Wichita State volleyball entered Sunday afternoon on a three-game winning streak. The Shockers dropped the first two sets to Charlotte and hit their season-low against a conference opponent en route to a 3-1 loss by scores of (21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 24-26).
“It’s kind of a weird one for me,” Wichita State head coach Chris Lamb said. “Because statistically we held a team to .192 hitting, and you’re like, ‘Well, that’s a decent defensive effort,’ yet I felt like we left so many digs out there.”
The Shockers’ record fell to 17-9 and 9-5 in the American Conference with the loss. Charlotte’s record rose to 16-10 and 7-7 in league play.
The Shockers finished with only two aces at the service line, their second-lowest mark this season.
“We’ve been doing really well in a couple of the standard measures, and climbing our survey numbers have been relative to the league getting stronger,” Lamb said. “Obviously, today was not the same.”
Lamb said the last week would seem abnormal. Wichita State swept South Florida in Tampa, snapping the Bulls’ 17-game conference winning streak in the Yuengling Center. Then, the Shockers hit a combined .088 in the first two sets against Charlotte Sunday and .125 for the match.
“Within one week, we’ve laid out two matches that might scratch the heads of an average fan,” Lamb said. “‘You went to South Florida and beat them in three. Charlotte came here and went up 2-0.’ We were part of both of those.”
The Shockers made 30 attack errors during the match, the second-most in conference play. They caught up to them quickly, as Charlotte jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the first set because of errors.
“When certain parts of our game aren’t going well, other parts of our game need to pick it up,” redshirt junior libero Gabi Maas said. “So if we’re not scoring, then my mentality is ‘all right, my hitters can’t seem to figure it out in the front row. That’s okay, because little army is going to dig every single ball.’”
A kill by redshirt senior right side Brooklyn Leggett got the Shockers on the board. An ace by redshirt junior middle Maddie Wilson gave the Shockers the first lead, 8-7, at the end of a 3-0 run. Wichita State went on a 4-0 run shortly after to expand its lead, but Charlotte clawed back. The 49ers used multiple runs of 3-0 or greater to take the frame.
Charlotte got off to another fast start, winning five of the first six points in the second set.
“I don’t really feel like anything they did was a surprise to us,” Lamb said. “It’s just, ‘Is game one a warm-up or are you ready to compete? How urgent are you?’”
The Shockers never found their footing in the second, hitting .048 with eight errors. After leading 1-0, Wichita State never sniffed a lead.
The teams were neck-and-neck at the media timeout of the third set, with the Shockers leading by two points, 15-13. Wichita State kept churning points and a kill by senior outside Emerson Wilford put the Shockers on the doorstep of a third-set victory, 23-19. A kill by freshman middle blocker Janaya Weitkemper set up the home team with set point, and a kill by junior outside Sydney Dunning ended it.
Like the first set, Charlotte started the fourth by winning the first three points, except the Shockers didn’t commit an error. After another 3-0 run by the 49ers, Wichita State called its first timeout of the frame, 12-9. Charlotte extended its run to 7-1 to take a seven-point lead, 17-10.
The Shockers later went on a 6-1 run of their own to trim the deficit to two points, 19-17, and later tied it at 24 to send the frame into overtime. Wichita State went down quietly, however, conceding the next two points.
Four Shocker freshmen made appearances, all of whom haven’t played in at least the last four matches.
“You have a tough decision to stay with people. Maybe they can turn it around, or we got people that are fighting for playing time,” Lamb said.
Wichita State will stay home for its final home match of the season against Rice, which is on a 13-game winning streak and has dropped one set in the last six. First serve against the Owls is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m.
Box score breakdown
Set wins 1 2 3 4 5
WSU X
Charlotte X X X
Scorelines
S1: 25-21(CLT)
S2: 25-20 (CLT)
S3: 25-22 (WSU)
S4: 26-24 (CLT)
Leaders
Kills — WSU: Brooklyn Leggett (13), Emerson Wilford (11), Maddie Wilson (7). Charlotte: Kristen Birmingham (19), Jessica Ricks (18), Jaylen Jordan (8), Azavia Thomas (8).
Assists — WSU: Jordan Heatherly (32), Hannah Hawkins (12), Gabi Maas (5). Charlotte: Maddie Stuesser (42), Milena Lopez (11), Annika Thompson (3)
Digs — WSU: Gabi Maas (19), Jordan Heatherly (14), Hannah Hawkins (11). Charlotte:
Annika Thompson (18), Kristen Birmingham (17), Maddie Stuesser (9).
Points — WSU: Brooklyn Leggett (14.5), Emerson Wilford (13), Maddie Wilson (9). Charlotte: Kristen Birmingham (22), Jessica Ricks (20), Jaylen Jordan (9.5).
