Wichita State head volleyball coach Chris Lamb knows his team sometimes gets ahead of themselves. In times of struggle, he preaches to them to simplify the process.

In Friday’s game, Lamb saw his team get out of line with his process as conference rival Illinois State pulled ahead winning the second set of the match 28-30.

However, the simplified play is what led to the Shockers losing points.

“We tried to go back to basics,” Lamb said. “Oddly enough when we got into our little slump out there all we were trying to do was simplify it. The easier we made our system, the more discombobulated everyone got.”

The drought was short-lived as the Shockers eased to victory winning their second-to-last home game 3-1 over the Redbirds. 

WSU (18-7, 11-3) and Illinois State (16-10, 9-5) proved to be an even matchup for one another.

The first half of the first set was a battle at the net keeping the scores relatively close. WSU was more aggressive and clean with passing and attacked well, but the Redbirds’ scrappiness is what kept them in the first half of it.

At the timeout, the score was 15-12 with WSU leading.

The Redbirds failed to keep up with the continuous kills by the Shockers. WSU extended their lead to 22-13 — an eventual 25-13 set victory. 

Junior Mikaela Raudsepp started the second set with a kill proving WSU carried over their momentum from the first set. The Redbirds took the lead early into the set. Up 9-8, The Redbirds managed to keep the lead taking the Shockers by surprise. The Redbirds’ Aly Dawson and Jaelyn Keene aggressively attacked at the net gaining most of Illinois State’s points.

Raudsepp nearly got her team back in the set after answering with three kills in a row closing the lead gap to 18-20. A block by WSU’s senior Katy Dudzinski made the set tied 20-20. A block by sophomore Tabitha Brown and junior Abbie Lehman put the Shockers ahead with their first lead since the beginning of the set.

Ultimately, WSU would drop the set.

Tied at the end of two sets, Raudsepp started the third set the exact same way as the second: attacking at the net with kill after kill. The Shockers held a steady lead throughout the set, taking an eventual 25-15 victory and a 2-1 match lead.

The fourth set mirrored the second with the two teams going back and forth with the leads. The Redbirds picked up momentum from their ten point loss in the third set. Raudsepp, not only got multiple kills, but she proved herself defensively with blocks as well.

Blocks from Lehman and junior Emily Hiebert brought a 19-17 lead for the Shockers, enough to win the set 25-18 and a 3-1 match victory. 

“For the past couple of weeks we have really been coming together,” Brown said.  “If things would’ve been different it wouldn’t have looked good for us so we really needed this. This was a really big and important win.”

WSU will play their last home game on Nov. 12 against Indiana State.