WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State travels to San Antonio, Texas, for the Roadrunners Roundup. The Shockers will play Texas Tech and Texas State on Friday, Sept. 16 and then host UTSA on Saturday, Sept. 17.
On the Web
All three of Wichita State's matches this weekend at the Roadrunners Roundup will be on the Internet at www.goshockers.com/listen with Mike Kennedy calling the action.
Scouting Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are 10-2 overall with wins over Portland State, South Dakota State, North Dakota State, North Dakota, UTEP, Abilene Christian, Stephen F. Austin, Texas-RGV, Oral Roberts and Rice. Losses have come against Colorado and Long Beach State. As a team, they are hitting .274, while holding opponents to a .175 clip. They are led by Lauren Douglass who is averaging 3.45 kills per set, while Marguerite Grubb averages 10.60 assists and Reyn Akiu averages 4.93 digs per set. The Red Raiders are led by head coach Tony Graystone.
Last Meeting vs. TTU
The last meeting between the two teams was Aug. 27, 2005, in Houston, Texas. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 30-14, 30-19 and 30-24. Sara Lungren led the Shockers with 11 kills, while Andee Hartig had 24 assists and Cori Meyer had 15 digs.
Scouting Texas State
The Bobcats are 6-6 with wins over North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Kennesaw State, Sam Houston State, CSU Bakersfield and Portland. Losses have come against Ohio State, Nevada, Baylor, Tulsa, Utah and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. As a team, they are hitting .223, while holding opponents to a .210 clip. They are led by Jordan Kohl who is averaging 3.10 kills per set, while Erin Hoppe averages 8.97 assists and Micah Dinwiddie averages 2.06 digs per set. The Bobcats are led by head coach Karen Chisum.
Last Meeting vs. TSU
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 12, 2015, in Wichita. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-18.
Abbie Lehman and
Katie Reilly led the Shockers with 11 kills each, while
Emily Hiebert had 39 assists and
Jenny Whitledge and
Jody Larson each had eight digs.
Scouting UTSA
The Roadrunners are 6-3 with wins over Little Rock, SMU, Montana, Oklahoma, Lamar and Ohio. Losses have come against No. 3 Texas, Miami and Army. As a team, they are hitting .276, while holding opponents to a .211 clip. They are led by Dajana Boskovic who is averaging 4.70 kills per set, while Jessica Waldrip is averaging 9.83 assists and Shelby Williams is averaging 2.84 digs per set. The Roadrunners are led by head coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff.
Last Meeting vs. UTSA
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 6, 2014, in San Marcos, Texas. The Shockers won 3-2 by scores of 20-25, 25-23, 25-19, 19-25 and 15-8.
Katie Reilly led the Shockers with 12 kills, while
Emily Hiebert had 33 assists and
Dani Mostrom had 21 digs.
Last Time Out
Wichita State went 2-1 last weekend in Fort Collins, Colo., at the Rams Volleyball Classic. The Shockers defeated Colorado State in three sets and fell to No. 3 Texas in four sets. The Shockers also defeated Samford in three sets in a match that was not part of the tourney.
Jody Larson had 44 kills for the Shockers, while
Emily Hiebert had 116 assists and
Giorgia Civita had 39 digs.
Hiebert's Double-Doubles
Junior setter
Emily Hiebert collected double-doubles in two of the three matches at the Rams Volleyball Classic. Hiebert now has double-doubles in five of eight matches this season and owns 30 career double-doubles, which ranks her 15th 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 1,629 and needs 574 more to move into first place, while Hiebert is eighth in assists with 2,816 and needs 40 more to move into seventh place.
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.
Brown Heating Up
Sophomore outside hitter
Tabitha Brown, who transferred from Alabama, has put up impressive numbers over her last five matches as a Shocker. She is averaging 2.94 kills, 0.38 aces, 1.62 digs and 0.50 blocks per set, while hitting .302 on the left side. During that stretch, she had double-digit kills twice, hit over .400 twice and had a service ace in three of the five matches.
Larson Taking Over
Senior outside hitter
Jody Larson has posted double-digit kills in six of eight matches this season and double-digit digs in three of eight matches. She has tied her career-high with 19 kills twice this year, against No. 18 Creighton and against No. 3 Texas.
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 17
th 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.
