With a little over half of the Missouri Valley Conference season left to go, I checked in with volleyball coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to see how the team was doing.

Q: How do you feel the first half of the Missouri Valley Conference season went?

I’m pleased with where we stand. I think we’ve continued to progressw, and that’s the primary thing you’re looking for as a coach. I’m optimistic about the second half of the conference season.

Q: What have you been most pleased with in your team’s performance so far?

Most nights we’re passing well. We really struggled with serving early on, but we’ve become a pretty good serving team. We have good defense. I think we’re a good blocking team, and we’re scrappy.

Q: What area do you need to improve in the most?

As a coach, you can always say every area. But I would say we have no glaring deficit. We need to work on sustained quality play through the whole match, and we need to continue to make serving and passing a top priority.

Q: Which players have been contributing most?

One thing that excites me and the coaches is that we have good players in every position. If you’re scouting our team, you have to prepare for everybody [not just Jessica Houts]. Bianca [Rivera]is also one of the best liberos in

the league.

Q: How do you feel Creighton matches up against undefeated Wichita State?

They have an unbelievable libero, so we had to win points multiple times. Do I feel we’re in the mix with Wichita? Absolutely. The players need to step it up, which they didn’t do last week, but I think they are absolutely capable of doing so. I would love the chance to play

them again.

Q: Do you feel Creighton is one of the stronger teams in the Valley?

This year we have by far the most depth in the league. We cannot take a night off. I feel like every match we have an opportunity to win, but we can’t get complacent at all.

Q: Do you like your chances for a good position in the MVC tournament at this point?

We’re in a good position right now. We just have to take it one match at a time and approach every match as the most important. If we start thinking about the MVC now, we could stumble. We are competing for the No. 2 seed with Northern Iowa right now, and we play them the last weekend of the season. The second seed is better than the third because you get a bye.

Q: What would you say is your best match so far?

I liked how we played when Drake came to our place. I really liked the way we played the first two games against Missouri State. We have to work on playing the entire match great, instead of just a game or two.

Q: Have you seen an improvement between the beginning of the non-conference season and where you are now?

I think we are a much better team than we were two weeks into the season. The players have figured themselves out. They have learned how to motivate and get themselves out of tough situations.