Many things come in sets of three: stop, drop and roll; pop, drop and lock it; bump, set and spike.

Well, Creighton’s volleyball team has its own set of three (and they’re pretty good, too): junior middle blocker Jessica Houts, sophomore right side/outside hitter Allie Oelke and freshman middle blocker Laurel Sanford.

The three all hail from the same club team in Minnesota, the Mizuno Northern Lights.

Two other Bluejay players also hail from the club. And while they never played together until they got to Creighton, each influenced the other so they eventually would.

“I decided to come here first,” Houts said. “Then I kept talking to Allie and her parents to get them to come here.”

“I came here because of Allie,” Sanford said. “Her, along with some influence from [coach] Paul [Giesselmann] and [coach] Kirsten [Bernthal Booth], are the reasons I am here.”

Each woman has the same reason for deciding to play for the Northern Lights: they wanted a chance to play with and against better players, as well as get noticed by top-tier colleges.

“I was playing on a mediocre club team,” Oelke said. “Some people at my high school told me about Northern Lights, and I knew it would be a good step up for me.”

The club was established in 1993 and has been nationally known as a very successful club volleyball program ever since. The program has 24 different teams for girls ranging from 11 to 18 years old.

All three women, from various Minneapolis-St.Paul suburbs, were taught well at the Burnsville, Minn., based facility. Houts, who is returning from tearing her ACL last season, leads this year’s team with 3.56 kills per set. She also has the highest blocks per set on the team with 0.88. Oelke was named the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year and led last year’s team with 39 aces and 14 double-doubles while setting three Creighton freshman records. Sanford has been a strong contributor as well. She had the match-ending ace to beat Bradley last weekend.

Houts and Oelke played against each other while on the Northern Lights, and Oelke played against Sanford. Now that they all play together, they have someone to lean on and train with.

“Whenever I get homesick, which is a lot,” Sanford said, “I can go to Allie and she knows what I am going through. That really helps me.”

They keep in touch while not at Creighton.”In the off-season, we can all go home and train together,” Houts said. “It is nice to know we all are in the same place and have same goals so we can push each other.”

The Jays are currently 4-5 (1-1 MVC), thanks in part to very tough competition. But that doesn’t faze anyone and Sanford hopes that competition, along with former Lights players, will influence more girls from the club to play at Creighton.

“I really hope we can get a few more girls up here,” Sanford said. “That would be great.”