By Paul Suellentrop

Wichita State's Izzi Strand believes she possesses abnormally bendy wrists and that helps her back set more accurately and at the proper speed.
 
"Back set is actually my favorite set my entire life," she said. "Most setters don't like setting back, because it's the hardest one to do because you can't see where you're setting to. I think the challenge is what I like the most."
 
Opposite Sophia Rohling is one of the big beneficiaries of Strand's flexible wrists and love of the back set. With Strand heating up with her middle blockers, that set is often open for Rohling. On Friday, the Shockers swept Temple (25-11, 25-13, 25-18) at Koch Arena with Rohling recording 15 kills and a season-high .522 attack percentage.
 
The Shockers (10-5, 4-1 American Athletic Conference) defeated the Owls (11-5, 2-3) for the fifth straight time.
 
Coach Chris Lamb saw the Strand-Rohling connection coming when he watched video of Strand at UC San Diego, where she played two seasons before transferring to Wichita State in January.
 
"She has really strong hands and she is able to be wristy with it," he said. "From the first time we were watching video we were like 'Well, we can play long ball with her, and I know Sophia will appreciate it because people are going to be staying with (middle Natalie Foster)."
 
 

.@RohlingSophia absolutely cooking atm

A match-high nine kills so far for #20. pic.twitter.com/xZ7TldxWYu

— Wichita State Volleyball (@GoShockersVB) October 7, 2023

 
 
Rohling faced many solo blockers on Friday and avoided them with ease. She totaled five kills on five swings in the first set and went eight for eight before committing one of her three errors in the second set.
 
"Her ability to get that pin set back there really fast and throw the blockers off, it creates huge holes for me that I can bounce balls in," Rohling said.
 
The Shockers hit .462 in the first set and .329 for the match, their high in conference play. They held the Owls to .096 and controlled the serve-and-receive game by landing six aces with two errors. Temple didn't record an ace and had 10 errors.
 
"Statistically, today might have been the best serve-pass differential we've had in a match all year," Lamb said.
 
The Shockers play USF (11-6, 5-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Koch Arena.
 
 

Izzi thinking two, maybe even three steps ahead here@IzziStrand 🧠 pic.twitter.com/15hsdkh32D

— Wichita State Volleyball (@GoShockersVB) October 7, 2023

 
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.