WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State welcomes Evansville to Charles Koch Arena for its Missouri Valley Conference home opener Monday evening at 7 p.m.
On the Air
Monday's match against Evansville will be on Cox Channel Kansas/ESPN3 with Mike Kennedy and Cori Broddle calling the action.
Scouting Evansville
The Purple Aces are 4-11 overall with wins over Southeast Missouri, Kent State, UL-Monroe and Nicholls State. Losses have come against Marshall, Indiana, Northern Kentucky, Green Bay, SIUE, Austin Peay, Dayton, Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State. As a team, they are hitting .166, while holding opponents to a .232 clip. They are led by Mildrelis Rodriguez who is averaging 3.00 kills per set, while Jelena Merseli averages 7.13 assists per set and Olivia Goldstein averages 3.08 digs per set. The Aces are led by head coach Manolo Concepcion.
Series History vs. the Aces
Wichita State leads the overall series with the Purple Aces 36-9. The Shockers also lead the series in Wichita 20-2. WSU head coach
Chris Lamb is 28-4 overall against the Purple Aces and 15-1 in Wichita. The Shockers have won 28 of the last 29 meetings overall.
Last Meeting vs. UE
The last meeting between the two teams was Nov. 21, 2015, in Wichita. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 25-15, 25-19 and 25-4.
Abbie Lehman led the Shockers with 11 kills, while
Emily Hiebert had 34 assists and
Dani Mostrom had 12 digs.
Last Time Out
Wichita State went 2-1 last weekend in San Antonio, Texas at the Roadrunners Roundup. The Shockers swept Texas Tech and Texas State and lost to UTSA in five sets.
Tabitha Brown and
Abbie Lehman each had 32 kills for the Shockers, while
Emily Hiebert had 120 assists and
Giorgia Civita had 56 digs.
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 Sept. 12-18. Civita, a freshman libero from Milan, Italy, helped the Shockers to a 2-1 record over the weekend at the Roadrunners Roundup in San Antonio, Texas. She averaged 5.09 digs, 1.27 assists and 0.36 aces per set in the three matches. In the three-set win over Texas Tech, she had 19 digs along with four assists and a service ace. In the three-set win over Texas State, she had 16 digs, five assists and two service aces. In the five-set loss to UTSA, she tied her career-high with 21 digs and also had five assists and a service ace. It is her second MVC Freshman of the Week honor this season.
Hiebert's Double-Doubles
Junior setter
Emily Hiebert collected double-doubles in two of the three matches at the Roadrunners Roundup. Hiebert now has double-doubles in seven of 11 matches this season and owns 32 career double-doubles, which ranks her 14th 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 1,640 and needs 563 more to move into first place, while Hiebert is seventh in assists with 2,936 and needs 179 more to move into sixth place.
Hiebert and Lehman Earn All-Tourney Honors
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.
MVC Opener
Wichita State opens Missouri Valley Conference play this week on the road at Missouri State. The Shockers are 17-16 overall in conference openers and 11-5 under head coach
Chris Lamb. The Shockers are also 16-16 in conference road openers and 11-5 under Lamb. This is the first time the Shockers have opened MVC play on the road since 2012.
Career Performances
Several Shockers had career performances over the weekend at the Roadrunners Roundup. Senior middle blocker
Katy Dudzinski had a career-high 12 kills against UTSA, while freshman libero
Giorgia Civita tied her
career-high with 21 digs against the Roadrunners. Sophomore right side hitter
Kara Maleski was called into duty after a couple of injuries and collected a career-high six kills against UTSA along with one ace, one dig and one block.
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 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.
