Wichita State’s volleyball team collected its ninth win in the American Conference and third in a row, as it swept East Carolina on Friday night. The Shockers took advantage of a short-handed Pirates team, who had six of 15 players on their roster not play in the match, winning 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-14).

“They’re down a couple of starters and so they’re shuffling the cards,” Shockers head coach Chris Lamb said. “They just didn’t have a lot of firepower. So tonight, what happened needed to happen.” 

Wichita State (17-8, 9-4 American) took advantage and held East Carolina (11-13, 3-10) to a .049 hitting percentage and 26 kills during the match, both season-lows for the Pirates.  

Currently, the Shockers are in a three-way tie for third place in the American with Tulsa and North Texas. Both teams have the tiebreaker against WSU due to a head-to-head victory. 

Senior middle Emerson Wilson is helping lead the late-season push. Since the Shockers played Tulane Oct. 24, Wilford has averaged nine kills a match on top of a .245 hitting percentage. She hit .348 against the Pirates.   

“I think that just trying to find different ways for me to score and bringing me inside and pushing me back out,” Wilford said, “I think it keeps me on my toes, hopefully keeps the other team on their toes too.”  

Redshirt senior right side Brooklyn Leggett notched more than 10 kills for the 21st time this season in the win with 12. Leggett has made double-digit kills in 15 of the last 16 matches. 

“I feel like the team kind of knows what to expect out of me at this point,” Leggett said. “So I think me, just staying consistently scoring is what’s gonna help us win because my teammates can rely on that.”

Lamb said East Carolina didn’t do much to stop her on offense.

“There wasn’t a lot of resistance for Brooklyn,” he said. “So, we were trying to ‘feed the kitty’ as we used to say.”

Wichita State started the first set hot and dominated throughout. It used runs of 6-0 and 5-0 to take a commanding 12-2 lead. Wilford made three of her nine kills in the set. 

A kill by junior outside hitter Sydney Dunning set the Shockers up with set point and an ace by sophomore Grace Hett ended it. 

East Carolina found its momentum early in the second set, using a 5-0 run to take a four-point lead, 6-2. The Shockers responded immediately and took the lead with a 7-0 run, 9-6. Redshirt junior libero Gabi Maas made back-to-back service aces during the run.

After a media timeout later in the frame, Wichita State went on a 5-1 run and took a six-point lead that forced the Pirates to call a timeout of their own, 20-14. East Carolina never got within four points the rest of the way.

The Shockers couldn’t quite break open a lead to start the third set, as East Carolina denied them three consecutive points multiple times at the 10-7 mark. Then, Wichita State tore off a 5-0 run and opened up an eight-point cushion, 15-7. It didn’t look back, cruising to its win.

Wichita State will stay home for its next match against Charlotte. First serve against the 49ers is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.

Box score breakdown

Set wins       1   2   3   4   5

WSU              X  X  X

ECU                           

Scorelines

S1: 25-11 (WSU)

S2: 25-19 (WSU)

S3: 25-14 (WSU)

Leaders

Kills — WSU: Brooklyn Leggett (12), Emerson Wilford (9), Maddie Wilson (9). ECU: Aulie Huff (12), Carlia Northcross (4), Taryn Gilreath (4).

Assists — WSU: Jordan Heatherly (35), Gabi Maas (3). ECU: Taryn Gilreath (16), Elle Jackson (4), Alli Butrum (3). 

Digs — WSU: Gabi Maas (13), Jordan Heatherly (11), Brooklyn Leggett (7). ECU: Taryn Gilreath (10), Elle Jackson (10), Alli Butrum (10). 

Points — WSU: Brooklyn Leggett (14.5), Maddie Wilson (10.5), Emerson Wilford (10). ECU: Aulie Huff (12), Carlia Northcross (6), Taryn Gilreath (4.5).