A .146 hitting percentage and 30 attack errors by Wichita State volleyball led to a loss in a tightly-contested matchup against the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) on Friday night.
The Shockers lost, 3-1, but nearly every set came down to the wire (25-20), (27-25), (15-25), (25-23).
The Shockers dropped to 4-7 on the season in their second match of the Shocker Volleyball Classic. The Bears improved to 9-3 overall.
Wichita State head coach Chris Lamb said the Shockers didn’t fire strong out of the gate.
“We got to play well, we got to find someone,” Lamb said. “How about (we) learn to be ready to compete? I think we went through the motions for the first 45 minutes.”
Emotions were high to start the first set as Lamb challenged a call early and won to tie the game at four. UNC later won a challenge of its own to give it a 7-5 advantage. A service ace by junior libero Katie Galligan and a block assist by senior middle blocker Morgan Stout and junior outside hitter Emerson Wilford kept a close 13-12 score in favor of the Bears.
Galligan ended the game with a team-high 18 digs. Lamb gave her praises after the game.
“Tonight was a really great effort by her,” Lamb said. “I was really proud of her. She was throwing her body around.”
After a second challenge by Lamb didn’t go the home team’s way, Wichita State trailed 14-12. A service error by UNC and a kill by redshirt freshman outside hitter Alyssa Gonzales tied the game at 14.
The teams tied for the lead three more times to make it 18-all, but a 7-2 run by UNC ultimately decided the set. Wichita State ended the set hitting .088 and doubled the Bears’ attacking errors with eight.
UNC went on a 4-0 run in set two, taking a 5-2 lead. The Shockers answered with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the game with the help of two kills from Stout and one from Gonzales.
The Bears later went on another 3-0 run to take a 5-point lead, 20-15. The Shockers kept their hopes alive with a 3-0 run of their own, 20-18. Two Stout kills brought Wichita State within a point, 22-21. The set eventually went into extra points and UNC got the last swing, closing out the set despite the Shockers’ improved .238 hitting percentage and 17 team kills.
Lamb called his third challenge of the game during the third set, which set up Wichita State with a 2-0 lead that eventually became a 4-0 run after a block assist by fifth year middle blocker Sarah Barham and Wilford.
“Some people might look at that (challenge) as a shot of adrenaline,” Lamb said.
Fifth year setter Izzi Strand called it “a shot of confidence.”
“That was just the shot of confidence I think we needed as a team,” Strand said. “We’re confident (in) ourselves, therefore confident in the next person next to us.”
The Shockers held onto their 4-point advantage and later went on a 6-0 run to open up an 11-point cushion, 22-11, aided by kills from Stout, Gonzales and Strand as well as three errors from the Bears, giving Wichita State the momentum to win the set.
Strand helped the Shockers take a 6-4 lead during set four, but UNC turned around and went on a 4-0 scoring run to take the lead, 8-6. Wichita State came back to tie the game at 12 and it was apparent no team could find breathing room as the Shockers fought to stay alive and the Bears clawed for the victory.
The teams continued trading heavy blows, eventually tying the game at 22. It looked like the set was going into extra points again, but a 3-1 scoring run by the Bears decided the game.
Gonzales ended the game with a team-high 13 kills, matching her career-high. She also more than doubled her career-high in hitting errors with 12, leading to a .028 hitting percentage. Strand led the team in assists with 38, and senior libero Annalie Heliste followed Galligan in digs with 13.
Northern Colorado committed 16 service errors, while Wichita State committed only four. However, the Bears converted on five aces to the Shockers’ one.
Strand said to win more games throughout the rest of the season, “it’s going to take a lot more people stepping up.”
“We have a lot of people that left and we have all new people now,” Strand said. “Therefore, we need the ones that are capable of being the leaders to keep stepping up and to really show that they can fulfill that role. And we need extra players that maybe haven’t gotten their chance yet to step in and find their spot on the court.”
The Shockers will look to rebound Saturday night when they take on the University of Nebraska Omaha in the closing game of the Shocker Volleyball Classic. The game will begin at 4 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena.
