Wichita State volleyball hung its NIVC championship banner, but the team was unable to take a set off Kansas State University in the season-opening exhibition game.
The Shockers were swept 3-0 (29-27), (25-20), (25-17) in Koch Arena on Saturday afternoon. Since the game was an exhibition, the loss will not count against the Shockers’ overall record.
Wichita State head coach Chris Lamb said the team didn’t have enough firepower on offense.
“I watched our team in the same exact position — relative setter to hitter — connect for the last two weeks,” Lamb said. “I thought today, we just threw a lot of balls around.”
In the game’s opening set, the teams traded the lead back and forth. Junior outside hitter Emerson Wilford made five kills and led the Shockers with 5.5 points during the set, but 4-0 and 6-0 runs from the Wildcats put them in the lead. After the teams tied at 25 points, the Shockers fought off multiple set points until an attack error from fifth-year setter Izzi Strand gave Kansas State the win.
“I think (in) the first set, we came out ready to hit the ground running,” Morgan Stout, a redshirt senior middle blocker, said. “And I think whenever things didn’t go our way … people might have freaked out about that.”
The Shockers started the second set off strong, taking an early 3-0 lead that was capped off by a block by redshirt junior right side and outside hitter Brooklyn Leggett. Another run by Kansas State put the Wildcats up, 20-12, which proved too much for the Shockers to overcome. They lost the set despite a late 6-0 run of their own.
Leggett made her eighth kill of the game during the third set to send Wichita State up, 4-3. Leggett led the Shockers with 10 kills, 11 points and a .192 attacking percentage.
“If Brooklyn can get three plus kills a game against them, that can be a sign moving forward for us,” Lamb said. “We’re going to have to get busy points going left on our team, and she played two sets on the left today and was almost at 12 (points).”
Kansas State went up 7-5 and didn’t look back, going on a 7-0 run to take a 14-5 advantage in the third set. Two more kills by Leggett and a service ace by freshman libero Grace Hett couldn’t provide the spark Wichita State needed to save the set and match.
Going into regular season play, Lamb said he is confident the team will get better.
“We will turn something up that will get us ready for the weekend, and we’ll be better at something as we move forward,” Lamb said. “But we need to spend a lot of time … and I’m going to look for things that I think we can tighten up.”
Wichita State volleyball will open up its regular season with the Kennesaw State Invitational from Friday, Aug. 30, to Sunday, Sept. 1, in Kennesaw, Georgia. The first serve is scheduled against Kennesaw State University at 11 a.m.
