The RoundHouse | 4/22/2019 3:42:00 PM
Wichita State's
Megan Taflinger and
Giorgia Civita sum up spring volleyball practice with thoughts about mental toughness and teamwork.
Those impressions are more important to them than skills and physical improvement that came over the four scrimmage weekends and practices that ended earlier this month.
"We are able to look at each other and say we have to be better at this certain thing, and hold ourselves accountable for that" said Taflinger, a sophomore-to-be outside hitter. "Our coaches talked about it at the beginning of the spring. This spring, that all changed. Totally different feel and it's been really good."
The Shockers went 14-18 last season, 8-10 in the American Athletic Conference, slumping to their first losing season since 2001. Civita, a junior-to-be libero, said the Shockers needed to improve their ability to persevere through tough times and handle instruction from coaches.
"We got much better as a unit on the court," she said. "We stick together. We got a little bit tougher, which is something we missed last year. We are getting there."
Those words are exactly what coach
Chris Lamb wants to hear. Spring is a time to experiment and sometimes that means struggles and unfamiliar positions. He liked how teammates supported teammates.
"It sure seemed like there was a really high level of enthusiasm and commitment to unity, right from the start," he said. "I liked Giorgia's command. I thought we were disinterested and competitively immature last year, relative to where we had been. Giorgia, as much as anything else, what she brings to the table is an overwhelming desire to win and to improve. She shouldn't feel lonely in that. People should jump on her back."
Other notes from the spring:
Middle blocker Emma Wright, a junior-to-be, is growing into a more physical force, Lamb said.
"Emma appears to be in the best shape of her life," Lamb said. "She's quicker off the floor. She's expanding her offense. Because she's laterally faster and faster off the floor, that should help her blocking."
Regan Stiawalt, a junior-to-be outside hitter, impressed coaches with her improving variety of attacks. Lamb calls it a "yellow light" approach, which means she needs to find ways to score when her primary attack routes are defended.
"For Regan, it's just being more accurate," Lamb said. "Regan has to fight with errors, being blocked a lot. She's had a good spring there."
Setter McKayla Wuensch, a transfer from Nevada, joined the team this semester as a junior-to-be. Wichita State ran the 6-2 much of the spring, with returner
Kora Kauling joining Wuensch to run the offense.
"(Wuensch) is definitely the right athlete," Lamb said. "Right from our first scrimmage at (Kansas State), you could see that once we tune her in to how we want to run the offense, her athleticism will be a positive. She will play great defense and she will find herself getting under a lot of balls as a setter."
Right-side Sophia Rohling, a freshman from Neodesha High School, also joined the Shockers this spring with the goal of getting a jump-start on contributing in 2019. After adjusting to the demands in the weight room, Rohling showed skills that can help the Shockers.
"It didn't take long for her talents starts to show up," Lamb said. "She is also a good learner. It doesn't take long for Sophia to latch on to some concepts and movement patterns and turn words into movement."
Middle blocker Chinelo Ogogor redshirted as a freshman last season.
"One of the most important things we do is find out how to get Chinelo on the scoreboard," Lamb said. "We feel like there will be places throughout the season where we will find physical advantage. We've got to be quick to get those things in action."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
