The Wichita State women’s volleyball team swept their opponents this weekend in what would be 3-0 matches against both Evansville on Friday night and Southern Illinois on Saturday night.

The Shockers, who are now ranked second in the conference, hosted the two teams at Koch Arena and achieved their second highest hitting percentage.

Friday

Against an injury-stricken Evansville, WSU had no problem shutting the team down as they played consistent volleyball against the Aces, who were struggling to just find a reliable setter.

“We didn’t know what we were going to get, but we saw last week they were going back and forth with a 5-1, so we were just preparing for hitters as we know them,” said head coach Chris Lamb.

While Lamb could’ve taken the opportunity of Evansville playing down to put in some of the green players, he said he wanted the cleanest volleyball he could get with no chances taken.

“It wasn’t about ‘Now that they look this way, we’d be better off playing this way,’” Lamb said. “There’s sort of more of an argument to play your cleanest brand of volleyball and to not make the game more difficult than it needs to be. Make them come to us.”

However, Evansville didn’t come to them, at least not in their level of play.

With scores of 25-10, 25-13 and 25-10 again, the Shockers made it look easy when they snagged their .553 hitting average.

Helping with that average was Ashlynn Driskill with nine kills, MaryAshton Floyd with 10 kills and Abbie Lehman with 16 kills.

Despite Evansville’s level of play, the girls were careful not to play sloppy, a feat that is sometimes hard to do when teams are mismatched.

“We had to really dial it in and stay focused,” Floyd said. “We have to be really careful to not be complacent and play down to teams especially if we’re up early in the game.”

In the first set alone, the Shockers jumped out to a 6-1 lead and stretched it to 9-2 before Evansville had a 3-0 streak, putting the score at 9-5.

Once the score became 13-9, the Shockers went on an 8-0 streak that would make the score 21-9.

The set finished at 25-10, but not before Lehman helped the team out with seven kills and Emily Hiebert reached a record 15 assists.

With the Purple Aces totaling only seven kills in the first set, the second set was much of the same once WSU got to the 12-8 point.

When the Shockers extended their lead to 18-12, Evansville called for a timeout, but WSU finished the Aces at 25-13 while hitting .560.

Although Evansville came into the third set with a little more fire, getting a 6-5 lead over the Shockers, Katie Reilly and Dani Mostrom helped WSU with their consistent serves, obtaining a multiple point streak as WSU’s offense rang in 14 kills.

The Shockers finished the set at 25-10.

While the offense was on top of their game, Mostrom led the back row with 14 digs, while Hiebert tallied 39 assists.

“It wasn’t a complicated match, but we kept the focus,” Lamb said.

Saturday

Coming off of Friday’s win, confidence was high, and the Shockers’ game remained tight, winning against the SIU Salukis 25-11, 25-18 and 25-19.

With 20 kills in the first set alone and the Shockers hitting .500, Jenny Whitledge was able to maintain an 11-point serving streak as Driskill and Floyd led the offense to a 25-11 win.

The second set was a little closer with the score ending 25-18, but a service ace from Gabi Mostrom and a well-timed kill from Lehman gave the Shockers the lead they were looking for.

The closest the Salukis came to WSU’s lead was at the 15-14 mark, but the Shockers used a 3-0 streak to extend their lead once again to 19-15, finishing the game at 15-18.

In the third set, Lehman and Whitledge helped the Shockers overcome the Salukis’ lead of 3-1, tying it up at 3-3.

Another Lehman kill and Shocker run put WSU at 12-9 against SIU, and the Shockers maintained the lead throughout the game despite the Salukis coming within one point.

The Shockers closed SIU out at 25-19 after six tied scores, and had a hitting percentage of .385.

After the match, Lamb commented on how well the team has improved since the beginning of the season.

“Once we got into conference, people started to figure each other out, and we had to learn how to change and how to evolve,” Lamb said. “When you have a young team, you want to be able to say, ‘We’re going to get good by the end of the season.’”

Lamb noted that he saw tremendous improvement in defensive maturity, lowering teams’ hitting percentage and the Shockers’ serving pass game.

Lehman also commented on her playing, but stressed the importance of setter Hiebert.

“I think I’ve gotten set up great every time because I have a great setter,” Lehman said about Hiebert who had 33 assists.

Wichtia State will play Indiana State at 6 p.m. Friday in Terre Haute, Ind.