Speaker 1 00:00:11 Hello and welcome to the roundhouse podcast. This is Paul Sullivan, Trump of Wichita state university, strategic communications. Thanks for listening today. It's going to be celebrate the Little's day, the littles, they kind of get overlooked. They are kind of analogous to maybe offensive lineman in football, maybe the catcher in softball or baseball. They probably have moments where they say, why did I choose this profession? Where people just keep hitting balls at me? Very, very hard. I'm just trying to defend myself. So to talk about shocker volleyball and the littles, we've got Lily liquids and we've got Annalee <inaudible> did I say that per hella? Steve, I cannot get that right. It is. Now it's now a thing in my brain. Hell esteem. They are two of the Wichita state littles. They're here to get us ready for the final home weekend, shockers 18 and nine overall. They are 12 and six in the American athletic conference. They play SMU on Wednesday at seven Memphis at noon on Friday, shockers have some things to play for it. They're going to try to stay in third place in the conference, and they even have an outside chance moving into a tie for second place with Houston. So there are some things on the line. This this week for soccer, volleyball, Annalee is a freshmen from Cypress, Texas. Lily is a sophomore from Janesville, Iowa. So give us a view from the back row. Uh, why is this team been successful this season? Anneli you can start,
Speaker 2 00:01:29 Um, I think as little as we all kind of just came together and kind of decided we're just going to go for every ball and we're not gonna let anything fall. And I think we all kind of feed off of each other with our energy. Um,
Speaker 3 00:01:43 Yeah, I mean, essentially we're like a little family. I mean, we all have the same job. We help each other out. Um, just giving advice, um, on the core off the court, you know, so that relationship that we have together, it's awesome.
Speaker 1 00:01:56 It seems like the blocking has been good and the blocking has got a lot of attention this year for the shockers. Explain how the blockers in the back row work in unison.
Speaker 3 00:02:06 Um, the block is a huge help and there's no block essentially run around. So it's really nice to have the great blockers that we do have because we read everything off of them where we're supposed to be. You know, even if they're late to something that puts us somewhere else. So we read pretty much everything off of the,
Speaker 2 00:02:26 I think one thing with blocking this years, you know, we've only had two middles for most of the season. And so we've gotten really used to being in, working around them. And I think they've been both Natalie and, um, stout have been pretty consistent. So that helps us, especially backward.
Speaker 1 00:02:43 How much of it is a scatter report and video review and how much of it is we are observing and doing things on the fly.
Speaker 3 00:02:53 Um, we do scout and prepare a lot. We watch a lot of film and we do a lot of stuff to prepare before the games, but I mean, what we scout for doesn't always happen. So you do have to be ready to make those changes. And I think, um, Cincinnati, although we did fall short, we had three different defensives prepared for them. So depending on what they decided to do that day.
Speaker 2 00:03:13 Yeah, I think it's really big as a little, you have to be prepared to adjust. Not everything is a given, like she said, like we're given defenses, but that doesn't always work out for us. So especially mid match, you have to be prepared to make adjustments based off coaching and what's happening.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 And I know Chris lamb at different points of season has said, this team has learned as it's gone along, he's been able to do more, make more adjustments, add in more of the defenses. Tell us about that from your perspective, how has that changed from, you know, August, September to now, what are you able to do as far as playing, giving other teams more looks
Speaker 3 00:03:51 Right? Um, I think, you know, we have me and Brynn, um, we're kind of like the older littles and then we have in we and Laura, she's a first year here and we have Kylie as well. Um, they're all catching on very, very fast and just that experience and being a practice every day and communicating with each other has really helped them to come along and learn everything. So they are able to make those changes faster.
Speaker 2 00:04:13 And again, yeah. I know when I first got here, I was used to pretty much one defense and one defense only. And I think, especially for Laura and I we've gotten used to adjusting and doing what the coaches ask of us. Uh, it was definitely hard, I think for both of us in the beginning just to get used to see offenses, but now as we gone through games, we change our defense pretty much each game we've gotten a lot better.
Speaker 1 00:04:38 So opponents are hitting 180 9, it gets a shockers, which is the third best in the American. Is that a stat that you look at and say that's a, uh, uh, an accurate measurement of how effective we're being?
Speaker 3 00:04:52 Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, that's, I blockers as well and that's a little in the background and that's the, center's doing their job and it's all of us. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:05:02 Kind of a combined effort. It's not just, oh, Lilly digging. All these balls are old branding and all these politics, like she said, also lockers and setters playing defense combined to group.
Speaker 1 00:05:15 So shockers are 18 and nine they're off. They're going to hit every market of being the best records since the 27 17 team that went 20 and oh, and the American and hosted NCAA play. You had to take us through the evolution of this team. When did you begin to think this team can, can do some good things? When did you really gain some confidence in how the season was going to go?
Speaker 3 00:05:36 Mine was right at our first tournament. I believe it was Arkansas state. I want to say, um, you can just tell, like, this is like the first year that we've really, like, since I've been here that I've really felt like we're a team like everybody's playing for each other. There's like no individuals on the court and we all want the same goal. We all have each other's back. So it's been really awesome. I think just having that team chemistry and just being a big family, like really?
Speaker 2 00:06:06 Yeah. I think, um, definitely that first tournament was kind of putting the pieces together and I think it was a struggle at the beginning because we didn't know exactly what the lineup would look like. So it was a lot of switching in and out. Uh, but I think that tournament was big growth for us. Uh, I think that first loss against Tulane was frustrating for all of us. Cause I think we all know we could do better and perform better. And I think that was a good, it was obviously not the best that we lost, but it was a good teaching moment for all of us. We knew it's kind of like
Speaker 3 00:06:38 The turning point of the season. That's when we started to be like, okay, Hey, this is what we'll need to do. And yeah, it just all came from there.
Speaker 1 00:06:46 So the shocker started six and one, then the last five straight started the conference play. Oh, and three. And then there's the eight match wind streak that turned things in the right direction. Yeah. W what turned things in the right direction? What kept this team from maybe going in a, in a, in, in a different direction?
Speaker 3 00:07:02 Um, as you can tell, like from my last game against like ECU, you know, like we went into the thirties, I think we just, we have the grind and we don't give up. Then I think when we did start to get that big wind streak, it just started to click for us. Um, we know what we're doing. We know our jobs were, um, we started to mesh them a core.
Speaker 2 00:07:23 Yeah. I think we all just kind of had a common goal. Those first couple of losses were like, got us in the mood to, you know, what we're doing. We have the individuals that can make us a really good team. So I think we just kind of stuck with what we were going with. We all had a team goal of just, you know, what we're doing know. So I think that kinda got us going with,
Speaker 1 00:07:45 Do you have a favorite match of the season one that you think kind of exhibits peak, shocker volleyball.
Speaker 2 00:07:54 They're also, they're all just so close, you know, it's yeah.
Speaker 3 00:07:58 That's the thing about our conference is like, anybody can win on any night. I mean, you have UCF, who's probably the most dominant team. They are the most dominant team. And then it's like, yeah, everybody else. And it's like a dog fight for all of those teams. So we at the battle for each game, we can't take, can't take it easy on any game.
Speaker 2 00:08:16 I know it ended up in a loss, but they gave him against UCF. We went to five. I think that was all kind of as a team where like, man, like we can do this. Like we could potentially take down or become first in this conference. So I know in a loss, but I think it was,
Speaker 1 00:08:34 And that was the last match of that. Oh, and three, you start if I remember correctly. And then that was a Friday, you went on Sunday and that's when you really kind of got things, got things rolling. So literally you have 28 ACEs, you ranked second on the team and the coaches told me, uh, you've really improved your serving. Take us through that a little bit. What did you do to become better back there
Speaker 3 00:08:54 Went home over the summer and you know, before we leave, you talk about goals and stuff that with the coaches, I think you just want to get better at and, um, table topping and serving those on my list. So I didn't really have a job search my first year. So that's really what I've been working on. And then we've been doing a lot of certain passes, right out practices and stuff. So it's just being consistent and doing it every day and working on it everyday has helped.
Speaker 1 00:09:21 Okay. We have another little Bryn Stansberry has joined us. We'll get you caught up in a couple of questions. We've talked kind of big picture stuff. What's your view? What's kind of made this team click this season?
Speaker 4 00:09:33 Um, well, um, I think like from the start, I felt like we already had a better connection than we have had in the past. Um, I think we had girls who just like truly loved being around each other and loved working together and loved making each other better. Um, the competition in our gym is great to share. Um, there's so many people that can play in so many different spots. Um, I think everyone's kind of fed off of that competition in a good way. I think we've all encouraged each other. I think we've all helped each other out. So it's been so much fun to really get along with everyone and enjoy each other's presence. And, um, even outside of volleyball, I feel like we're all good friends and we all want to hang out with each other. And if people need things, I think people are really quick to step up and help. So that's been really nice.
Speaker 1 00:10:22 What was the point where you became pretty confident this team could be some, do some good things. We'll see if your answer matches up with the other two.
Speaker 4 00:10:31 Um, I might have an interest in it's there. I was going to say UCF. And the reason I say UCF is because I think from the other coaches in the conference, the other teams in the conference, maybe fans, maybe their media, I think, I think people thought UCF was going to come in here and have an easy night. And I think we were coming off of conference losses and he said whatever. And we went in there and we gave him a run for their money and I don't think they were expecting it. I think we were ready to go. I think we were like, we're going in to win this thing. And I think that's when things really shifted for us because I think that gave us confidence. I think that brought us closer as a team. I think other coaches and other teams in the conference started looking at us differently. And I think that was a night that really changed our season.
Speaker 1 00:11:25 Okay. We got they. Yeah. We got to that you see was definitely mentioned is as part of it, take us through what's going on in the back row, as far as communication leadership, how are you helping organize direct, all that kind of stuff? What kind of things are going on maybe as the other team's getting ready to serve? What's your, what's your job?
Speaker 3 00:11:47 Um, yeah, a lot of top does come out of the back row. I mean, especially when they throw a big back there or they'll throw on some deices and it's like the third set of the match. And so communication really is key. You know, you have to, like, we talk about servers, we talk about defense, we talk about blocking. So a lot of the communication really does come out of the background.
Speaker 2 00:12:09 Yeah. I think especially just going in there, you have to trust the people around you and, you know, paying attention and scouting report is a pretty big thing because if Lily's on a different page than I am, it's a big issue. So you kind of just all have to trust each other and know what your role is and kind of work with each other.
Speaker 4 00:12:31 I would say going into the trusting the scouting report, I mean, I think the coaches have done such a great job of like putting us in the right place that we need to be defensively to be successful. And I think when we were on the same page as them, and we're communicating with our front row and we're communicating across the net, we're communicating before points. I think that's when we're really successful. Um, I think a lot of us before every point were looking over to know what defense we're going to play at, what blocking players, so that we know where we need to be. And then we're communicating that. So I think we've only gotten better at that since the beginning of the season. And I think that's really helped us be successful.
Speaker 1 00:13:06 I would guess scattered reports get more detailed as you advance, you know, from high school club, junior college to Wichita state, give us a little description, you know, how that information is delivered and how you kind of take it in and put it to use out on the, out on the floor.
Speaker 3 00:13:28 It was a, for me, it was, I mean, a big change. I mean, before I got here, I mean, like we scout it and stuff like that, but it's, it was nothing like it, like it is now where we have like these big packets and it's like, there's different stuff on there and like different little shapes and numbers. And so it's a lot when you first get here, it really is. But um, the more you do it, the more you learn and the better you get at it. So
Speaker 2 00:13:53 Yeah. I remember my first like game here, scouting on the road on a bus and Lambeau comes down and he's like, handing us all these packets and look at it. And like, this looks like a foreign language. Like I literally was so confused, but it definitely each scouting report got easier to understand, but yeah, it's definitely a big culture shock because I've pretty much only played one defense and one defense only. So getting used to,
Speaker 1 00:14:21 So when you say one defense, one defense only explain the difference to those of our,
Speaker 2 00:14:27 Well, each person has somewhere to go and let's say, I'm playing left back. Like my whole life. I was trying to go one like in one spot, like this is where you go when you play left back. And this is where you go in and play middle bag. That's where you go play right back. And then from there you just read the hitter, but these like coming here, you have different spots. You're supposed to go and different. Just whole different than it is everywhere. Yeah. It's, it's really based off of, let's say we're playing Cincinnati, it's based off of where Cincinnati likes to hit. So you'll be where you're supposed to be. And then it makes it a lot easier. But yeah, it was really different for me.
Speaker 1 00:15:09 Can I bring, what's your experience with scattered reports?
Speaker 4 00:15:11 Um, I would say like coming from Iowa Western to coming here, I think they're definitely different. Um, I think Iowa Western it's a little bit like simplified. I think we cause sometimes at that level, like you have a few people you need to worry about. And I think what I can hear, it was like every hitter was scattered. Whereas like before I think we may have only had concerned with like a couple of people. Um, and then other than that, like we just had keys to when, or like what we needed to do. And I think here, I think I have learned so much because I have not only learned like what we need to do, but I've learned like what they're gonna do against us or like what they might switch up or like lineups. Like I had no idea what, how to read a spider web.
Speaker 4 00:15:55 When I first got here, it was a spiderweb. My gives this a spider web and it has so much information like kill percentage, error, percentage, everything. And I had no idea, like when I first saw that I was like, what does this mean? And now I look at it and I'm like, we're going to be worried about this girl, this girl and this girl. And I think like, we've all come so far with like a scouting report and it's just so helpful. Um, I love that we're given a lot of information because I think that's better than not getting that up. Um, so it's been very fun and I think like the scouting report has just been interesting for all of us because we've all learned so much from it. And now we can almost look at it and be like, I know exactly what we're going to do against this girl.
Speaker 1 00:16:38 Spiderweb. Is that a common volleyball term or is that a Chris lamb term? And that leads me into my next question. Cause it probably took me five or six years of covering Wichita, state volleyball. I just thought this was the way all college volleyball programs. And then I kind of figured out, well, no, it's not. Is that your experience also, when you talk to other, your friends who were playing college volleyball, they're kind of amazed at the different things that you, that you do at Wichita state.
Speaker 3 00:17:07 Yeah. I mean, I think no, every coach, like, they like to do things differently and they have their own ways of doing things. So it's just like, I mean, I think you talked to any other player and they're like, you guys see that, well, we do this and you know, like it's, it's all different. Yeah. We just happened to have very creative.
Speaker 4 00:17:25 Yes, we do one thing that just absolutely I love. And it just cracks me up about this program is that we have just so many different names for different things. And I don't even realize it, but sometimes when I'm like talking to my friends, like for example, Lambeau invented the word tabletop and like none of my friends and they're like, what's a tabletop. And I'm like, oh, like out a system, like a bump set. And like, everyone was like, what? And I'm just like, for us, that's just like, everyone knows what it means. Everyone
Speaker 3 00:17:53 Knows that
Speaker 4 00:17:54 Conversation before. And it's just, I think it's cool because we all can have like our secret language right here. What we know
Speaker 1 00:18:02 Man vs wild. Is that still a drill that nobody else. So you haven't, you haven't been introduced to man versus
Speaker 4 00:18:12 Maybe, maybe just a couple of times, man. There's this wild, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 00:18:17 Okay. The success this season, how does it set up the shockers for the spring and then next fall? Where do you see it? You know, helping out and when you get back together in the fall.
Speaker 3 00:18:27 Yeah. I mean the spring that's when that's, when we got all of our work done and really focused on the things that we all need to work on individually and together. Um, so it's, it's grind time in the spring, you know, we're working out hard and we're getting in the gym for a lot of hours, so
Speaker 2 00:18:43 I've never experienced a spring. So I'm pretty excited. I don't know what to expect honestly, but I'm excited to, you know, work out. The girl just gives us an opportunity to get closer off the court. So,
Speaker 4 00:18:56 Uh, I think the spring is a great time for volleyball players just because there's so much time for you to work out and get in better shape. And there's so much more time for you to focus on like individual skills. Um, that's really, when I think like individuals, our team like really, really progress. And then as a whole in the fall you come back and then it's just like a whole team success. So it's kind of a cool thing to see because people come back in the fall and you're like, wow, like they got so good in the spring. Like, oh my gosh, that looks so much different than last fall. And I think it just creates a whole team at success. And I think the spring's really fun, honestly, in my opinion.
Speaker 1 00:19:34 So we talked about how the littles are kind of easy to overlook. I guess the littles have developed a coping mechanism, the goggles squad take us through the Goggle squad. How did this start? I guess that's the, that's the,
Speaker 3 00:19:46 So it's a meme. Um, but it's basically like kind of like you were saying, like doodles are overlooked a lot, like kind of like the meme is like the littles are at the bottom of the pier pyramid, you know, then you have like setters and then you have the hitters on top, you know? So the sing like you have our goggles and I don't know, maybe you can better explain this.
Speaker 4 00:20:09 Well, sometimes we have through this meme where like we're at the bottom of the ocean here. So we decided me and the light goggles. Well, it started out by, in practice. We've kind of looked at each other and just like put on goggles and maybe like, literally just put your goggles on, like we got this and just helping each other get through the day. And then it kind of turned into like, no, we like actually need some goggles. Like we need goggles to represent this. So,
Speaker 3 00:20:36 So we have goggles that we bring with us, they have to come to everything. So they traveled with us on the bench with us throughout around our water bottles. And so we've kind of created, it created like this tradition. So like, um, we just gave Kylie a pair of gobbles at the beginning of the season, you know, because she's already been through a whole year with us and she's working hard and she deserves it. She's been doing awesome. Um, so eventually like Emily and Laura, like the most likely to get there, but like, it's just become like this cool tradition, like just working together through the grind and you know, helping each other through it.
Speaker 4 00:21:16 It's kind of been like a sense of relief too. I think like sometimes when you look at each other like, oh, we got our goggles, it's like kind of just like a sense of relief and like that we're not worried about anything or that we have each other's backs and recent, it is kind of like a reset and I think it's really fun and it kind of brings them laugh sometimes too, because sometimes we might be like, well, we might need scuba gear today or like, it's been fun. So,
Speaker 3 00:21:37 And they're just quite funny to like you, sometimes you turn around and like Brynn's got her goggles on.
Speaker 4 00:21:45 It's been fun. Um, I will always have them on my water bottle.
Speaker 1 00:21:50 So the goggles or something you earned by putting in the time, putting in the grind. Good attitude, all that, all that
Speaker 2 00:21:57 Cool brackets.
Speaker 1 00:21:58 Okay. Very interesting. The goggles squad that's good stuff. All right. Let's wrap it up. Uh, favorite Thanksgiving traditions in your family?
Speaker 2 00:22:07 My mom makes this really good, um, sweet potato casserole that the whole family loves. So I think she's bringing it down to Wichita. So I'm pretty,
Speaker 1 00:22:19 Is this marshmallows on top? It seems to be
Speaker 2 00:22:23 Like the sweet potato layer, the bottom. And then there, I think they're pecans and then like brown sugar.
Speaker 3 00:22:30 I think one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is it's not going to happen this year because we're playing this week. But usually when we go to my grandparents house, my grandma cooks everything except the pumpkin pie. My grandpa makes the pumpkin pie and it's like the best pumpkin pie ever. So is this,
Speaker 4 00:22:49 Um, I would say my favorite Thanksgiving tradition is that we always go to my grandma's house. Um, so this year actually a lot of my family's coming down considering it senior night's Thanksgiving. Um, I think we're going to have like a little Thanksgiving here. Um, we'd always eat a bunch of food and then we'd bring out the shopping magazines and catalogs and we'd go through and circle everything we wanted and cut everything out. And that night we'd actually go black Friday shopping. So that's something my family has always done lots of different pies, lots of different food. And it was just a really fun time for my family to get together.
Speaker 1 00:23:21 I'm glad you brought up senior night, seniors have different coping mechanisms to get through this. You're looking at last, you know, thinking about the last practices, the last meal, all that kind of stuff. How are you thinking about it approaching these, these two matches?
Speaker 4 00:23:35 Um, I definitely get emotional. I'm going to try not to get emotional right now. Um, I think I'm just trying to take advantage of like last opportunity, um, this last travel weekend and I was like, well, it's my last one. Like, let's make it as good as we can. Like at this point I'm kind of like, let's just ball out. Let's just have fun. Let's not stress. Let's just play. And I'm so excited to enjoy it with my teammates. Um, which talks to it's been great. And I'm sad to go. I don't want to go. So
Speaker 1 00:24:08 It's different people in different sports. Have they have different feelings about running up that tunnel for the, for the last time to go out there? Is that something that's hit you? Do you, will you walk out there and try to just take it in, you know, make sure you're really savoring?
Speaker 4 00:24:23 Uh, yeah, it's definitely gonna hit me. Um, I know it's gonna be emotional one, but it'll definitely hit me that last starting lineup two that one's probably going to get me, but last time watching the video last time they're on the ball out. I think that'll get me, but I'm excited.
Speaker 1 00:24:39 How many more questions do I have to ask to get some I'm trying to,
Speaker 4 00:24:43 Um, I don't know. I'm just so happy to be here. So just really trying to live it out. Don't want to leave. My little, um, coach has been great. I can't ask for any more out of my career. So
Speaker 1 00:24:55 Then you walk away with a pair of goggles
Speaker 4 00:24:57 With goggles and that's all I need. <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:25:00 Excellent. All right. We've got the shockers seven o'clock Wednesday against SMU, Memphis at noon on Friday. Goggle squad. Thanks for giving me a few minutes. I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 00:25:24 Thank you for listening to the roundhouse podcast, courtesy of Wichita state university, strategic communications. We appreciate your time. We encourage you to rate review, subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts, such as on iTunes or Google play. You can find more roundhouse
[email protected]. Thank you for listening
Speaker 6 00:25:46 And they let him pass it up court. And then it gets picked off a long three by PENGOS. No good. One second. It's over. It is over and what your task has beaten. The number one team in the nation to go to the sweet 16 go crazy Wichita.
