In honor of throwback night, volleyball showed childhood photos of the players during the starting lineup before the game against Charlotte. After four wins on the road, Shocker volleyball continued their winning streak at Koch Arena with a sweep against the 49ers, (25-14), (25-13), (25-17).
Wichita State had a 9-1 run early on in the first set and never looked back. Shockers step up their defensive game by turning in four blocks forcing Charlotte into 11 hitting errors compared to just seven kills from Wichita State.
“We were not going to say we doubled in points tonight, but it looks that way, almost doubled them in kills,” Head Coach Chris Lamb said. “It’s just nice to have the firepower; I can’t wait to dive deeper into it.”
Junior Natalie Foster and transfer junior Barbara Koehler both led the Shockers with nine kills. Senior opposite Sophia Rohling followed with eight kills with no errors on 14 swings.
Koehler is playing her first season with the Shockers and had a dominant performance.
“She’s never not been just a starter but the go-to player in every team she’s been on,” Lamb said.
Lamb said Koehler has been riding a wave and has had great practice performances leading up to the game.
“Tonight, she got a chance to shine, and she did,” Lamb said.
Sophomore Emerson Wilford added six kills and a career high of 12 digs. Senior setter Izzi Strand had 31 assists.
Redshirt junior Morgan Stout had five kills. Lamb said that although she did not have a lot of production in terms of points, she had 17 tactical attacks.
“I just think like going into this game, specifically Lamb kind of told us that there was nothing too crazy or special that they did offensively,” junior libero Annalie Heliste said.
Heliste had seven digs, one assist and one serving assist.
“I think from a backroad offensive standpoint, it was just simple volleyball to play tonight, and I think that kind of helped us go in there and just normal defense, nothing crazy,” Heliste said.
Wichita State volleyball will play two matches on the road against SMU on Friday Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 1, at noon. More information can be found at goshockers.com.
