Volleyball takes to Lone Star State for SMU Classic

The Shockers weren’t satisfied with their recent home stand, but they won’t have to worry about winning at Koch Arena again for two weeks.

Not that winning will be any easier against their slate of upcoming opponents.

With a challenging early-season schedule, Wichita State will travel to Dallas for the SMU Doubletree Classic that starts today against the SMU Mustangs (2-4). The team plays the Auburn Tigers (7-0) on Friday, and the Texas State Bobcats (4-4) on Saturday.

WSU (3-3) is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the Shocker Volleyball Classic, which included a five-set loss to No. 14 Tennessee.

“We were playing three great teams; the balls move faster, the rallies stay alive longer,” said WSU volleyball coach Chris Lamb. “There was no way Colorado State, BYU and Tennessee were going to make this easy.”

Lamb spent Wednesday afternoon’s practice correcting what he called “little mistakes” that he saw his team make last weekend.

“I thought the most frustrating thing was seemingly easy balls scored on us from our opponents that I thought were not being fully clued in,” he said.

The Shockers want to leave Dallas with three victories, but it is still early in the season and Lamb wants to see what his players have.

“I’m looking for some consistency out of some people. I would like to see some people settle into some numbers that are near our standards,” he said.

Ashley Andrade led the Shockers with 13 kills against Tennessee.

“All three teams are big in their conference and we need to win all three games,” she said.