By
Paul Suellentrop
Chris Lamb arrived at the Lone Star Classic in Dallas in need of attackers. His list included a few names, but not
McKenzie Jones.
When he walked out of the gym, he wondered why her name hadn't been on his list and the list of many others.
"I was like 'Where are all the college coaches?" he said. "McKenzie – she's showing me something the top players in the league physically look like. Then to find out she didn't have much going on, 'Man.'"
Jones, a right-side from Duncanville, Texas, soon heard from Shocker coaches. She visited Wichita State and loved the walkability of campus and the athletic facilities. She is a business major and Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, which opened in 2022, impressed her.
The Shockers (10-4, 2-0 American Conference) play Tulsa (11-3, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Koch Arena. WSU travels to Tulsa for a 1 p.m. Sunday match.
While the Shockers are off to their best start since the 2017 team went 11-3, Lamb entered conference play in search of more scoring. Last weekend, he went to a 6-2 rotation and got Jones, a 5-foot-10 freshman, in action. She responded with eight kills against UAB and five kills and a .300 attack percentage against Memphis.
"My main goal was just to play hard and ball out," she said. "I felt like I contributed a lot more to blocking. Also, I had some really good swings, really being able to get the other team out of system."
Jones played in five of WSU's first 12 matches, never more than two sets. As her practices improved, Lamb landed on her as a solution to add a scoring threat to the work of left
Sydney Dunning and right-side
Brooklyn Leggett.
"We have to score points," Jones said. "We can't be like only a few, select people (scoring) because then it puts a lot of pressure on them, and it just really doesn't end well."
Lamb sees Jones as an attacker who stop the opponent from mounting a long scoring run, the kind that hurt the Shockers in losses to Kansas and Villanova.
"Where do we go for points?" Lamb said. "McKenzie's got a lot of talent and when she gets physical approaches, good approaches and keeps things high, as she is speeding up to the ball, it's electric."
Early this fall, Jones tried both pin positions. Settling in on the right helped, in the view of setter
Hannah Hawkins.
"She has an amazing arm," Hawkins said. "She puts up a really big block and it's nice having that on the right side."
Jones knew she needed work on blocking when she arrived at WSU. She recorded five block-assists against UAB and three against Memphis. Her willingness to talk, which Hawkins mentioned as one of her main assets, helps her get to right places for blocking.
"Especially blocking – communication is really important," she said. "It's not really a hard thing for me, because I feel like I can't get better, and we can't better, if we don't talk about the things we need to work on."
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
Season tickets are on sale now, and season ticket renewals are available as well. To purchase, visit
GoShockers.com/Tickets, dial 316-978-FANS (3267) or stop by the Shocker Ticket Office, located inside Charles Koch Arena, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
