Happy Thanksgiving, volleyball fans! No turkey and cranberries for these girls tonight.
This match is the second quarterfinal in the Missouri Valley Conference championship tournament. The Missouri State Bears are the #6 seed, and the Wichita State Shockers the #3 seed. The winner faces #2 Northern Iowa tomorrow (apparently even if it’s Missouri State, because #1 Creighton has already been announced to face #5 Illinois State, who knocked off Southern Illinois in the first quarterfinal).
It’s therefore an obviously important match for both sides. For Missouri State, a victory tonight was the only way their season could continue. I’ve got Wichita State in my latest bracket as an at-large team, but if they were to lose to mediocre team like Missouri State (16-14 on the season) that would really hurt them.
Looks like this was another case of local broadcasters being used to staff an ESPN webcast, as the tournament takes place at Missouri State and the commentary crew included longtime former Missouri State coach Linda Dollar. Thankfully (no pun intended), they did a little bit better than the Lipscomb crew did for the Atlantic Sun tournament.
The Shockers are led by junior middle blocker Elizabeth Field, their top scorer. Apparently one of the “keys to the match” for Missouri State was to make sure it’s “No Field Day.” God, don’t you love puns like that? Setter Chelsey Feekin is another big star for Wichita State. Feekin leads the nation in hitting percentage at .451 (though one wonders what the qualifying number of swings is), and has recorded more than 20 double-doubles and three triple-doubles this season. The top scorer for the Bears is sophomore outside hitter Olivia Brand, head of a relatively young team that has five juniors in its starting lineup but no seniors. In two head-to-head matches in the regular season, Wichita State won in four sets both times.
Feekin started the Shockers off right with a sneaky dink and a service ace to get their first two points. Middle blocker Ashley Andrade also racked up a couple of early kills, as the Shockers established a 3-point edge quickly at 5-2 and maintained it for a time. The Shockers had a great rally on 6-4 as it looked like they were concede a point with their overpass getting into the net, but they kept the ball alive and wound up scoring a kill. At 9-6, the Missouri State libero Ashley Mason wound up getting credited with a kill after diving for a ball and having it miraculously land in the back-left corner of the opposite court. The Bears drew it even at 9 with a kill off the hand of Christine McCartney. The Shockers responded with 2 in a row to go back up, and the Bears then knotted it again at 11. Andrade again came up big at 12-all, with her fourth kill on four swings, and followed it up with a service ace. The TV timeout came with the Shockers up 15-13.
The Bears had their own kind of humorous point coming back from the timeout, as their setter Carly Thomas tried to dink it on 2 but it went into the net. Fortunately, though, they still had another contact, and kept the ball alive, eventually claiming the point on a block. They drew the set even again at 15 on the next point. The two teams tied again at 16, 17, and 18 before Andrade’s block on WSU’s serve got the Shockers the next 2-point lead at 20-18, prompting MSU’s timeout. The first rally back was a long one, but the Bears broke the first commandment of volleyball timeout by committing the hitting error (you gotta win the first point after you call time). The margin remained the same to Missouri State’s second timeout at 23-20. A double block from Field and Emily Adney brought the Shockers to set point at 24-21. They converted, with a soft tip from Field, on their second attempt.
The Shockers established an early advantage in the set with two big blocks, one of the left side and one on the right, to go up 4-1. After an ugly overpass gave Wichita State an easy point to get to 5-1, the Bears burned their first timeout. Andrade kept it rolling for the Shockers out of the timeout, taking advantage of a miscommunication on the Bears’ side of the net as they were sort of tripping all over each other and she had only one blocker to get through. Wasn’t much of a hindrance. And the run continued further, with the Bears not siding out until a Shocker net violation negated a McCartney hitting error at 8-2. The Shockers immediately sided out again, though, with Feekin making a dandy set to Andrade to save an overpass without going into the net herself. And the Shockers just poured it on and on. The Bears made it awfully easy for them with repeated hitting errors, but even if Missouri State weren’t beating themselves, Wichita State surely would have been equal to the task of beating them on their own merits. The Bears took their second timeout down 13-3, and I really wonder what a coach says to his team in that situation. You can’t expect to win a set when you’re down 10. Maybe, maybe, you still will, but there’s no strategy you can employ where you can really expect it. The Bears could only come as close as 7, at 17-10, and it was damage done. Andrade was the big scoring star as the set went on, coming up with some really strong hits and timely blocks. Wichita State finished off the set 25-12 on a service ace, as the Bears really looked like a team defeated as the set neared its conclusion.
Through two sets, the Shockers had a marked advantage in hitting, at over .340 to only .150 for the Bears, and in serving with 4 aces to zero for Missouri State. The Bears changed liberos for the third set, with Shelby Strang donning white to her teammates’ maroon after it had been Ashley Mason in the first two sets. Dollar speculated it was because Strang is the only senior on the Missouri State roster.
The Bears briefly went on top to begin set 3, but the Shockers responded with a run to 5-3 to seize control. They then went up 3 at 7-4 as Katie Reilly scored on a soft tip, when it looked like she was winding up to take a heavy swing. The teams traded sideouts for a long string until Andrade’s service ace made it 13-9 Shockers. Wichita State then hit the ball into the net on 14-11 to get the Bears back to within two. Field’s kill made it 15-12 at the TV timeout.
For the second time, the Missouri State setter Thomas tried a dink on 2, and wound up hitting it into the net. This time, on 16-13, the Bears weren’t able to save the point. At 17-14, Thomas tried another soft tip, and the Wichita State libero Jackie Church dove for it and missed. No matter for the Shockers, though, as the ball sailed long. Missouri State called their first charged timeout trailing 19-14. Wichita State took time after the Bears closed to 20-17, and then again at 21-20 as the Shocker offense all of a sudden seemed to lack the crispness it had all through the second set and for the majority of the third. Reilly and Field skied for the block to get the Shockers the sideout they so badly needed to go up 22-20. After a kill from Feekin, the Bears predictably took their final timeout. Field’s kill through the block got the Shockers to match point at 24-21. After the Bears staved off the first, Brand (who had a really difficult match) gave it away with a service error.
#3 Wichita State d. #6 Missouri State (25-22, 25-12, 25-22)
I think this was a pretty predictable result. Wichita State is simply the better team, and toward the end of the second set Missouri State really looked like the wind had come out of their sails. To their credit, they came out swinging in the third set, but they never really looked like they would threaten for the win.
This sets up Wichita State vs. Northern Iowa tomorrow. Whoever wins is a lead-pipe cinch for an at-large bid if they should subsequently lose in the championship (I think both are in no matter what). Missouri State retools for next season.
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