WICHITA STATE (24-8, 15-4 American)
Saturday, Dec. 9 (1:00 p.m. CT) vs. Montana State (24-8, 12-4 Big Sky)
Wichita, Kan. (Charles Koch Arena)
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Wichita State hosts Montana State on Saturday afternoon at Charles Koch Arena for a spot in the NIVC championship match.
The match will be streamed on ESPN+. Track live scoring throughout the afternoon at shockerstats.com.
SCENE SETTERS:
- Wichita State looks for a fourth straight postseason win and a spot in the NIVC championship, welcoming Montana State to The Roundhouse on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
- The Shockers and Bobcats represent half of the Fab 4, with South Florida and UTEP meeting on the other side of the bracket Sunday in El Paso. The championship match will take place on Tuesday at a site to be determined.
- Wichita State has knocked off Arkansas State, Tulsa and Drake at home while Montana State won a neutral site match against Pacific ahead of road wins at Sacramento State and Wyoming to reach the Fab 4. The Bobcats overcame a 2-1 deficit on Wednesday to defeat Wyoming, getting 24 kills from Kira Thomsen.
- A win on Saturday would earn head coach Chris Lamb his 10th 25-win season with the Shockers. Lamb won 25 or more matches six consecutive seasons from 2004-2009, and most recently hit the milestone in 2017.
- Wichita State had two players represented on the AVCA North All-Region Team, the first time since the 2017 season that the Shockers have had multiple representatives. Middle blocker Natalie Foster earned a First Team spot for the second consecutive season and setter Izzi Strand was tabbed Honorable Mention.
- The Shockers have won 12 home matches this season, their most since the 2013Â campaign. Should Wichita State continue to host and win the final two matches, they would match the 1992 team for the most home wins in program history (14).
- Wichita State is the nation's only team with three players who have 1,000 career kills at a single school. Foster, Brylee Kelly and Sophia Rohling all reached the milestone this season.
LOOKING BACK:
- In a match that featured 39 ties and 15 lead changes in just three sets, it was Wichita State that made the clutch plays to come away with a 30-28, 27-25, 25-21 win over Drake on Wednesday night at Charles Koch Arena.
- The win is Wichita State's 34th consecutive victory against the Bulldogs dating back to the 2000 season.
- Wichita State got massive performances from Morgan Stout, Izzi Strand and Natalie Foster to survive a gritty Drake team. Stout had nine kills on 16 attempts in the first set without an error, adding a solo block and two block assists to become the first WSU player to score 11 points in a set this season.
- WSU needed every one of them in the longest set of the year; the Shockers had set point at 24-23, 25-24, 27-26, 28-27 and 29-28 before finally putting the Bulldogs away on a kill from Strand, who went on to match a career high with eight terminations.
- It was more of the same in the second set, as neither team could extend the lead beyond two points. Drake reached set point first at 24-23, but WSU stayed alive via kill from Foster, who provided two more in quick succession to give the Shockers a set point opportunity of their own at 26-25. Morgan Weber, who took just two swings all night, drove a ball into the Drake block and down to the floor to give Wichita State a 27-25 win and a 2-0 lead heading to the intermission.
- The Shockers finally found breathing room in the third, getting terminations from Strand, Stout and Barbara Koehler to take a 22-17 lead. WSU was able to trade points the rest of the way, finally putting the match to bed on a kill from Sophia Rohling to complete the 12th sweep of the season.
WSU-MONTANA STATEÂ SERIES:
- The Shockers lead the brief all-time series against the Bobcats 3-1, though the two sides have not met since the 2008 season.
- Wichita State claimed the only meeting in Wichita, a three-set affair in 1988. The other three matchups have all been neutral-site matches, two in Manhattan, Kansas (1985 and 2006) and most recently in Pullman, Washington (2008).
- Head coach Chris Lamb won both meetings against the Bobcats in 2006 and 2008.
- All four matches of the series have ended in sweeps.
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS:
- Montana State brings an identical 24-8 record into Saturday's match, including a 12-4 mark in Big Sky play that was good for a second place tie in the regular season standings and the best conference finish in program history.
- The Bobcats had never reached the postseason prior to this year.
- The Bobcats have won 10 of their last 11 matches. The lone defeat was a five-set thriller with Weber State in the Big Sky tournament championship; Montana State led two sets to one and had a 12-8 edge in the decisive fifth set, but Weber State closed out the match with a 7-1 run to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
- Montana State has bounced back from the heartbreaking defeat to win three straight NIVC matches away from home. Most recently, they rallied past Wyoming in five sets thanks to a tremendous performance from Kira Thomsen, who had 24 kills, 10 digs, 3 aces and 3 blocks.
- Thomsen and opposite Jourdain Kamps were each named First Team All-Big Sky. The duo has combined to score nearly 50% of the Bobcats points this season.
- The Bobcats do damage at the service line, averaging 1.69 aces per set to rank 75th nationally. They racked up seven aces on Wednesday night at Wyoming.
- Head coach Matt Houk is in his first season at Montana State after spending nine seasons on the staff at Minnesota. He previously was the head coach at South Dakota, where he helped the Coyotes transition to the Division I level and won 97 matches over six seasons. Houk's wife, Jen, is also on the Bobcats staff as associate head coach.
UP NEXT:
- The Shockers either advance to the NIVC championship on Tuesday, December 12 or conclude the 2023 season.
