The RoundHouse | 9/24/2021 6:32:00 AM
Wichita State volleyball coach
Chris Lamb offered
Morgan Stout a scholarship. Stout, while thrilled, hesitated.
"His exact words were 'How would you feel if I placed a full-ride scholarship on the table now?'" Stout said. "I was like 'Well, I wouldn't think I was good enough.'"
Lamb politely disagreed and told her the Shockers wanted her in the uniform.
Stout, after a day or two of thought, accepted the scholarship during her sophomore year at Nickerson High School. The athlete Lamb saw then – bouncy, competitive, agile – is in the early stages of helping the Shockers now. While she is learning college volleyball, her talent allows her to contribute.
"Athletically, I'm doing pretty good," she said. "Mentally, it's tough sometimes to get frustrated. There's times in practices when I get very frustrated with myself, because I know I can do better."
Wichita State (6-3) opens American Athletic Conference play this weekend with two matches at Houston's Fertitta Center. The Shockers play Tulane (7-5) at 2 p.m. Friday. On Sunday (1 p.m.), they face Houston (10-2).
Stout, a redshirt freshman middle blocker, deserves plenty of patience for her road to this season. She sat out last season with a foot injury, after COVID-19 limited her training time through much of 2020. She returned to volleyball in August, nine months after surgery.
Two months later, the Shockers need her.
She played a reserve role in Wichita State's season-opening tournament. Last weekend, with middle
Lauren McMahon out, she started in the Shocker Volleyball Classic. Against South Dakota, she contributed five kills and tied for the team lead with four blocks. She led the Shockers with six blocks against Wyoming and added eight kills with a .238 attack percentage.
"It's crazy – she's just a freak athlete," setter
Kayce Litzau said. "She had a block that she just hung in the air for, I want to say, 10 seconds. She can fly."
The routes, timing and strategies of the game are a work in progress for Stout. She hits effectively on slides behind the setter. The chemistry of working quick sets in front of the setter is more elusive. She is rebuilding her arm motion after months of inactivity. Her vertical leap, she estimates, is at 27 inches, about two inches below its peak before injury.
Those physical gifts flash in the practice gym often and her teammates like the future possibilities.
"You haven't even the seen the best of
Morgan Stout," outside hitter
Brylee Kelly said. "She's so raw. One more year under her belt – or maybe even next week – you never know – she's going to be unstoppable."
Stout survived a difficult 2020-21 as she rehabbed and watched.
"My freshman year wasn't what I expected it to be, so that really made me want to work even harder to get to where I needed to be," she said. "The fact I made it, finally, and I'm looking back, it's tough to see. But I'm very proud of where I'm at now."
Lamb's job is to elevate Stout's understanding of the game closer to her physical gifts. Experience and repetitions will help. So will her competitive nature and enthusiasm. She lives with the belief that practice should be harder than a game, a lesson learned accompanying her father to morning basketball practices at the high school where he coached.
In that environment, she grew into an athlete who wants to win every drill and every point.
"Fearless," Lamb said. "I want people who try hard. You always get that from Morgan, physically. If anything, you're trying to get her to slow things down a little bit so she can try to recognize some stuff. That will come."
As Stout learns, she wants her enthusiasm to serve as a consistent contribution. After a kill or a block, she celebrates with a flurry of fist pumps and yells.
"I knew that was a gift that I had – enthusiasm," she said. "Being on the court and being able to help my team emotionally is really, really good for me. Everybody contributes in their own little way, and that's my little way."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
