WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State opens its season at home with the Shocker Volleyball Classic, Sept. 2-3. The Shockers will play Cincinnati on Fri., Sept. 2 and then play IUPUI and Marquette on Sat., Sept. 3. The Shockers will be looking for their first Shocker Volleyball Classic title since 2009.
On the Web
All three of Wichita State's matches this weekend at the Shocker Volleyball Classic will be on The Valley on ESPN3 with Chris Solwecki and Denning Gerig calling the action. They will also be on an audio stream on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/watch with Mike Kennedy calling the action.
Scouting Cincinnati
The Bearcats opened the season at Tennessee's tournament and went 2-1. They lost in four sets to Tennessee and then defeated Middle Tennessee in four sets and Louisiana-Monroe in three sets. They are hitting .220 as a team, while holding opponents to a .151 clip. They are led by Jordan Thompson who is averaging 4.64 kills per set, while Elly Ogle averages 8.40 assists and Lindsey Dinkelacker averages 2.55 digs per set. The Bearcats are led by head coach Molly Alvey.
Scouting IUPUI
The Jaguars opened the season 1-2 at their home tournament and then defeated Ball State, 3-1 on Wednesday. They lost in four sets to Duquesne and then defeated Central Michigan in three sets. They finished the tourney with a four-set loss to Southern Illinois. They are hitting .216 as a team, while holding opponents to a .207 clip. They are led by Kori Waelbroeck who is averaging 4.00 kills per set, while Alexis Mapes averages 11.20 assists and Jessica Helms averages 3.33 digs per set. The Jaguars are led by head coach Steve Payne.
Last Meeting vs. IUPUI
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 19, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wis. The Jaguars won the match 3-1 by scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-17.
Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 16 kills, while
Emily Hiebert had 44 assists and
Dani Mostrom had 12 digs.
Scouting Marquette
The Golden Eagles are 2-1 after opening the season at USC's tournament. Marquette defeated No. 7 USC in four sets and beat UC Irvine in five sets. They finished the tourney with a four-set loss to Santa Clara. They are hitting .151 as a team, while holding opponents to a .162 clip. They are led by Taylor Louis who is averaging 2.69 kills per set, while Sara Blasier averages 7.62 assists and Lauren Houg averages 4.54 digs per set. The Golden Eagles are led by head coach Ryan Theis.
Last Meeting vs. MU
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 18, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wis. The Shockers won the match 3-2 by scores of 25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 26-28 and 15-13.
Katie Reilly led the Shockers with 20 kills, while
Emily Hiebert had 48 assists and
Dani Mostrom had 23 digs.
Last Time Out
Wichita State opened the season at the Iowa State Challenge last weekend and went 1-1. The Shockers fell in three sets to Iowa State and then came back to defeat No. 18 Creighton in five sets. Junior outside hitter
Mikaela Raudsepp and junior setter
Emily Hiebert were named to the all-tournament team.
Civita Named MVC Freshman of the Week
Wichita State volleyball student-athlete
Giorgia Civita has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the week of August 22-28.
Civita, a freshman libero from Milan, Italy, helped the Shockers to a 1-1 record at the Iowa State Challenge. She played in all eight sets and averaged 3.25 digs and 0.75 assists per set.
As a defensive specialist in the three-set loss at Iowa State, she had five digs and one assist in her Shocker debut. In the five-set comeback win over No. 18 Creighton, she was the libero for all five sets and had a match-high 21 digs along with five assists.
Home Opener
Wichita State opens up the home portion of the schedule on Fri., Sept. 2 against Cincinnati. WSU is 24-15-1 in home openers overall and 13-3 in home openers under Head Coach
Chris Lamb. The three losses were in 2001, 2004 and 2014.
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.
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 third in career digs with 1,564 and needs 65 more to move into second place, while Hiebert is ninth in assists with 2,586 and needs 170 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).
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.
