The RoundHouse | 9/21/2018 10:24:00 PM

 
Wichita State volleyball coach Chris Lamb's new expression, borrowed from a football coach, is "win or learn."
 
"There's also win and learn," he said after Friday's 3-2 win over Tulane at Koch Arena. "Let's add that. My hope is that we'll come back with these guys in practice (Saturday) and we'll lay some things out there and they will take it seriously. There's things that have to get fixed."
 
Wichita State (6-6, 1-0 American Athletic Conference) has much to learn, as Friday's 25-18, 17-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-12 win over Tulane (12-4, 0-1) showed. The Shockers looked like their fans expect in sets one and three. In the fourth set, Lamb ran out of timeouts midway through the match with his team trailing 18-10.
 
In the fifth set, he junked the 6-2 offensive system and went with the 5-1 and leaned on setter Kali Eaken to direct things. The Shockers fell behind 5-1 before a timeout. They responded with a 4-0 run that got them back in the set for good. A kill by outside hitter Megan Taflinger – who finished with 17 – put Wichita State up 12-11 on their way to their 21st straight American victory.
 
That rally provided momentum Lamb hopes they can take into Saturday's practice and Sunday's match against Memphis. The Shockers are unsure about their setting plans and the back row lacks its typical depth beyond libero Gio Civita. Tulane out-hit the Shockers .175-.152 and Lamb wasn't happy with the way the Shockers defended the pins.
 
Lamb termed it a 50-50 game, one where a team must make a few hustle plays and get a few breaks to win. This season, the Shockers are 3-1 in matches Lamb considers a toss-up statistically. That means the Shockers need to play harder or smarter to grab that small margin of victory. 
 
"That's a tough way to make a living," he said. "Here we are in week five and I have a whole list of new questions. Me and the (assistant coaches) will be up forever tonight and hash that out and take our next shot at it."
 
But the Shockers scrapped their way into a five-set win. For a team still growing into new roles, that is a good night at the arena. Taflinger, who also contributed 13 digs, continued her strong redshirt freshman season. Tabitha Brown added 11 kills and Emma Wright eight.
 
"It shows what this team can become," Taflinger said. "I'm hoping that our coaches are believing that even though we're kind of young team that there is so much potential and room to grow. I hope it makes them excited and hopeful."
 
The ups and downs of Friday's match didn't throw the Shockers off course permanently. Neither did the atmosphere with a crowd of 4,270 and banner drops to celebrate last season's conference title and NCAA appearance.
 
Practice starts Saturday with the goal of lengthening out the good moments and cutting down the bad.
 
"When we're doing really well, we're doing really well," Eaken said. "But we're not doing so well, we kind of start to sink a little bit. It wasn't our best volleyball, by any means. It shows a lot about the fight of our team, even when we're not at our best."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.