WICHITA STATE (8-4, 0-0 American)

Friday, September 26 (7:00 p.m. CT) at UAB (7-5, 0-0 American)
Birmingham, Ala. (Bartow Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

Sunday, September 28 (1:00 p.m. CT) at Memphis (8-5, 0-0 American)
Memphis, Tenn. (Elma Roane Fieldhouse)
Live Stats // Watch
 

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Wichita State travels to Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn., to open American Conference play. The Shockers take on UAB on Sept. 26 and Memphis on Sept. 28.
The matches will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats for all matches can be found at shockerstats.livestats.us.

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SCENE SETTERS
•Wichita State is coming off of a 2-1 weekend at the South Dakota Classic with four-set wins over Drake and South Dakota and a five-set loss to Villanova.
•The Shockers are 6-2 in American Conference openers.
•The Shockers finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with an 8-4 record. 
•WSU had 2,681 fans in attendance at the Kansas match on Sept. 16. It was the largest home attendance since 2023.
•Middle blocker Maddie Wilson is the American Defensive Player of the Week.
•The Shockers tied a program record by allowing just four points in the first set against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 11.
•The Shockers are coming off an 18-14 season in 2024 that culminated in a dominant run to the American Conference Tournament championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. 
•The Shockers appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time overall and the first since 2017.
•The Shockers were picked third in the American Conference preseason poll. Rice was tabbed as the conference's preseason favorite, garnering nine first place votes to South Florida's four. Brooklyn Leggett was named preseason all-conference.
•Wichita State returns three starters and the libero from the 2024 team including senior outside hitters Brooklyn Leggett and Emerson Wilford, junior middle blocker Maddie Wilson and senior libero Katie Galligan. 
•Head coach Chris Lamb is in his 26th season at the helm of the Shockers. Known affectionately as "Lambo," the veteran head coach owns a career record of 534-254, good for a .678 winning percentage and the most wins in the American Conference.

WILSON NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Wichita State volleyball student-athlete Maddie Wilson has been named the American Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 15-21.
•Wilson, a redshirt junior middle blocker from Colorado Springs, Colo., averaged 1.87 blocks per set, 1.73 kills per set, 0.33 service aces per set and 0.60 digs per set in four matches last week.
•In the four-set win over Drake, she had a career-high 11 blocks, which was also a program record in a four-set match in the rally scoring era. She also added 11 kills and two digs.
•In the four-set win over South Dakota, she had a match-high six blocks along with four digs, four kills and a career-high four service aces.
•In the five-set loss to Villanova, she finished with a match-high nine blocks along with 11 kills, three digs and a service ace.

SCHOOL RECORD    
•Middle blocker Maddie Wilson set the school record for blocks in a four-set match during the rally scoring era with 11 against Drake on Sept. 18.
•The previous record was 10 set by seven others including Sara Lungren, Elizabeth Meyers, Jen Ray, Darci Vohs, Sarah McGee, Ashley Andrade and Morgan Stout.

35TH-STRAIGHT 
•With the win over Drake on Sept. 18, the Shockers won their 35th-straight match against the Bulldogs. 
•The last time the Shockers lost to Drake was in 2000.
•Head Coach Chris Lamb  is 35-1 all-time against Drake.

WEEKEND RECAP    
•The Shockers finished the South Dakota Classic 2-1 with four-set wins over Drake and South Dakota and a five-set loss to Villanova.
•Against Drake, the Shockers won by scores of 25-14, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-21. Sydney Dunning led the Shockers with 13 kills, while Jordan Heatherly had 39 assists and Gabi Maas had 20 digs.
•Against South Dakota, the Shockers won by scores of 25-14, 22-25, 25-15 and 26-24. Sydney Dunning led the Shockers with 19 kills, while Jordan Heatherly had 43 assists and Gabi Maas had 23 digs.
•Against Villanova, the Wildcats won by scores of 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 30-28 and 15-13. Brooklyn Leggett and Emerson Wilford led the Shockers with 13 kills each, while Jordan Heatherly had 41 assists and Katie Galligan and Gabi Maas each had 15 digs.

SHOCKS IN THE NCAA STATS    
•In the Sept. 24 NCAA stat report, the Shockers are ranked 42nd in team digs with 713, 44th in team kills with 609, 47th in digs per set with 15.50, 48th in team assists with 552, 54th in team total attacks with 1,636, 71st in kills per set with 13.24, 77th in team attacks per set with 35.57, 84th in opponent hitting percentage with .180 and 88th in match win-loss percentage with .667. 
•Individually, Jordan Heatherly is 76th in assists per set with 9.24 and 27th in total assists with 425, Sydney Dunning is 64th in points with 187.0, 59th in total attacks with 456 and 46th in total kills with 170, Maddie Wilson is 24th in blocks per set with 1.47 and 11th in total blocks with 63, and Gabi Maas is 64th in digs per set with 4.29 and 77th in total digs with 176.

PROGRAM RECORD    
•Wichita State tied a program record in the first set against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 11. 
•The Shockers allowed just four points in the set.
•WSU also allowed just four points to Evansville on Nov. 21, 2015.

CAREER-HIGHS    
•The Shockers had four players with career-highs at the South Dakota Classic.
•Sydney Dunning had a career-high 17 digs against Drake.
•Grace Hett had a career-high 10 digs against Drake.
•Brooklyn Leggett had a career-high nine block assists and nine total blocks against Drake.
•Maddie Wilson had a career-high four service aces against South Dakota and a career-high 11 total blocks and 10 block assists against Drake.

DUNNING'S HOT START    
•Junior outside hitter Sydney Dunning is off to a hot start to her Shocker career. The Cal State Bakersfield transfer has had 10 matches with 10 or more kills and has also collected seven double-doubles in 12 matches this season.
•She collected a career-high 27 kills in the four-set win over UIW and a career-high 17 digs in the four-set win over Drake.

WSU-UAB SERIES    
•Wichita State leads the overall series with UAB, 3-0. Head Coach Chris Lamb is 3-0 against the Blazers.  
•The last meeting between the two teams was Oct. 27, 2024, in Wichita with the Shockers winning 3-1.
•In that meeting, the Shockers won by scores of 30-28, 24-26, 25-19 and 25-20.
•Morgan Stout led the Shockers with 22 kills, while Izzi Strand had 44 assists and Reagan Anderson had 13 digs.

SCOUTING THE BLAZERS 
•UAB is 7-5 this season with wins over UNC Asheville, USC Upstate, Tennessee Tech, UNA, Evansville, Western Illinois, and South Alabama and losses to Jacksonville, Alabama, Morehead State, Auburn, and Samford.
•Jorda Crook leads the Blazers with 3.82 kills per set, while Riley Lovell averages 4.47 assists per set and Meg Jarrett averages 3.04 digs per set.
•UAB finished 11-17 in 2024 and 6-10 in the American.
•Head coach Betsy Freeburg is in her sixth season with UAB.

WSU-MEMPHIS SERIES    
•Wichita State leads the overall series with Memphis, 12-4. The Shockers lead the series in Memphis, 6-0. Head Coach Chris Lamb is 11-3 against the Tigers.
•The last meeting between the two teams was Oct. 25, 2024 in Wichita with the Shockers winning 3-2.
•In that meeting, the Shockers won by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 24-26, 25-27 and 15-12.
•Morgan Stout led the Shockers with 18 kills, while Izzi Strand had 44 assists and Annalie Heliste had 21 digs.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS    
•Memphis is 8-5 this season with wins over USC Upstate, Northwestern State, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Chattanooga, Lamar, UT Martin and Mississippi Valley State and losses to Denver, Idaho State, Ole Miss, Alabama and UCF.
•Zaniah Hoskins leads the Tigers with 2.75 kills per set, while Madelyn Bach averages 8.84 assists per set and Abigail Schlueter averages 3.42 digs per set.
•Memphis finished 12-16 in 2024 and 6-10 in the American.
•Head coach Cheri Lindsay is in her first season with Memphis.

UP NEXT    
•The Shockers host Tulsa on Fri., Oct. 3 and then travel to Tulsa on Sun., Oct. 5.