WICHITA STATE (0-0) at the A-STATE INVITATIONAL
Jonesboro, Ark. / First National Bank Arena
Friday, 10 a.m. CT // vs. Missouri State (0-0) // Live Stats
Friday, 5 p.m. CT // vs. UT Martin (0-0) // Live Stats
Saturday, 2 p.m. // at Arkansas State (0-0) // Live Stats // ESPN+
 

---

Wichita State opens its 2021 season with three matches at the A-State Invitational in Jonesboro, Ark.
 
The Shockers face Missouri State (10 a.m. CT) and UT Martin (5 p.m.) on Friday then challenge host Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. CT.
 
WSU will not have a radio broadcast, however fans can track live scoring throughout the weekend at shockerstats.com and Saturday's finale against A-State will air on ESPN+, available live or demand via the ESPN app. ESPN+ subscriptions are $6.99 monthly or $69.99/year. Visit plus.espn.com for more information.
 
WSU opens the home schedule Sep. 17-18 with its annual Aspen Heights Shocker Volleyball Classic, featuring Creighton, South Dakota and Wyoming. Season ticket packages are on sale now, starting at just $55 for youth and senior general admission and $65 for adults. Fans can call the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-FANS or visit goshockers.com/tickets to purchase.
 

---

 
THE SHOCKS, IN SHORT:       

• WSU posted a 9-8 record in the abbreviated 2020-21 spring season and took fourth-place in The American's Western Division.
• The Shockers are picked eighth out of 11 teams in 2021.
• WSU returns five starters, including sophomore outside hitter Sophia Rohling, a first team all-conference pick last spring and a preseason first teamer this fall. She hit .270 and averaged a team-high 3.09 kills-per-set.
• Freshman MB/RS Natalie Foster played sparingly the first half of last season but was one of the team's most productive players down the stretch, hitting a team-best .342 in 30 sets. She registered seven or more kills in each of her final six matches.
• 18 of the 20 players on the roster are listed as freshmen (14) or sophomores (4). An extra season granted due to COVID-19 plays a part, but the Shockers are nevertheless light on experience. Just four players have more than two years of playing experience at the Division I level: Rohling, sophomore setter Kayce Litzau, redshirt sophomore Brylee Kelly and sophomore libero Lily Liekweg.
• Litzau was the only Shocker to appear in all 66 sets last season. She also paced the team in assists (375) and service aces (20).
• Liekweg took over as libero late in the 2020 season and her 179 digs are tops among the returning Shockers.
• WSU led the American Athletic Conference last spring in fewest blocks by opponents (1.71-per-set).
• The Shockers also ranked second in opponent hitting percentage, limiting foes to a paltry .164. Only league champion UCF (.163) was better. It was an area that had plagued WSU teams the two previous years. The Shockers ranked 10th out of 12 teams in that category in 2019 (.235) after finishing dead last in 2018 (.235). 

THE COACH:

• Chris Lamb, WSU's all-time wins leader (445-205, .685), begins his 22nd season on the sideline.
• Lamb begins the season as one of only 24 active Division I head coaches who have won better than two-third of their matches while stacking up 400+ career victories.
• The 2017 national coach of the year has guided the Shockers to 11 NCAA tournaments, highlighted by a run to the 2012 Sweet 16.
• WSU has captured seven conference titles under Lamb's watch, most recently in 2017 it finished American Athletic Conference play with a perfect 20-0 mark.

SCENE SETTERS:

• WSU is 14-7 in season-openers under Lamb with four-straight victories.
• The Shockers opened last season 8-0 after starting 2-0 in 2019, 4-0 in 2018 and 7-0 in 2017.
• Despite the relatively short travel distance, this weekend marks on the second time that a WSU volleyball team has played a match in the Natural State. The only other visit came in September, 2003 (a four-set loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville).

WSU-ARKANSAS STATE SERIES:

• WSU is 3-0 all-time against the Red Wolves. The teams last met 28 years ago in Wichita (Oct. 29, 1993) with the Shockers prevailing in five sets. WSU also staked neutral court victories in 1987 (Norman, Okla.) and 1988 (St. Louis, Mo.).
• Chris Lamb has never faced A-State but is very familiar with its head coach. Santiago Restrepo spent 14 seasons at Oklahoma (2004-17). The Shockers won five of their six meetings with the Sooners, with the lone setback coming the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament.

SCOUTING A-STATE:

• A-State went 8-10 last spring, including 8-8 against Sun Belt opponents (all from the Western Division). The Red Wolves' only non-conference action was a pair of early-April sweeps at Kansas.
• The Red Wolves are picked third in the SBC West preseason poll (on the heels of a fourth-place finish last spring) behind defending champion Texas State and UT Arlington.
• Kendahl Davenport, a second team all-conference selection last spring, was one of the nation's best blockers with 87 total and a school-record 1.45 per-set. She had at least five blocks in 11 of the team's 18 matches and hit a team-best .321.

WSU-MISSOURI STATE SERIES:

• The Shockers meet their former Missouri Valley Conference rival for the second-straight season. WSU downed the Bears in Springfield on Jan. 24 of this year in a match that went the full five sets. Sophia Rohling led the way with 13 kills and seven blocks, and Kayce Litzau tallied a double-double with 22 assists and 12 digs to go with five service aces.
• WSU and MSU were conference-mates for 34 years (1983-91 in the Gateway Conference and 1992-2016 in the MVC). The Shockers moved to the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2017 campaign.
• The Bears lead the all-time series 44-30, but the Shockers have won 11 of the last 13 encounters.
• Lamb is 24-17 against Missouri State and 1-0 against its head coach, Steven McRoberts.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE:

• The Bears were picked fourth in a tightly-bunched MVC preseason poll. Each of the top six teams earned between 68 and 79 poll points.
• MSU returns nearly the entire cast from a team that finished 11-5 in MVC play last spring and 15-7 overall.
• MSU is led by First Team All-Valley pick Amelia Flynn, a 6-0 senior outside hitter who averaged 3.74 kills-per-set in 2020-21 and has totaled over 1,000 career kills.
• McRoberts was hired in January, 2000 after stints at Lubbock Christian (1997-2003), Central Arkansas (2005-11), Tulsa (2011-14) and Ole Miss (2014-19). The Shockers had never faced him prior to their January win in Springfield last season.

WSU-UT MARTIN SERIES:

• The teams have never met om the volleyball court.
• UTM is one of five schools on WSU's 2021 schedule that Lamb has never faced, along with Arkansas State, California Baptist, Delaware and Kent State. The Shocker head coach has beaten 117 different schools in his 21-plus seasons.

SCOUTING UT MARTIN:

• UTM went 6-10 last spring while playing exclusively against Ohio Valley Conference competition.
• The Skyhawks return each of their top-five attackers and are picked sixth in the 10-team OVC preseason poll.
• Junior outside hitter Logan Wallick – a preseason first team All-OVC pick who averaged 3.02 kills-per-set last season -- started her career at Fort Hays State (2017).
• Head coach Jaclynn Wilson has compiled a 62-110 career record in six previous years at UTM.

UP NEXT:

• The Shockers trek to Brookings, S.D. next Friday and Saturday for the SDSU Invite, where they'll take on California Baptist (Sep. 3, 1 p.m.) and Montana (Sep. 3, 5 p.m.) and host South Dakota State (Sep. 4, 1 p.m.).
• WSU opens the home schedule Sep. 17-18 with its annual Aspen Heights Shocker Volleyball Classic, featuring Creighton, South Dakota and Wyoming. Season ticket packages are on sale now, starting at just $55 for youth and senior general admission and $65 for adults. Fans can call the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-FANS or visit goshockers.com/tickets to purchase.