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Brylee Kelly

Shockers Open Conference Play this Weekend

9/22/2021 10:20:00 AM

WICHITA STATE (6-3, 0-0 American)
 
Friday, Sep. 24 (2 p.m. CT) vs. Tulane (7-5, 0-0)
Houston, Texas (Fertitta Center)
Live Stats // No TV
 
Sunday, Sep. 26 (1 p.m. CT) at Houston (10-2, 0-0)
Houston, Texas (Fertitta Center)
Live Stats // ESPN+
 
 
Wichita State opens American Athletic Conference play this weekend with two matches in Houston, Texas.
 
Friday afternoon's 2 p.m. CT match against Tulane (7-5) has been relocated from New Orleans due the aftereffects of Hurricane Ida. The match will not be available for streaming, however fans can track live scoring via shockerstats.com.
 
WSU meets Houston (10-2) on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. CT). Fans can watch this match, as well as all remaining conference games, on ESPN+. For more information about subscriptions, which start at $6.99/month, visit plus.espn.com.
 

SCENE SETTERS:
  • After a 6-3 run through the non-conference portion of its schedule, WSU opens conference play against two of the league's best. Houston was picked second in the AAC preseason poll and Tulane fourth.
  • The Shockers won the A-State Invitational (Aug. 27-28) to open the season but subsequently missed the SDSU Invite and a significant stretch of practice time due to COVID-19 issues within the program. The Shockers returned to action Sep. 10-11 with a 2-1 weekend at the Kansas Invitational but dropped two of three matches last weekend against a strong field at the Shocker Volleyball Classic.
  • WSU owns wins over Missouri State and Arkansas State (both 9-3) and took a five-setter last weekend against South Dakota (preseason favorite in the Summit League).
  • Two of WSU's three losses have come against likely NCAA tournament teams in Kansas and nationally-ranked Creighton.
  • WSU is 3-0 in five-set matches (A-State, Delaware and South Dakota).
  • WSU is 3-1 in AAC openers since joining the league. The lone loss came in 2019.
  • Seven Shockers average at least a kill-per-set, led by redshirt sophomore outside hitter Brylee Kelly.
  • Kelly has recorded double-digit kills in all six matches this year. Last Saturday against Wyoming she notched her first career double-double (13 kills, 10 digs) and was named to the Shocker Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team.
  • Freshman outside hitter Kailin Newsome has been a weapon on both the front and back rows. She's finished with double-digit digs in six of WSU's nine matches and registered 10-or-more kills on five occasions.
  • This will be a homecoming weekend for Newsome, a Houston area native who is the all-time kills leader at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, Texas. She started her career at Southeastern Louisiana before transferring to WSU this summer.
  • WSU defensive specialist Annalie Heliste hails from nearby Cypress, Texas.
  • The conference's top-two diggers go head-to-head on Sunday. UH's Kate Georgiades (4.98) leads the league in that category, ahead of WSU's sophomore libero Lily Liekweg (4.89).
  • WSU ranks 29th nationally in digs-per-set (16.69), led by Liekweg, who ranks No. 37 individually.
  • Sophomore setter Kayce Litzau is No. 4 on the conference leaderboard in assists-per-set (8.74).
  • Four different setters have seen time in the Shockers' 5-1 scheme, led by Litzau and Lauren Phillips.
  • Head coach Chris Lamb recorded his 450th career win earlier this month. Lamb is one of only 24 active Division I coaches who have reached that milestone while winning more than two-third of their matches (451-208, .683).
  • The Shockers (9-8 last spring) return five starters, including all-conference Opposite Sophia Rohling and are picked eighth in the American Athletic Conference.
  • 18 of the 20 players on WSU's roster are underclassmen by eligibility and only four rotation players (Kelly, Liekweg, Litzau and Rohling) have been in the program for more than two seasons.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Shocker Volleyball Classic (Sep. 17-18)
  • WSU went 1-2 at its home tournament, defeating South Dakota (3-2) before falling to Wyoming (1-3) and No. 17 Creighton (0-3).
  • Brylee Kelly was the kill leader in all three matches (3.17-per-set) and made the all-tournament team.
  • No. 17 Creighton won all nine of its sets to claim its first Shocker Volleyball Classic title in three appearances.
  • WSU opened Friday night with a 3-2 win over preseason Summit League favorite, South Dakota. A 2-hour, 33-minute grind came down to a couple of service points. A Coyotes service error broke a 13-all tie in the fifth set and Kayce Litzau's ace finished it for WSU.  Lily Liekweg matched her career-high with 28 digs, and Brylee Kelly pounded out 15 kills.
  • As often happens after an emotional win, WSU came out flat in Saturday morning's 10 a.m. match against Wyoming, falling 3-1. The Shockers scored a combined 28 points in the first two sets. They regrouped to win the third but went quietly in the fourth. WSU hit a season-low .106 and tallied just two aces to Wyoming's 11. Kelly notched her first double-double as a Shocker with 13 kills and a career-high 10 digs.
  • WSU bounced back Saturday night with perhaps its best performance of the weekend in an eventual 3-0 loss to Creighton, which had breezed through previous matches against South Dakota and Wyoming. WSU tied the first set at 24 and the second at 23, but the defending Big East champs made key plays to secure victories in both. Creighton scored eight-straight points early in the third set and closed out the match with a 25-18 win.
 
 
WSU-TULANE SERIES:
  • Tulane leads the all-time series, 4-3.
  • The teams have split six AAC era meetings
  • WSU's Chris Lamb (451) and Tulane head coach Jim Barnes (444) have combined for 895 career victories. They're 4-4 head-to-head. Barnes' Lamar team swept Lamb's Shockers in a 2001 matchup. WSU returned the favor in 2014 when Barnes was coaching at Baylor. 

American Athletic Conference Coaches // Career Wins:
1. Chris Lamb (Wichita St.) -- 451-208, 22nd Season
2. Lisa Siefert (SMU) -- 446-405,  28th Season
3. Jim Barnes (Tulane) -- 444-336, 25th Season
4. Todd Dagenais (UCF) -- 260-155, 14th Season
5. Molly Alvey (Cincinnati) -- 212-16, 13th Season

 
SCOUTING TULANE:
  • Tulane swept three home matches on opening weekend. The following day (Aug. 29), Hurricane Ida made landfall. Green Wave student-athletes were evacuated from New Orleans and have spent the past three weeks living out of a suitcase. The Green Wave are 3-5 since the start of their exodus.
  • WSU and Tulane share one common opponent in Missouri State, which swept the Green Wave in Springfield on Sep. 11. WSU beat the Bears in three sets in its Aug. 27 season opener.
  • Tulane is picked fourth in the AAC preseason poll.
  • Redshirt senior outside hitter Lexie Douglas was a first team All-AAC choice last spring.
  • Danyelle Williams (0.48) and Michelle Urquhart (0.487) rank Nos. 1 and 2 on the AAC leaderboard in aces-per-set.
  • Kayla Dinkins is hitting a team-best .335 this year. Last spring she paced the team with 88 blocks.
  • Barnes picked up his 100th win at Tulane head coach last weekend. He's 100-68 in parts of six seasons.
 
WSU-HOUSTON SERIES:
  • Houston leads the all-time series, 7-4, and is 5-2 against the Shockers in AAC matches.
  • The Shockers are 2-2 all-time against the Cougars in Houston but are in search of their first victory at the Fertitta Center after dropping their debut match on Nov. 3, 2019. Each of the three previous visits (2005, 2017 and 2018) took place at UH's Alumni Center.
  • The Shockers handed the Cougars their lone conference loss last spring. The teams split two matches in Wichita (Mar. 26-27). The Shockers took the first, 3-1, but the Cougars bounced back the next day for a 3-0 victory.
 
SCOUTING HOUSTON:
  • UH is out to a 10-2 start (3-0 at home). Its only losses have been on the road to Texas A&M and Alabama. Signature wins include five-setters over Oklahoma and Mississippi State and a four-set win vs. Oregon State.
  • Third-year head coach Dave Rehr has led a volleyball renaissance at UH. Last spring he guided the Cougars to a 13-6 record and the AAC's West Division title (9-1).
  • Divisions are gone this year, and the Cougars are picked second in the AAC preseason poll behind unanimous favorite UCF.
  • Houston returns a trio of first team all-conference picks in sophomore setter Annie Cooke, junior outside hitter Abbie Jackson and senior outside hitter Kortlyn Henderson. Cooke was the league's setter of the year.
  • Jackson takes an average of 11.4 swings-per-set (34th nationally) and ranks fourth on the AAC kills chart (3.60-per-set) after leading the league last spring (4.7).
  • Rachel Tullos averages a team-high 1.23 blocks-per-set. She set a conference record last year with 17 in a five-set win over Cincinnati.
  • As a team, Houston is averaging a league-best 1.87 aces-per-set.
 

UP NEXT:
  • The Shockers are back home for two matches next weekend.
  • Defending champion UCF invades Charles Koch Arena on Friday, Oct. 1 (7 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
  • The Shockers play host to South Florida on Sunday, Oct. 3 (1 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
  • Fans can purchase seats at goshockers.com/Tickets or by phone at 316-978-FANS (3267).
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