The RoundHouse | 8/30/2019 8:40:00 AM

The Shockers returners organized, texted, taught, reserved gym time and grabbed knowledge from the coaches to pass on.
 
That was their role in turning around Wichita State volleyball over the summer.
 
The newcomers played a crucial role, too. 
 
"None of them said no to being in the gym at 6 a.m.," junior libero Giorgia Civita said. "They always said 'Yes, Gio, I'm coming."
 
The Shockers went 14-18 last fall and that memory prodded almost every moment in the spring and summer. Coach Chris Lamb brought in 11 newcomers to inject energy sometimes missing in 2018, Wichita State's first losing season since 2001.
 
Wichita State opens its season against Holy Cross on Friday (4 p.m.) in the Penn State Classic.
 
The returners insisted on a fresh start during summer workouts, starting by purposefully bonding with the newcomers and moving quickly to an insistence on intensity, smart volleyball and dedication to doing everything correctly.
 
"When we got here, there wasn't an awkward phase," freshman setter Kayce Litzau said. "They were right there, welcoming us, including us in everything. I feel like it really shows in practices, when we're hanging out in the locker room. We all want to be a cohesive group."
 
The returners organized dinners, highlighted by taco night, at the homes of returners. They went to Chicken N Pickle. They watched the 2007 movie "Superbad."
 
The heavy work played out in the gym. Civita, who won't play this season because of a knee injury, put her energy into summer coaching with lots of texts and lots of early morning plans. 
 
"I would walk in here early to set up for camp and Giorgia would have that team in the gym – and I get here at 6:10 – and they're in the gym playing volleyball this summer," Lamb said. "And that has never happened before."
 
Civita wanted to get the newcomers on early start on the Shocker strategy and terminology. Two newcomers – freshman Sophia Rohling and junior transfer McKayla Wuensch – arrived in January and played in the spring with the team. 
 
The other nine got their introduction over the summer with Civita, Megan Taflinger and other returners teaching and encouraging. Civita and Taflinger wanted to introduce them to new concepts and push them into tough situations and establish how the program operates.
 
"(Civita) was coming in and asking questions about 'What does this mean' and 'How do we exactly do this' so she could go in and be kind of a coach in practice and provide them with feedback and help get the young kids aware what our languages are, what words mean to our kids and what systems kind of start to look like," said assistant coach Austin Hosto. "So, when they're walking in on Day 1, there's not this huge learning curve."
 
The transition to college volleyball is often a shock to even the most talented newcomers. Wichita State's unique language and systems add another level of complexity. Lamb normally redshirts most of his incoming class to give them a year to learn his system and grow physically stronger. This year, he will count on six, seven or more new faces to play.
 
After the summer, they know what "Jabberwocky" – a play designed for the middles – means.
 
"At the collegiate level, there is so more strategy and everything that goes into it," freshman Nicole Anderson said. "After we started picking it up and learning more things, it flowed better and we connected better. 
 
The Shockers lifted weights, played games and worked on drills. Camps offered another chance to learn.
 
"We had quite a few open gyms, which allowed the freshmen to play with us, get to know some of the terms, get to know some of our offensive gyms, pass with us," Taflinger said. "Some of the freshmen got to do our camps. That always helps, too, because you're around all the players and coaches for six or more hours a day coaching children."
 
Civita directed sessions on scramble defense and pushed the newcomers to handle unexpected plays and out-of-system balls.
 
"The goal for me was – when you play volleyball, you've got to think," she said. "I feel like a lot of girls are still learning that. They just do what someone told them to do, they don't think. If you don't learn how to think in volleyball, be smart, take the information they've given you, you'll never be able to play at a high level."
 
A 3-2 scrimmage loss to Kansas earlier in August gave Wichita State's newcomers their first look at competition as a Shocker. As a group, they handled the crowd and opponent better than most might. Taflinger pointed to the summer bonding as the starting point for that progress.
 
She also knew that the Shockers absolutely needed contributions from the eight freshmen and three transfers. Wuensch will handle much of the setting duties with Litzau and returner Kora Kauling helping as Lamb shapes his lineups. Anderson and freshman Sina Uluave both played six rotations against Kansas. Defensive specialists Arianna Arjomand and Lily Liekweg need to step up in Civita's absence from the back row in combination with returning libero Kara Bown. Middle Damadj Johnson is a senior transfer from Indiana State. 
 
"The newcomers out-number the old people," Taflinger said. "We knew we were looking for more players to help and be part of the team, to put points on the scoreboard, to really put good things into our program. You can only do that if you start out with the correct mental attitude and the correct team bonding – everybody is on the same page that this what we do and this is how we do it."
 
Taflinger wanted to make it clear that all the newcomers understood the importance of volleyball at Wichita State, a program more used to playing in the NCAA Tournament than last season's trip to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
 
"We all are here to play volleyball – I didn't come (from California) to just to be at Wichita State," she said. "Gio didn't come from Italy just to be in Wichita. We're here for a purpose. We're all going to be on the same page of 'This is why we're here and we're going to have a winning season.'"
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.