WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State nearly let a huge fifth set lead slip away but got three straight
Morgan Stout kills to survive Omaha 19-25, 25-21, 31-29, 17-25, 15-13 on Saturday night at Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State finished the Shocker Volleyball Classic 2-1 and champions of the invitational, sharing a 2-1 mark with Cal Poly who WSU defeated on Thursday night. Omaha and Northern Colorado both ended the competition 1-2.
The Shockers (5-7) sprinted to a 7-1 advantage in the decisive fifth set, getting three blocks and three
Alyssa Gonzales kills to grab the commanding lead. The lead was still 12-7 when Omaha (2-9) responded with a 6-0 run of their own to take a 13-12 lead despite two Wichita State timeouts during the surge. Stout finally stopped the bleeding with a commanding kill on the slide, then added two more on the succeeding points to secure the victory for WSU.
Wichita State was only in position to reach the fifth set thanks to a spectacular comeback in the crucial third frame. With the match deadlocked at one set apiece, the Shockers trailed 24-20 following a Shayla McCormick kill. A service error, one of 18 on the night for the Mavericks, and a setting error gave WSU life at 24-22 and prompted an Omaha timeout. Stout notched a kill to reach 24-23 and then McCormick misfired on a swing to tie the set at 24-24. Wichita State had three set point opportunities of their own, 25-24, 27-26 and 29-28, before finally grabbing the set via another Omaha service error and a Stout ace.
Omaha dominated the fourth set from start to finish to set the stage for set five and Stout's heroics.
Wichita State hit just .182 as a team compared to .277 for Omaha, but out-dug the Mavericks 58-56, out-blocked them 9.0-8.0 and committed six fewer service errors to go along with one more service ace.
Stout finished with a team-high 14 kills, hitting .361, while Gonzales added 12 and
Emerson Wilford had 11.
Brooklyn Leggett overcame a slow start to record 10 kills of her own.
Izzi Strand was one dig shy of a career high with 17 ups in addition to 48 assists.
The Shockers open American Athletic Conference play on Wednesday at Memphis. First serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT.
