[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, Paul Solentrop with a quick correction before we get going with the podcast, I mistakenly referred to Tulane as the Owls, when of course, Tulane is the Green Wave. The Shockers will have six opportunities to beat teams with an Owl's nickname. As we reference in the podcast, two games against Kennesaw State, Florida Atlantic Temple and two matches against Rice. Now let's get to the podcast with Katie Zimmerman and Ashley Holton. Thank you.
Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse podcast with Paul Solentrop of Wichita State University strategic communications. Thanks for listening. Our guests are volleyball assistant coaches Katie Zimmerman and Ashley Holton. They're with us to preview the season. Shockers went 26 and eight last year. They won the national Volleyball Invitational championship. And if you were at the scrimmage with Kansas State on Saturday, you saw the banner drop. The Shockers open the season on Friday. They will be in Kennesaw, Georgia. They play the host team, Kennesaw State on Friday. On Saturday, play Indiana and Kennesaw State again. I think Kennesaw State is also the Owls. Is that right? Do you guys know? I know. Actually, it popped into my mind because you play a lot of owls on your schedule.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: I was wondering if you're going to some sort of owls record. We can check that out. The first home match is September 19 at Cocarena. The Shockers play Cal Poly to start the shocker volleyball classic. Big news today. The Shockers are picked second in the American Athletic Conference poll behind Rice. Shockers finished second last season.
There are now 13 AAC volleyball schools after the departure of SMU. Conference tournament is in Wichita November 22 through the 24th and middle Morgan Stout and Sutter Izzy Strand are on the preseason all conference team. Ashley, your favorite non volleyball activity from the summer? Did you, you go to a concert, read a book?
What did you do away from the sport to be?
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Thanks, Katie. To be really honest, not a lot away from the sport I was in. I mean, we were in Brazil, then I was in Orlando for what felt like a year.
I did go to my sister's wedding up in Washington and get to spend time with my family, my nephews and my nieces. So that was, that was really good.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Okay. That's a good one. Katie, how about you? Favorite non volleyball activity?
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Yeah, we really maxed out family time, so we went a couple places, just spent time with family, lots of swimming with the kiddos. That was really fun.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Okay. It's good to get the kids in the pool, get them. I'm a big, big fan of that. All right. I mentioned the conference tournament is in Wichita, November 22 through the 24th. That's a big change from the past for the conference. Katie, do you like having a tournament to decide that automatic biddenness?
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Yes, we are very excited and very excited that it's coming to the american and that we get to host. I think that's a lot of great starts for this conference.
I think it's just bizarre when you don't have one and you are a more mid major or not the power for whatever conference is that you know, that you're done, you know, a couple weeks before your season ends. I think that's so bizarre. So this is, you know, always continues to give people a fighting chance for post season and will be a lot of people's only chance of post season. But I think for our conference, it allows another opportunity to get a team into the NCAA tournament. And then obviously for us, I think just like mentally staying in it and having it at home, I think is just really fun. But yeah, love the idea that we have a tournament now.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Ashley, is this a change you were in favor of?
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Yeah, it's actually really frustrating that we haven't had that to this point. I think it would have changed things for us maybe one of the last two years that we've been here, so.
Yes, and really excited to host, so that'll be great.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Okay. Another housekeeping kind of item that I thought would be good to talk about. Let's remind fans about the rule change on double contacts. Ashley, explain a little bit about that. What should fans know about this change?
[00:04:21] Speaker C: Yeah, so, I mean, it's definitely changed over the years to where it's. I mean, it's very subjective. So you have like an older pool of referees who rough the game a certain way and then a younger pool that kind of do the same. So you never know what it's going to look like. Do you know how tight they're going to call it? So now that has gone away, it also makes it so that, you know, where maybe a setter couldn't get their feet to the ball, they can still try to get their hands on it and it not be affected. And one of the biggest things we talked about in the spring was training our littles. We actually did a lot of it today where our littles are hand setting the ball so there's less of a liability to get called for an illegal contact now and they can kind of keep us in system and they have great hands. Our littles are very good with their hands.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So for the fans, they should only yell double if someone is sending the ball over the net and it spins. Otherwise, when it's on your side of the net, it can be spinning as much as, or like to deliver it. Contact? Yeah, sure.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Okay. So can you think of it as double contact is okay as long as a teammate then hits it next, but not if it goes over the net?
[00:05:37] Speaker C: Pretty much, yeah.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: That's a good way to. Good way to explain it. Okay. All right, Katie, take us back to the start of practice in August. What was the, what was the main goal? What were you really trying to get accomplished during double days and everything leading up to the first match?
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Well, I think we. Because we were able to go to Brazil in the end of May. During the end of May, we had, you know, two weeks of practice before that with the whole group. So I think when we come came into August, it wasn't like day one, which was very, very good for us. The girls had already known each other. They had been through a lot of our drills that we had asked. So some of that language learning curve barrier wasn't really there.
You know, we're always trying to get our middles on the scoreboard quick. So that was a large emphasis for a little while, and then we kind of transitioned to more of a pin heavy. You know, I feel like we had a week of middles, a week of pinsd and just kind of finding what system we want to be in. And even after K state, we tried all of those. That was the intention. We were kind of going for a few different systems, but, yeah, point scoring is a huge thing in our practice plan right now.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Okay, so you mentioned the K state scrimmage. We can get right into that scrimmage. K state on Saturday, three nothing win for the Wildcats. Everybody played. It looked like lots of experimenting, lots of learning. Ashley, what was the big takeaway from the coaching staff after that match?
[00:07:05] Speaker C: I think probably, like, one thing that I really like about Lambeau is that I think coaches that are more black and white on a loss would maybe have things to say that don't really set you up for a really long submarine ride, you know, and he's very, like, process driven, and he sees the progress that has taken place since the last time we played them, for certain.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: And just back in the spring.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: And just developing our system, for sure, but just individual people within that system, I think, is the biggest thing. Like, he just. He sees things in a very long term lens.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Explain submarine ride. That's maybe. I don't know if that's unique to Wichita State, the term.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: But he's probably been saying it since he's gone. I mean, since a long. Yeah, it's basically like you're not coming up for air. Like we are all going underwater together and there's nothing really from August to December there. Yes.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: So, Katie, what were your impressions from Saturday?
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah, going off of that, I think we tried a few different things we wanted to see, so we, you know, are looking for our point scores as we have graduated, quite a few, and new girls are stepping into those roles that are very capable, but just learning our systems there.
I think Emerson, being a full six rotation kid, she handled the ball very well as a whole. And so kind of being really excited for that, for her, I think Brooklyn has made huge strides, and I was very pleased with a lot of the things that she did.
I think kind of looking at, okay, we have come a long way in certain areas. We've made progress there, and then what are some things that we really need to fine tune moving forward throughout this week? But I think we were actually pretty pleased. I don't want to say we were happy, necessarily with the result, because obviously we always want to win and come first, but they're a great team, and I think some of the things we put our girls in, their situations, they played well and we played different people intentionally with that. So we didn't keep the same lineup and try and, you know, make a bunch of subs if things weren't going well. We kind of allowed our girls to work through some stuff. We obviously sub certain people, but I think it was great to see point scoring, to see passing, and then obviously areas that we need to improve.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: After the match, when you got up around back, up around the table in your offices, was there anybody that you said, boy, she really showed us something, anything like that in kind of those conversations about one of the shockers?
[00:09:57] Speaker C: Well, I think, like Katie mentioned Emerson, she's really had to transition from being like, you know, a younger player that takes on a certain role to now, like, she's kind of the dude. And she, she had to receive 36 balls, and on our index came out just, like, looking amazing. So that's a big deal to be able to handle a job like that and hold down the fort.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Okay, so the shockers get started this weekend. The schedule overall, just like usual, a lot of ranked teams. Number two, Nebraska. Number 13, Kansas. Arizona states. Number 17, Arkansas. Number 19, Indiana. Who the Shockers will face this weekend, is receiving votes. There's a mental grind to playing that kind of competition. Katie, how do you kind of prepare the shockers for that part of this?
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Lambo does a great job of this as well. We talked about it after the match.
He says if you want to just breeze through and have your season end before we even begin, great. I'll schedule easy. But if you want a fighting chance and to learn and get better fighting chances continue to go into the tournament, then I'm going to schedule the way that gets us there, which is through RPI and stuff. So it all depends on who you're playing, when losses, those kind of things.
I personally think it's a lot more fun to be at high level volleyball games. So we want to be a part of those matches. We want to play with the best and then that also reveals to us where we are doing good and what we need to work on. Rather than just winning ugly, which obviously happens also, or winning easy. I mean, to just kick someone's butt is not all. I mean, it's great, but we need to be challenged. And I think this is the perfect situation to put us in for conference.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Ten newcomers on the roster, if I counted correctly. So, Ashley, let's start with a couple of the transfers with division one experience. Sarah Barham in the middle, Alyssa Gonzalez, one of the pin players. Tell us, tell the fans a little bit about how they fit into the plans.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah, well, Sarah, we're excited about, I mean, she's just a very mature human, just in the way that she interacts with people and like Katie was mentioning something today with just the way that she, like, perceives and takes in the game. Like, it's not too fast for her, she slows it down in her head.
She just, she's very reliable and she doesn't really deviate away from her mean too much. Like, she's dependable. Alyssa is just like, she's a bundle of joy, super positive, works really hard just working on getting her to create power on a consistent basis. But, like, she's, her arm is what drew us to her and her personality and she's definitely made herself at home and we're really glad she's here. So.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: So, Katie, when I asked Chris Lamb to compare Sarah to a past shocker, you were one of the middles that he, that he mentioned. Tell us about Sarah's skills from your perspective. Being a former middle and a former shocker. Middle?
[00:13:14] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: I think, I mean, we run a very heavy middle based offense so she can be up quick in the gaps, which is very helpful for us and fits into kind of our system.
She like Ashley was saying, from, like, a mature IQ standpoint of reading the game, developing on the other side, she's a good blocker, she's quick, she's athletic. So I think being able to, you know, comprehend our scouting reports, execute a game plan, she'll do a really good job at that. And then, you know, continue to get her and Izzy connected. And, yeah, we're excited about what that'll look like.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: So throughout the fall, I've heard a lot about freshman little Grace Hett. She is from Marion, apparently passing the ball really well. Ashley, give us a little look into Grace Hetton, what she might contribute.
[00:14:03] Speaker C: I've gotten to watch Grace a little bit over the last two years just in a club setting, because we work in the same club that she played in, and I didn't know her all that well, but, like, she's always been very rangy, like, works really hard, has a great platform.
I didn't think that she would, like, jump in and be this good this fast. I think she's really acclimated to our system, and I think part of it is she played for Lambo in a club setting for a long time. But she. Our littles are super special. I think they just, like, nobody in the country works harder than those little guys. Actually, some of them are pretty tall, but.
And I think she is exactly what the type of player that we would want to add to that group.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: So she apparently is also a really good basketball player. Made a lot of three pointers at Marion. Have you ever seen her play basketball?
[00:14:57] Speaker C: I haven't, but I knew that she was pretty legit, so, yeah, she's like a small town kid. That's a very big deal out there.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Excellent.
You mentioned Brooklyn Legate earlier. She had ten kills against Kansas State, most for the Shockers. She was on the right last season. I think she was on the right in the spring.
Katie, tell us a little bit about Brooklyn and how that move to the left is going for her.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: She's doing great.
Something. When she transferred here, you know, Lambeau was like, how was she not blowing people up where she was? And I think a lot of it just depends on sometimes you just need to find a ball that someone can hit really, really well. And so I think we've played around with different tempos, different locations, and now she's also just a year and a half further into her career, or maybe two since we had her, and so she's just better as a whole. But she's getting better at speeding up, which creates more power. She's always had a very athletic approach. She could jump really high. So hand contact on the ball is great. She's siding out for us well on the left, just power is huge. So she has the opportunity to now have different angles, different kind of tools in her toolbox. And we're excited for what that looks like. I feel like we'll still kind of see her on both pinsd. But yes, she is on the left way more than she was in the last year.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Brooklyn is a transfer from Colorado Mesa, which is a division two school. Came here last year. She played in four matches for the Shockers last year. You also mentioned Emerson Wilford, who had a really big sophomore year last season, hitting 100 8193 kills. Katie, what's next for Emerson? How does she continue to develop for.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: People who have been around Wichita State volleyball for a while? Lambeau has kind of compared her to Emily Adney, who was here like 2012. That was her senior year.
Someone who takes a lot of passes, so she's gonna get served the ball a ton. And she's one of our outsides in the l two generally, so she'll take a lot of swings and that's just kind of knowing that ahead of time she's gonna be carrying that load, kind of like Ashley said earlier. So expecting her to, I mean, touch the ball almost as much as Izzy, you know, past that attack, not setting, but just very, very, very involved. And so she has worked on a lot of different shots. She has worked on a lot more power as well. That was a big thing. We need her to score now. She's the one that we're going to set in tight situation and we know she can put the ball away. So I think it'll be fun. Fun to watch all of her hard work. And she's just a moving forward kind of kid. Like she is from a very high athletic family and just next step mentality. And so I think she has a great head on her shoulders of like, even when it's tough, even when we're down or when we're up, it's like, next ball, next ball, next ball. And I think that that's really important for our team as a whole. With the energy, with the ebbs and flows, just like keep moving forward kind of, kind of thing. And I think she's going to do great.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: Emerson's father played professional hockey, if I'm remembering that correctly right, and is in the NHL with Buffalo Sabres. Yes, I believe last time I talked to her that was the case. All right. Morgan stout in the middle last year hit 347.
Big boost for her. She really limited her errors. What did Morgan do last year to really improve that efficiency?
[00:18:31] Speaker C: I mean, I think she developed a great connection with Izzy. Yeah. And she developed her brain more. I mean, she figured out things that just worked for her. And I think also began to understand that, like across the net from her, she should be winning against a lot of these people. I mean, it should be really difficult for somebody to keep up with her from like a speed and physicality power standpoint.
She's got a little bit of rage in there, too.
And I think she just kind of used everything to her own advantage and just moved it in the right direction. But, yeah, things have really come together for her since we first got here. It's been cool to see kind of how that's come together for her, too.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the Izzy connection, they worked really well together. And then giving her, giving her balls, that don't limit her to one thing. So she's very rangy, she's very athletic. So encouraging her to kind of use that athleticism to where she can do multiple things I think was a big, big deal for her.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: So Izzy, stranded setter, she transferred in last year, played really well, coming back for a second season, etcetera. How does that help? How does that change things for Izzy?
[00:19:54] Speaker B: I think the biggest thing off the bat, just Lambo loves a lot of different systems, so we don't play the same thing every night, which is how we, I think, you know, win and take more points off of sometimes higher level teams. But she just understands the language faster, understands the system, you know, when we get in high pressure situations, making sure that everybody's on the same page with simple language things, but rather than being like, oh, what was that again? Kind of already knowing those things and then just being more comfortable, obviously she's another year in. From a setting standpoint, that is a huge position of just volleyball IQ. So she's watched a lot more volleyball, she set a lot more reps. So we're excited to see how she can lead our team just in the system side. She's very, very powerful, really strong with her hands and so just making sure we're connected on all bases.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: Ashley, let's tell people about Libero. Gabby Moss, who played Libero last year, sidelined with an injury. Annalee Hellestie played that spot on Saturday. She had 14 digs against Kansas City. We've also got Katie Galligan and Regan Anderson back from last season, take fans through the DSEs and the Liberos and how that position is unfolding.
[00:21:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I think Gabby was an excellent, is and will be even better when she comes back, but is an excellent ball controller from a serve receive standpoint and a great defensive player.
I think that was one of our concerns is are we going to have somebody in that spot that can put up the same numbers? And our littles have been doing great. Like Reagan has made tremendous gains over the last year.
Our freshmen have come in and pushed people right away. Katie Galligan is just like, she has just a lot of things about her, different variables that you just want to have her on the court for a lot of different reasons.
She's fast and she just, you know, I mean, she just makes some pretty wild plays. And Annelie is, I think her story is really cool. Like, she was not super heavily recruited here, but she just was so persistent. And finally Chelsea and Lambo were like, this kid, like, we've got to take her. You know, she was filming videos in her backyard during COVID and she just has worked her way. Like, she's made it impossible not to play her over the years. So excited that she's having a good senior year to start off and providing a lot of leadership and putting up some numbers that are pretty.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: So Chakra volleyball season is getting started. They are on the road this weekend in Kennesaw, Georgia. I did check. Kennesaw State is the Owls. So you playing Tulane, Rice, Florida Atlantic and Kennesaw State. Wow, lot of owls.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: We do our little.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. So Shocker is getting started. First home match September 19 versus Cal Poly Ashley, Katie, thank you very much for your time.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: Hi, this is Rick Newma, president of Wichita State University.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Check out the latest episode of the Forward together podcast.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: Each episode, I sit down with different guests from Shocker Nation to celebrate the vision and mission of Wichita State University. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Roundhouse podcast, courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more Roundhouse
[email protected] dot it's over. It is over, ladies and gentlemen. Say it slowly and savor it. Wichita State is going to the final four for the first time in 48 years. Unbelievable.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: What a scene, folks. The Shocker fans are just going crazy in this dance.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Just maybe the greatest win in the history of Wichita State basketball.
