Wichita State Knocks Off UNI in MVC Semis, 3-1

Friday, November 25

Cedar Falls, Iowa

7:30 p.m.

University of Northern Iowa

24-9

Wichita State

23-7

UNI

Wichita State

Wichita State Knocks Off UNI in MVC Semis, 3-1

11/25/2016 10:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The No. 2-seeded Wichita State Shockers claimed a spot in the Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament championship for the second straight year with a 3-1 win over the University of Northern Iowa in the McLeod Center. Wichita State won by set scores of 12-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-21.

Wichita State (23-7 overall) outside hitter Jody Larson secured a triple-double with 21 digs, 12 kills and 10 assists in helping the Shockers reach the MVC Tournament title match for the ninth time in school history. Tabitha Brown was a force on the outside as she tallied 16 kills.

UNI (24-9 overall) had a trio of players record double-doubles in the four-set loss. Heather Hook (47 assists, 18 digs), Amie Held (14 kills, 16 digs) and Bri Weber (15 kills, 18 digs) each scored double-doubles for the Panthers.

UNI jumped out early on Wichita State and pounced to a 1-0 lead with a 25-12 victory. UNI held a 10-8 lead before going on a 7-0 run to take a 17-8 advantage. The Panthers closed the set on an 18-7 run. UNI clocked in a .429 hitting percentage in the opening set with 14 kills and two attack errors. UNI limited Wichita State to -.062 hitting in the first set as the Shockers had eight attack errors to go along with six kills. UNI's Kayla Haneline led the the home squad with five kills in 10 swings.

Wichita State evened the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 win. The Shockers led 21-17 only to see the Panthers rally with a 6-1 run to take a 23-22 lead. UNI would hold a set point at 24-23 but a kill from Larson knotted the set at 24-24. The Shockers posted the next two points to take the set. Larson and Brown each tallied five kills in the set and did not record an attack error. UNI's Held was credited with seven kills, four digs and a block in the set.

The Shockers kept the momentum going following the intermission and took a 15-12 lead midway through the pivotal third set. But the Panthers refused to go quietly and stormed back to take a 21-17 lead. However, just as quickly as momentum swung to the Panthers, the Shockers answered right back with a 4-0 run to tie the set at 21-21. The Shockers got the game-clinching point on their second set point. WSU's Dani Mostrom had a monstrous third set as she tallied 14 of the Shockers's 31 digs.

WSU finished off the four-set win with a 25-21 win. The Shockers took a 14-12 lead only to see the Panthers surge back and square the set at 14-14. The fourth set saw ties at 15-15, 16-16, 17-17, 18-18 before the Shockers took a two-point lead at 20-18. UNI would get no closer than two the rest of the way and Brown could tally the final kill of the match. Brown recorded five kills in the fourth set. UNI's Weber kept the Panthers in the fourth set with seven kills and four digs.

Wichita State will take on No. 1-seeded Missouri State on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the 2016 MVC Tournament Championship match. Missouri State enters the match having won 17 consecutive matches after beginning MVC play 0-2. WSU and MSU split the season series with the road team winning both contests.

NOTES: It marks the second time that UNI served as the host for the MVC Tournament that the Panthers did not reach the tournament final ... UNI also hosted the 2005 MVC Tournament and lost to the Shockers in the semifinals in four games - that event took place in the West Gym.

QUOTES:

UNI Coach Bobbi Petersen

After winning a couple close sets against Wichita earlier in the season, tonight seems like they kind of returned the favor

"It was just a really good match in my opinion and I think the difference, we had a good match with them here but at Wichita I thought both teams didn't play really very well. There was two close sets in that match but I think this match tonight was by far a better played match by both teams. So, its really hard because even during timeouts there was not a lot to say in terms of changing what we were doing because I thought we had really good execution with a lot of things that we were doing. I just thought Wichita played extremely well in certain areas of the game that they have struggled with against us. They passed really well so they're in system a lot. The last two times we played them I felt like we got them out of system more and I didn't feel like our serve was not aggressive, I just thought that they passed a lot better. Especially [because] there were two kids we focused on to serve and they actually were passing really well. They had their spurts, kind of like we did with their aces and passing a little bit more out of system but I thought overall they were a much better passing team tonight than they had been."

Seems like you did all you could have asked for and more on their middles but then their outsides really had to have some big matches there tonight

"Yeah. You know, the last time we played them, their middles played better and their pins were not as much of a factor. I thought we did an okay job of adjusting but I think there was times where we'd adjust and then I thought #10 [Tabitha Brown] did a really good job [when] we'd move the block in on her and she would just start tooling their block a little bit more and trying to use the line so I thought they were counter adjusting really well. So for us it just became more of, not a guessing game, but just trying to play a game with their outsides because anytime their in system, it was hard to get a double block out there. I felt their setter does a really good job of reading so if you would commit on that she'd throw it to #11 [Jody Larson] or their middle. I thought our pins did what they could in terms of trying to do different things, make them think about it at least, and I thought our back-court was working hard to try and step-in and dig the ones that were a little bit more in the middle of the court. But I just thought they executed really well. I mean their pins both had a really good night against us."

As a whole, sounds like you're pretty satisfied with the way your team played. Is it just one of those cases where you ran up against a team that was playing really well tonight?

"Yeah. I'm so proud of them. I was really really worried ,to be honest, after game one because I thought we did a lot of really good things but I thought it came a little easy to us. We've been in situations like that before that, not that I think on purpose, but we kind of let up a little bit and I thought obviously Wichita played a lot better in game two [but] I didn't feel like we gave up on it at all . I felt like we were ready for the battle. We knew Wichita would play a lot better. So, i'm really proud of them for that. We had a couple miscommunication's here and there. A couple mis-responsibilities here and there. So, you know that's the difference in the game when you lose by two points. Overall, how we played and how we competed, I couldn't be prouder of this group."

Seems like when you look at top 50 archived wins and where you are in your RPI's, it's about as confident as you been and you've been at at-large selection the last two times you've reached the tournament, do you feel like this might be your strongest case out of those years?

"Unfortunately as a coach, you know I don't feel comfortable or confident at all, just because there's just so much that you don't know. I think that when you look at our resume over the years that we have got in at large bids, I feel really good about that. I feel like its as good, if not the best its ever been. But again, there's so much more that goes into it. There's new committee members and what they pace emphasis on as well as what the rest of the country's doing. Like I talked about earlier, you have the BIG 10, the PAC 12, the BIG 12, that just have a lot going on. Obviously there were some matches tonight that I think were big in terms of how many teams from those conferences get in. I think the positive thing is, I think there was only one conference that had a tournament where maybe the higher RPI team didn't win so far. There are a few that are finishing off tonight or tomorrow, so I think that's a positive. Some of those automatic bids aren't going to have two teams that are getting in, so I think that's a positive. But again, there are a couple more of those conferences yet left to play this weekend."

What would it mean for your program just to have another shot at post-season play?

"I want it so bad, not just for this program but for these seniors. They have put so much of their heart and soul into a lot of different things that outside people don't really see. I'm just so proud of that group and what they've been able to do. Just to have them have the opportunity, almost more than wanting it for our program, I want it for them. They deserve it for so many reasons. And I know there's lots of teams across the country that deserve it and it doesn't always work out that way but hopefully they're going to get a chance to play again."

Wichita State Head Coach Chris Lamb
"We've outhit them in five of those seven games, so you think, why don't you win because that's sort of the industry standard stat... so why don't you win? Well they start adding up little things that go on, flip the scoreboard and little plays where we give up points or give up swings. When you go back and look at it, they're faster than us, they defend better than us, I'd say they got us in volleyball IQ. They have been in that system for a couple years, we've been in and out of a few. You know there is un-comfort with mistakes for us. I got interviewed before this by everyone asking what's it going to take and I said, look we got to score and I know it might sound weird because we've outhit them before but I'm like well we have to score. Now even today they put up more points but game one was sort of a skewed thing on the overall but I just felt that we dug our way back into set number two when we relinquished the lead and got some digs and scored our way back in. Obviously you have to win that second set. I think we were good enough to beat Northern Iowa but I don't know if we are tough enough to beat Northern Iowa and I don't know what to do about it but when I see it, I'll know it's there. And flipping the second set is an example of fighting and not giving up."