Wichita State dropped its season opener to Kennesaw State 3-0 on Friday night at Charles Koch Arena. WSU lost by scores of 25-27, 23-25 and 21-25 in the first match of the Shocker Volleyball Classic.
Kennesaw State held the Shockers (0-1) to an .098 attack percentage. Wichita State totaled 33 kills and 21 errors. The Owls (1-0) hit .189, finishing with 48 kills.
Brooklyn Leggett led Wichita State with nine kills and
Allie Paulsen added seven. Libero
Gabi Maas contributed 19 digs.
The Shockers have 10 freshmen on their roster, which makes them one of four teams in the country with at least 10 freshmen. Two of these freshmen played in their first career game.
Olivia Cohee had three kills, two blocks and a dig.
McKenzie Jones recorded two kills, one block, and one dig.
The Shockers face Arkansas at 1 p.m., Sunday in the finale of the Shocker Volleyball Classic.Â
Set 1:
- WSU narrowly lost a back and forth set 27-25 to the Kennesaw State Owls
- Katie Galligan started off the match with three digs early in the first set
- Kennesaw State didn't get their first lead until the score was 8-9
- Emerson Wilford had a powerful kill to tie it up 17-17
- Kennesaw State struggled on serves with five service errors in the first set
- There were 16 ties and seven lead changes
Set 2:
- The Shockers lost another close set 25-23
- The Shockers got off to a hot start with 7-3 and 10-4 leads in the second set
- Sydney Dunning had two powerful kills at the beginning of the set
- WSU had two blocks in a row to go up 15-9
- Gabi Maas had 9 digs halfway through the match
- Kennesaw State went on an 8-1 run to take a 17-16 lead over WSU
- The set went back and forth after the Kennesaw St. comeback but WSU couldn't hold them off
Set 3:
- WSU lost the third set to Kennesaw State 25-21 to lose the match
- Kennesaw State grabbed an early 8-4 lead after going on a 5-0 run
- Jordan Heatherly recorded 10 assists by the beginning of the third set
- A powerful kill by Maddie Wilson after a long rally broke an 8-8 tie
- The Shockers went on a 5-0 run of their own to take a 9-8 lead
- After these two large runs, the set went back and forth until Kennesaw State pulled ahead for the match win