WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State hits the road to open the 2017 season in Nashville, Tenn., at the LUV Invitational. The Shockers will play host Lipscomb at 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 26 and East Tennessee State at 5 p.m. The Shockers finish the trip against Belmont on Aug. 27 at 2:30 p.m. It will be Wichita State's first trip to the state of Tennessee since 2013.
On the Web
All three of Wichita State's matches this weekend at the LUV Invitational will be on the internet at www.goshockers.com/listen with Mike Kennedy calling the action.
Quick Hits
• Wichita State is playing its first season in the American Athletic Conference. The Shocker volleyball program was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference from 1992-2017
• WSU is 19-20 in season openers and 10-7 under
Chris Lamb
• Head Coach
Chris Lamb is in his 18th season with the Shockers
• WSU returns four starters including
Abbie Lehman,
Emily Hiebert,
Mikaela Raudsepp and
Tabitha Brown
• Lamb needs 16 wins to reach 400 for his career
• The Shockers are picked first in the preseason American Athletic Conference poll
•
Emily Hiebert and
Abbie Lehman were both named to the preaseason all-conference team
• WSU received votes in the preseason AVCA poll
• WSU ranked 12th in the nation in attendance last season (2,264 average) and had a season-high crowd of 3,122 Oct. 28 against UNI at Charles Koch Arena
• WSU has one player from the state of Tennessee in freshman setter
Alayna Maslinski who is from Nashville
• WSU has won 20 or more matches for 14-straight years
• WSU won four MVC Tournament titles (2004, 2013, 2015, 2016)
• The Shockers won six MVC regular-season championships (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015)
•
Emily Hiebert became the first Shocker to earn Valley Setter of the Year honors in 2016
• Five Shockers earned all-Valley honors last season including
Emily Hiebert,
Abbie Lehman and
Jody Larson on the first team and
Mikaela Raudsepp and
Tabitha Brown on the second team
• WSU finished in the top-three in the Valley standings for the last 14 years
Series History vs. Tourney Field
The Shockers are 5-0 all-time against the 2017 tourney field:
Lipscomb - 1-0
East Tennessee State - 1-0
Belmont - 3-0
Scouting Lipscomb
The Bisons finished 22-8 in 2016 and 12-2 in the ASUN and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. LUV returns three starters and 10 letterwinners and is picked to finish first in the Atlantic Sun. The Bisons are led by head coach Brandon Rosenthal.
Last Meeting vs. LUV
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 2, 2006, in Manhattan, Kan. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 30-23, 30-15 and 30-18. Sara Lungren led the Shockers with 19 kills and 11 digs, while Abby Harsh had 40 assists and Melissa Granville had 13 digs.
Scouting East Tennessee State
The Bucs finished 22-8 in 2016 and 13-3 in the Southern Conference. ETSU returns seven starters and eight letterwinners and is picked to finish first in the SoCon. The Bucs are led by head coach Lindsey Devine.
Last Meeting vs. ETSU
The last meeting between the two teams was Sept. 13, 2013 in Knoxville, Tenn. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 25-10, 26-24 and 25-13. Ashlyn Driskill led the Shockers with 10 kills, while Chelsey Feekin had 34 assists and Alyssa Carney had nine digs.
Scouting Belmont
The Bruins finished 16-12 in 2016 and 10-6 in the Ohio Valley. Belmont returns six starters and nine letterwinners and is picked to finish first in the OVC. The Bruins are led by head coach Tony Howell.
Last Meeting vs. the Bruins
The last meeting between the two teams was Aug. 28, 2009 in Louisville, Ky. The Shockers won 3-0 by scores of 25-15, 25-23 and 25-13. Emily Stockman led the Shockers with nine kills, while Mary Elizabeth Hooper had 24 assists and Melissa Granville had 11 digs.
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. 9. The Shockers received seven points in the poll. The Shockers open the season on the road Aug. 26, at the LUV Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., against Lipscomb. WSU returns four starters and eight letterwinners to a team that went 24-8 in 2016 and won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Shockers will play four teams in 2017 that are ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll including Creighton (9th), Oregon (18th), Iowa State (RV) and SMU (RV).
Shocks Picked First in Preseason American Poll
The Wichita State volleyball team is picked first in the 2017 American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. The Shockers received seven first-place votes and 116 points in the poll. The Shockers return eight letterwinners and four starters from a team that went 24-8 overall and 15-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play in 2016. Last season, the Shockers won the MVC tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Lehman and Hiebert Named to Preseason All-Conference Team
Senior middle blocker
Abbie Lehman and senior setter
Emily Hiebert were named to the preseason all-conference team. Lehman earned honorable mention All-America and first team all-Valley honors in 2016 and averaged 2.68 kills and 1.27 blocks per set, while hitting .384. Hiebert earned first team all-Valley and Setter of the Year honors in 2016 and averaged 10.64 assists, 0.59 blocks and 2.81 digs per set.
Moving on Up
Senior middle blocker
Abbie Lehman and senior setter
Emily Hiebert continue to climb the Shocker career records list for blocks and assists. Lehman is now seventh in career total blocks with 381 and needs eight more to move into sixth place. She is also ninth in career block assists with 329 and needs three more to move into seventh place. Hiebert is fifth in assists with 3,711 and needs 254 more to move into fourth place.
Family Connection
Two Shocker volleyball players have siblings who compete in other sports at Wichita State. Junior
Tabitha Brown's brother Zach is a senior on the men's basketball team, while redshirt freshman
Regan Stiawalt's brother Chandler is a freshman on the men's track and field team.
International History
Redshirt freshman libero
Giorgia Civita returns to the team in 2017. Civita is from Milan, Italy and is 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).
WSU Joins The American
On April 7, 2017, Wichita State accepted an invitation to the American Athletic Conference. Commissioner Mike Aresco announced the addition of Wichita State to the American Athletic Conference beginning on July 1, 2017. The American's Board of Directors unanimously voted to accept Wichita State as its newest member. The Shockers officially joined The American on July 1, 2017 and conference members include the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Connecticut, East Carolina University, the University of Houston, the University of Memphis, Southern Methodist University, the University of South Florida, Temple University, Tulane University, University of Tulsa, the U.S. Naval Academy and Wichita State University. Navy is a football-only member and Wichita State is a basketball and Olympic sports-only member.
Four Starters Return
The Shockers return four starters (
Abbie Lehman,
Emily Hiebert,
Mikaela Raudsepp,
Tabitha Brown) in 2017 from a team that went 24-8 a year ago. Starters not returning from last year's team are
Jody Larson and
Katy Dudzinski and libero
Dani Mostrom, who all graduated.
Shocks 12th Nationally in Attendance in 2016
WSU volleyball ranked in the top-15 nationally in attendance in 2016. The Shockers had a total attendance figure of 27,163 and averaged 2,264 fans per match, which was 12th nationally.
Lamb Returns for 18th Season
Head coach
Chris Lamb, four-time MVC Coach of the Year, returns for his 18th season after guiding the Shockers to 14-straight 20-win seasons. In 2011, he became the winningest coach in Shocker volleyball history and in 2013 he won his 300th career match.
Shocks on the Web
All Wichita State volleyball matches will be broadcast on goshockers.com/listen in 2017. WSU Hall of Famer Mike Kennedy will perform play-by-play duties for all of the matches.
Fall Practice Schedule
The Shockers will practice in the Aetna Multi- Purpose Center on Monday and Wednesday from 3-6 p.m and on Tuesday and Thursday from 1-4 p.m. On the day before a home match, the team will practice on Devlin Court.
The Chris Lamb Radio Show
The
Chris Lamb Radio Show will air on Monday's from 6:30-7 p.m. on 98.7 FM and 1330 KNSS. Mike Kennedy will host the show and it gets underway on Mon., Aug. 28.
2016 Review
The Shockers went 24-8 in 2016 and 15-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. WSU won the MVC tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Leading the Shockers were honorable mention All-America selections
Abbie Lehman and
Jody Larson and MVC Setter of the Year
Emily Hiebert.
Mikaela Raudsepp and
Tabitha Brown both earned second team all-Valley honors.
