For the first time since 2017, Wichita State volleyball is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
WSU defeated sixth-seeded Florida Atlantic University (FAU) on Sunday afternoon to win the AAC Tournament (25-22), (25-19), (25-19). The Shockers swept through the tournament, winning all three games in three sets.
Until Sunday, Wichita State has never won or competed in the AAC Tournament, which hasn’t been held since the 2020 season. This year’s edition was hosted in Charles Koch Arena.
In the weeks leading up to the weekend series against the University of Tulsa that kicked off November, WSU head coach Chris Lamb said he was nervous about the team even making it to the AAC Tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
“I was doing the math,” Lamb said. “I was watching teams from the bottom (of the AAC standings) actually playing better, catching up to us in the vital stats, the ‘Cardinal stats,’ as I like to call them. And if we didn’t beat Tulsa twice, if they had beat us twice, we could have had a very, very different conversation.”
Senior middle blocker Morgan Stout said the team sweeping the tournament paid homage to the squad’s mentality and desire “to do it for each other.”
“Also, basing off how we did at the end of the season when it resets for conference (tournaments) is so critical,” Stout said. “And I think we do a great job of reacting. I mean, in the Tulsa game (during the) first set, we were down by five or six and we came back to sweep them. Not many teams can do that.”
The Shockers put up a defensive showcase throughout the AAC Tournament. The three tournament games were the three lowest hitting percentages of any WSU opponent this year. FAU hit just .135 in the loss.
Stout was named the Most Outstanding Player of the AAC Tournament, while fifth-year setter Izzi Strand and redshirt freshman outside hitter Alyssa Gonzales joined her on the All-Tournament team.
WSU opened up a 6-point cushion, 10-4, piggybacking off three 3-0 runs in the early stages of the first set. During their runs, the Shockers recorded six kills, three of which came off Strand’s right shoulder.
Trailing 11-5, the Owls finally found a rhythm on offense as they went on a 4-0 run to cut WSU’s lead to 2 points. Later on, the Shockers went on their longest run of the set, 4-0, to regain a 5-point advantage, 17-12.
Despite a 3-0 run from the Owls later in the set, kills from Stout and Gonzales sealed the victory in the opening period for WSU.
The Shockers hit .225 during the set as WSU tallied 15 total kills. Strand hit .667 and led the team in assists with nine, while Gonzales hit .375.
Settling into the second set of the game, FAU found its first lead, 8-7, but it was short-lived when a service error tied the score at 8. Trailing by 2 points, WSU tied the game after a Stout kill and Owls attacking error.
But on the next point, FAU spiked the ball into Reagan Anderson’s chest, making the sophomore libero fall on her back, 15-14. Gonzales fired off two kills right after, 16-15, but a quick Owls kill tied the game again.
Trailing by a point, WSU rallied for a 4-0 run to take a 3-point lead, 20-17, that was capped off by a junior outside hitter Brooklyn Leggett kill. After an FAU service ace cut the Shockers’ lead to a point, 20-19, WSU clambered off a 5-0 run to take the set.
The Shockers made 13 kills during the second frame on a .250 hitting percentage and held the Owls to just a fraction at .025. The first set saw no ties or lead changes but in the second, the teams swapped for the lead on four separate occasions featuring eight ties for the lead.
A 3-0 run and solo block from fifth-year middle blocker Sarah Barham helped WSU open up a 4-point, 6-2 advantage to start the third set. FAU rallied for a 5-0 run to take the lead, 7-6, but Gonzales rifled off two kills during a 3-0 WSU run to help the Shockers take back the lead, 9-7.
WSU later used a 3-0 and 4-0 run to open up a 6-point cushion, 16-10, and another 3-0 run capped off by a Stout kill opened it up to 8 points, 19-11. The Shockers held on to their lead as Leggett sent the game to match-point and won it with two straight kills. Leggett finished the third set with seven kills.
Leggett said recording the final two kills was a special moment for her.
“I’ve had a pretty hard year and so just having great teammates and knowing they have my back is so important,” Leggett said while tearing up. “And getting that last kill was so freaking special … It takes a whole team, there’s so many points leading up to that. The last kill is the last kill, but everyone else did so many things to get us to that point.”
WSU hit .300 during the third set and made just three errors on offense. The Shockers made 14 errors the whole game compared to the Owls’ 21.
Leggett led the team in kills with 13 on a .360 hitting percentage and Stout trailed right behind her with 12 while hitting .478. Strand led the team in assists with 31 and added nine digs. Junior libero Katie Galligan, who provided a boost midway through conference play when Lamb inserted her as the primary libero, led the team in digs with 15.
After the game, head coach Chris Lamb sat on the bench — by himself — and said he wanted to take in everything about the moment.
“If you had my job and my brain,” Lamb said. “And you just turned 60 (years old) and you’ve done it (coaching) for 30 years, you’d be looking for times to sit back and just watch. I’m always in it and every now and then, you just step back and you just watch.”
Stout said she’s dreamed of playing in the NCAA Tournament for a long time.
“Being able to say I’m going to the NCAA Tournament with this team is the best feeling in the entire world,” Stout said. “We’re dancing. This is crazy. I would not want to play for any other place.”
With the AAC Tournament in the books, Wichita State will wait and see where and what seed the team will be in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will take place on Sunday, Dec. 1. First and second-round games will start on Dec. 5 and run through Dec. 7.
