Scene Setter
Wichita State volleyball (3-9, 0-0 American) is scheduled to open American Athletic Conference play this Friday, Sept. 27, and Sunday, Sept. 29. The Shockers will travel to Tulsa (7-6, 0-0 American) for their conference opener Friday at 7 p.m. inside the Reynolds Center before returning home to Charles Koch Arena to host Cincinnati (8-4, 0-0 American) for Shocker Family Day at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
Promotions
Sunday's matinee contest vs. Cincinnati is Shocker Family Day. Fans can get four tickets, four hot dogs, four bags of popcorn and four drinks for just $32.
 
Quick Hits
• Wichita State enters American play at 3-9 overall after dropping a trio of matches in Nebraska Sept. 19-21. WSU fell to No. 15 Creighton, 3-0, Sept. 19, before losing to Wyoming, 3-1, Sept. 20, and No. 1 Nebraska, 3-0, Sept. 21.
• Wichita State faced five AVCA top-15 teams (Nebraska, Texas, Penn State, BYU, Creighton) in its non-conference schedule.
• Through 12 matches, sophomore outside hitter Megan Taflinger leads the Shockers offensively, averaging 2.48 kills per set. Overall, the Leona Valley, Calif., native has 109 kills on 346 attempts with 45 errors for a .185 attack percentage. Junior setter McKayla Wuensch and senior libero/DS Kara Bown both have a team-best nine service aces, respectively.
• Sophomore setter Kora Kauling is averaging a team-best 4.42 assists per set, while senior libero/DS Kara Bown is averaging a team-high 3.17 digs per set. Junior middle blocker Emma Wright leads Wichita State in blocking with eight block solos, 36 block assists and 1.07 blocks per set.
• Through 12 matches, the Shockers are averaging 10.5 kills, 9.8 assists, 0.9 aces, 13.7 digs and 1.8 blocks per set. Wichita State is hitting .162 with 460 kills in 1,431 attempts and 228 errors.
• Bown was named to the Creighton Classic All-Tournament Team. The Lincoln, Neb., native posted a career-best 23 digs and three aces in WSU's match vs. Wyoming Sept. 20 in Omaha.
• Redshirt freshman outside hitter Brylee Kelly hit a career-high .333 with a career-best 10 kills on 21 attempts and three errors vs. Wyoming Sept. 20. She also had a career-high seven block assists in that contest.
• Wright tallied a career-best eight block assists vs. Wyoming Sept. 20.
• Taflinger and freshman outside hitter Sinalauli'i Uluave were named to the Shocker Volleyball Classic Presented by Ashley HomeStore All-Tournament Team.
• Third-ranked Texas marked the highest-ranked opponent to ever visit Charles Koch Arena. The previous highest-ranked team to come to the arena was No. 6 Washington in 2004.
• Head Coach Chris Lamb is in his 20th season with the Shockers
• WSU returns two starters from last season in junior middle blocker Emma Wright and sophomore outside hitter Megan Taflinger. Junior libero Giorgia Civita also returns, but will miss the 2019 season due to injury.
• Wichita State welcomes 11 newcomers this season, including eight freshmen and three transfers.
• The Shockers are picked seventh in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll.
• Wichita State is scheduled to face six teams that are ranked in the AVCA Preseason Top-25 Poll, including four in the top-10 (No. 2 Nebraska, No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 BYU, No. 18 Creighton, No. 23 Cal Poly).
• WSU led The American and ranked 18th in the country in overall attendance last season, averaging 2,177 fans over their 10 home matches. The Shockers have been ranked in the top-25 for attendance for 14 straight seasons.
• WSU has won four conference tournament titles (2004, 2013, 2015, 2016).
• The Shockers have won seven conference regular-season championships (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2017).
• Giorgia Civita was named The American Libero of the Year last season. She was also voted first team all-conference and AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region.
 
Series History
The Shockers are 33-17 vs. Tulsa and Cincinnati all-time, and 5-3 in American Athletic Conference play.
Tulsa - 31-14 (3-1 American)
Cincinnati - 2-3 (2-2 American)
 
About Tulsa
The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane enter the week at 7-6 overall after going 1-2 in the Western Kentucky Volleyball Invitational Sept. 20-21 in Bowling Green, Ky...Through 13 matches, Tulsa is paced by freshman outside hitter Dilara Gedikoglu (188 kills, 3.84 kills/set, 12 aces, 123 digs, 2.51 digs/set), senior setter Mariah Pardo (220 assists, 4.49 assists/set, eight aces, 75 digs, 1.53 digs/set), senior libero/DS Taylor Horsfall (246 digs, 5.02 digs/set, 16 aces) and junior middle blocker Callie Cook (102 kills, 2.08 kills/set, seven block solos, 47 block assists, 1.10 blocks/set)...Horsfall was named to The American Preseason All-Conference Team...The Golden Hurricane were picked to finish fourth in The American preseason poll...Tulsa is under the direction of sixth season head coach Ryan Wills.
 
About Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati Bearcats enter the week at 8-4 overall and are receiving votes in the latest AVCA poll...The Bearcats are coming off a five-set loss to No. 25 Louisville Sept. 22 in Cincinnati, Ohio...Cincinnati is scheduled to host ECU for its conference opener Friday night before facing the Shockers Sunday...Through 12 matches, the Bearcats are led by American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, redshirt senior outside hitter Jordan Thompson (284 kills, 5.87 kills/set, 18 aces, 122 digs, two block solos, 17 block assists), sophomore setter Armania Heckenmueller (490 assists, 10.89 assists/set, 11 aces, 71 digs) and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Damjana Cabarkapa (62 kills, 11 aces, four block solos, 23 block assists)...Thompson currently leads the country in kills and kills per set, and ranks second in attacks per set (13.11)...Cincinnati was picked to finish second in The American preseason poll...The Bearcats are under the leadership of eighth season head coach Molly Alvey.
 
Last Meeting vs. Tulsa
After trailing early in set five, the Wichita State volleyball team was able to come back and defeat Tulsa 3-2 on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, at Charles Koch Arena. The set scores were 18-25, 25-15, 25-15, 12-25 and 16-14. Emma Wright led the Shockers with 14 kills and hit a career-best .500, while Kora Kauling added 27 assists and Giorgia Civita had 40 digs. Tabitha Brown added a double-double with 13 kills and 12 digs, and Kara Bown tallied a career-high 19 digs.
 
Last Meeting vs. Cincinnati
The Wichita State University volleyball team was swept at Cincinnati, 3-0, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, inside Fifth Third Arena. The Shockers lost by set scores of 23-25, 12-25 and 17-25. Senior Tabitha Brown led the Shockers, tallying eight kills on 20 attempts with one error for a .350 hitting percentage. Brown added five digs, two blocks and a service ace in the contest.
 
New-Look
Wichita State returns just two starters in 2019 in junior middle blocker Emma Wright and sophomore outside hitter Megan Taflinger. WSU has 11 newcomers this season, including freshmen Skylar Goering (outside hitter), Kayce Litzau (setter), Nicole Anderson (outside hitter), Arianna Arjomand (libero/DS), Sinalauli'i Uluave (outside hitter), Sophia Rohling (opposite), Shea Lauria (libero/DS) and Lily Liekweg (libero/DS), and transfers Lexi Hogan (outside hitter), McKayla Wuensch (setter) and Damadj Johnson (middle blocker).
 
International History
Junior libero Giorgia Civita returns to the team in 2019. 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).
 
Lamb Returns for 20th Season
Head coach Chris Lamb, five-time conference Coach of the Year and 2017 National Coach of the Year, returns for his 20th season after guiding the Shockers to at least 20 wins in 15 of the last 16 seasons. In 2011, he became the winningest coach in Shocker volleyball history and in 2017 he won his 400th career match.
 
Practice Schedule
(*schedule subject to change)
The Shockers will practice in the Aetna Multi-Purpose Center Tuesday-Thursday from 1:30-4:30 p.m. On the day before a home match, the team will practice on Devlin Court.
 
The Chris Lamb Radio Show
(*schedule subject to change)
The Chris Lamb Radio Show will take place Monday's throughout the season live from AJ's Sports Grill at The Alley in Wichita. The show will air on 97.5 FM and 1240 AM KFH radio. Mike Kennedy will host the show. A full show schedule is available at GoShockers.com.
 
On the Horizon
The Shockers travel to Memphis and SMU for a pair of conference matches Oct. 4 and 6.
 
2018 Review
Wichita State advanced to the postseason for the fourth consecutive season, qualifying for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). WSU finished the 2018 season with a 14-18 overall record and went 8-10 in American Athletic Conference play. The Shockers played the fourth-toughest schedule in all of NCAA Division I volleyball, including five matches against AVCA Top-25 opponents. Sophomore libero Giorgia Civita was voted American Libero of the Year, first team all-conference and AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region. A native of Milan, Italy, Civita rewrote the Wichita State volleyball record books in 2018, compiling single-season records for both digs (728) and digs per set (5.78).