The RoundHouse | 9/23/2017 4:05:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
TC the jazz-singing Lyft driver, stopped in the front of the hotel. He raised his hand and said "You can't get out in the middle of my scat. You might as well listen."
Wichita State volleyball coaches
Sean Carter and
Brian Magbitang and broadcaster Mike Kennedy did as instructed. They listened to TC finish the improv portion of his song ("Moanin") playing on the speakers.
It's not to say there are no jazz-singing drivers for hire in Terre Haute or Cedar Falls. There almost certainly are none who can also recommend the best Philadelphia cheesesteak place, the one where he took his ex-wife on a first date.
If the American Athletic Conference plotted Wichita State's first season with the goal of starting the Shockers off on a uniquely American path, well done.
WSU volleyball played the university's first American competition on Friday at Temple, three miles from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell and two from the steps movie boxer Rocky Balboa ran.
The 24th-ranked Shockers defeated Temple 3-1 (29-27, 19-25, 31-29, 25-15) in a match that started the American era in a raucous, dramatic manner inside 3,900-seat McGonigle Hall. A 70-person band blasted out fight songs and chanted "Go Owls". Students, most dressed in "Cherry Out" shirts to rep the school colors, pounded plastic seat backs to add to the racket.
"It was fun," Wichita State senior outside hitter
Mikaela Raudsepp said. "The chairs are a great addition. Really annoying, but a great addition."
Temple, picked third in The American preseason poll, played with great emotion, but not always precision. Twenty-eight attack errors ultimately weighed down the Owls, especially in the final two sets. The Shockers, picked first in the poll, played more consistently and closed out the match by hitting .440 with one error on 25 swings in the fourth set.
Raudsepp led WSU with a career-high 23 kills, nine in the first set.
Abbie Lehman added 14 kills.
"We got in a groove where we were able to communicate – it was really loud in here," Raudsepp said. "We just settled down."
At practice a few hours before Friday's game, coach
Chris Lamb talked about how it appeared American schools would treat a visit by the Shockers as a Super Bowl moment. With six seniors, he is not concerned about how the team will handle new cities, new gyms and best punches from opponents.
"We call it the submarine ride," he said. "We know we're in this thing for four months, from August to December, and every moment has value."
Wichita State volleyball's first moments in the American start like all road trips – on a bus. On Thursday, the Shockers boarded at Koch Arena after practice, bound for the airport and a Southwest flight to St. Louis and Philadelphia.
Director of operations
Shannon Lamb checked on drivers licenses. The players sang "Happy Birthday" to broadcaster Mike Kennedy – birthday No. 69 – when he boarded. Raudsepp passed out homemade banana ice cream.
At Eisenhower National Airport, a moment of panic passed quickly. A phone app showed Thursday evening's flight postponed to Friday morning.
False alarm.
The Shockers made it to Philadelphia – checking the Rams-49ers score along the way for
Chris Lamb – on schedule.
The coaches stopped talking NFL – the Niners got the ball back! – long enough to plan their hunt for Philly cheesesteaks on Friday. They researched Pat's King of Steaks (who claims to be the originator) and Geno's Steaks. They practiced ordering – "Wit" or "Witout" (onions) and "Wiz" for the melted cheese. Cash only. Be ready to speak or go to the end of the line and start over.
Pat's, in case you take a trip to Philly, earned their votes. Better steak. Creamier cheese topping with better cheese flavor. Fresher bread. Highly recommended by the entire group.
Shannon Lamb wasn't thinking about cheesesteaks or the Liberty Bell in January when she finished all the travel for arrangements for the Missouri Valley Conference. Hotels in MVC cities fill up for homecoming and parents weekend in the fall, so she booked before the rush for rooms.
"We didn't know we were going to move (conferences)," she said. "We had heard that was going to be a possibility, but if we did, it possibly wasn't going to be (for 2017)."
Once the Shockers moved to the American, she leaned on other coaches for their experiences traveling the coast-to-Heartland conference. WSU is, in large part, following SMU's paths around the conference.
The Shockers will bus from Philadelphia to Storrs, Conn., for Sunday's match against Connecticut. They will fly to connect for trips such as Tulane-to-Houston and East Carolina-to-Cincinnati. Tulsa and SMU is a bus trip. After playing at Central Florida in Orlando, they will bus 84 miles to Tampa to play South Florida.
In the MVC, the Shockers bused to most destinations.
"Sometimes busing can be easier – you have all of your things and you get on and go, there's no waiting around,"
Shannon Lamb said.
One of her priorities was limiting missing class, which is why the Shockers took a Thursday evening flight out of Wichita. All Sunday road matches for flying trips start at noon or earlier so the team can make a Sunday evening flight to Wichita.
"All of The American schools moved our match times," she said. "That's key, because we don't want to be traveling on Monday."
On Saturday, the Shockers visited the Liberty Bell before boarding the bus for the 235-mile trip to Storrs.
Their trip through The American is on.
