into third place, while Hiebert is ninth in assists with 2,530 and needs 226 more to move into eighth place.
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).
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/watch in 2016. WSU Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will perform play-by-play duties for all of the matches.
Shockers Earn AVCA Team Academic Award
The Wichita State volleyball program has been named a recipient of the 2015-16 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award. WSU is one of 131 Division I programs to earn the award.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
Recipients of the award range from NCAA Division I institutions to high school girls' and boys' teams.
The Shockers had a team GPA of 3.41 last season.
2015 Review
The Shockers went 27-9 in 2015 and 15-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. WSU won the MVC regular-season and tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Leading the Shockers were honorable mention All-America middle blockers
Abbie Lehman and
Katie Reilly and first team all-Valley selections
Emily Hiebert and
Dani Mostrom, who was also named Valley Libero of the Year.
Mikaela Raudsepp earned second team all-Valley honors, while
Shimen Fayad was named to the Valley all-freshman team.
