The RoundHouse | 10/16/2021 9:06:00 AM

 
 
A team's improvement rarely plays out in a straight line. On Friday, Wichita State went through a month's worth of ups and downs in five sets.
 
Dominant in the first set, the Shockers faded in the next two and errors gave control of the match back to East Carolina. They righted themselves to grab the next two and defeat the Pirates 3-2 (25-12, 16-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-10) at Koch Arena.
 
Wichita State (10-6, 4-3 American Athletic Conference) won its fourth straight match and rallied from a 2-1 deficit, providing more evidence the Shockers are onto something when they talk about chemistry and resilience. It is their first four-game win streak in conference play since 2017, when they went 20-0.
 
"We just did a better job of not freaking out," setter Kayce Litzau said. "We were talking more. We were communicating more. And then we were also just doing a better job at not making errors, not giving them an easy way out."
 
The return of outside hitter Kailin Newsome, out since Sept. 24 with an injury, gave the Shockers a major boost in the final two sets. She subbed in with the score 16-all in the fourth set and recorded three kills to help the Shockers pull away. She added two more in the fifth set to give the Shockers an offensive option after they struggled in sets two and three.
 
 

Welcome back, @KailinNewsome!

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— Wichita State Volleyball (@GoShockersVB) October 16, 2021

Newsome had double-figure kills in seven of her 11 matches before the injury.
 
"Having her bring new energy, new legs, aggressiveness was really what we needed," Litzau said.
 
The Shockers hit .708 in the first set with outside hitter Brylee Kelly contributing six kills. The Pirates (7-9, 3-4) got their offense on track behind outside hitter Sydney Kleinman in the next two sets, helped by Wichita State's attack and service errors. It totaled eight errors in the second set and nine in the third.
 
"What I was really proud of is, we kind of grabbed back our focus," Kelly said. "We lost the focus in sets two and three. We were making errors we normally wouldn't."
 
Newsome's appearance helped the Shockers regain their hold on the match in set four. In set five, Wichita State jumped to a 3-0 lead with two kills from Kelly and one by middle Natalie Foster and never trailed. ECU cut the lead to 9-8 and the Shockers responded with four straight points, three on errors by the Pirates.
 
"We made a ton of errors in two and three," Wichita State coach Chris Lamb said. "Also, we had a little more of a grip on defending them."
 
Kelly led the Shockers with 21 kills and hit .381. Foster added 13 kills and hit .346. Litzau handed out 54 assists with 11 digs.
 
The Shockers surge faces another challenge on Sunday when first-place Cincinnati (11-4, 6-1) visits Koch Arena (1 p.m.).
 
 

Location, location, location.@morganweber47 x @ESPNPlus

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— Wichita State Volleyball (@GoShockersVB) October 16, 2021

Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.