The RoundHouse | 11/20/2022 4:44:00 PM
The Shockers are workshopping the name for the drill. It will feature "mountains" and is focused on the idea that a mountain "doesn't care" or "doesn't cry."
"Don't yell at the mountain" is also an option.
Whatever the drill is labeled, it earned its spot in this season's memory book with its ability to make volleyball fun and push Shocker attackers to vary their selections against solo blockers. The drill produced two strong practice days and helped Wichita State defeat Cincinnati 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 25-21) on Sunday at Koch Arena.
"Lambo lit a fire under us, individually and as a whole," left
Brylee Kelly said. "We were really competitive in practice, and sometimes we lack that. We were playing games to help what each of us can do for scoring. It was fun. It was fun playing again."
Wichita State's final regular-season home match locked the Shockers (16-12, 11-6 American Athletic Conference) into fourth place in the American with two matches remaining. They won their sixth match in the past eight and swept the Bearcats (9-19, 7-11).
Wichita State hit .348 for the match, its second-highest efficiency of the season. It closed Sunday's match by hitting .387 with two errors in the third set and .389 with three errors in the fourth. Kelly got rolling with seven of her 19 kills in the third set and finished the match hitting .389.
Middle
Natalie Foster contributed 17 kills and hit .600. Right-side
Sophia Rohling added 13 kills and hit a season-high .619. Middle
Lauren McMahon came off the bench to give the Shockers a boost in the final two sets with six blocks and two kills.
"(McMahon) got a lot of blocks right off the bat," Foster said. "That really, really helped out the team energy."
The scoring efficiency doesn't happen without the setter giving attackers favorable balls.
Kayce Litzau finished with 50 assists and erred only twice.
"Kayce's been on a roll," Lamb said. "Almost half the time she set it, we scored. That is insanely amazing numbers for her today."
Senior libero
Lily Liekweg, who missed the past eight matches due to injury, returned for her final regular-season game at Koch Arena. She led a defense that held the Bearcats to a .097 attack percentage in the first set and .083 in the third, .225 for the match.
The message of the "mountain" drill is that a mountain – or an opposing blocker – is immune to the feelings of someone trying to score. It is on the attacker to find ways to score around the mountain, instead of giving into frustration.
"They needed to make great attack choices, or the game would go against you," Lamb said. "The magic was how much fun they had with it. I was just drawing up a drill. The fact that it got so competitive, the right way, made me know we were getting our legs back."
The drill featured a lot of Lamb yelling "the mountain don't care." The attacker squares off against a blocker in a scenario where she can't rely on trying to overpower the block.
"The whole point is you're trying to execute and terminate at a higher rate, because you have one blocker," Kelly said. "
Brylee Kelly and some of the Shockers sometimes hit right into a single block."
On Sunday, they did that considerably less often. Props to the mountain, whether or not it cares.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
