Volleyball | 8/16/2023 2:41:00 PM
By Paul Suellentrop
Wichita State plays Oklahoma in a
volleyball exhibition at 4 p.m. Thursday (ESPN plus) at Koch Arena. All regular-season rules apply to the exhibition.
The Shockers went 18-13 last season, 13-6 in the American Athletic Conference. Wichita State returns middle
Natalie Foster, outside hitter
Brylee Kelly and right-side
Sophia Rohling, all of whom earned All-AAC honors. OU went 15-13, 5-11 in the Big 12.
The Shockers open the season vs. Notre Dame on Aug. 25 in Lubbock, Texas. Wichita State coach
Chris Lamb will use the exhibition to get a good look at his starters and top of his rotation.
"I'd really like (Thursday) to send us back to practice knowing some things that are working up to the standard and that we've got a few days to tune up," Lamb said. "I've got a lot of questions to answer."
Three items to watch:
1. Lamb was not pleased with his team's serve-and-pass game in the spring match against Nebraska.
"I have this feeling we're going to pass well, but we've been passing against our own servers," he said. "It was obvious (Nebraska) beat us in serve-and-pass, so hopefully we've closed the gap a little bit."
That puts the burden on defensive specialists such as
Gabi Maas and
Annalie Heliste. Attackers such as
Morgan Weber,
Brylee Kelly and
Barbara Koehler will also get plenty of action in the back row.
2. Maas, a transfer from TCU, and Heliste lead the candidates at libero and Lamb is happy with his depth behind those two. Heliste, a junior, played in 22 matches with three starts last season.
"(Maas) is a high I.Q. player and a skilled player," Lamb said. "She came in the door here used to volleyball at a very high level. She played in the open division as a club player (in Colorado). At TCU, she was on the floor with great ball speed.
3. Setter
Izzi Strand will take the lead with an experienced group of scoring threats. Strand is a senior transfer from UC San Diego, where she averaged 9.4 assists a set last season.
"I think she is wired for the way this team should play offense," Lamb said. "She really complements things that we do. She can keep Sophia busy. She's got great range with her hands, so she can sideline-to-sideline. That's going to be good for Brylee. I think it's going to be good for (middle)
Morgan Stout."
Lamb is also interested to see how the Shockers score against the Sooners.
"Right now, our offensive numbers on the pins are low, because I suspect we're playing good defense," he said. "If I find that we're able to score on the pins against Oklahoma, that would be very encouraging."
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
