The Creighton women’s volleyball team opened its Missouri Valley Conference season last weekend with two straight three-game sweeps. It began play Friday against rival Southern Illinois University, where the Jays played an up-tempo offensive attack.

The Jays weren’t challenged much in the first game until late. After being up 20-14, the Jays were plagued by hitting and serving errors. It wasn’t until Creighton called a timeout when the score was tied at 22 that the Jays began to kick it into the next gear.

Fighting off two set points, the Jays reclaimed the lead at 25-24 with a kill from junior middle blocker Laurel Sanford.

“With this team we know we have a lot of potential, and coming out of our two tournaments 5-5 didn’t show how good we truly can be,” Sanford said. “Although our record may not have shown it, we can be a dominant team when we’re all on the

same page.”

From then on, the Jays controlled both games two and three, winning 25-22 and 25-20. Leading the way for the Jays offensively were senior outside hitter Allie Oelke with 12 kills and 13 digs and senior outside hitter Alicia Runge adding 11 kills.

Leading the way in the back row was freshman defensive specialist Julianne Mandolfo with 23 digs with sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Boggs and outside hitter Lisa Greisch adding 14 and 10 digs, respectively.

Saturday night the Jays took on the University of Evansville where again the Jays finished with a three-game sweep. The women did not let the Purple Aces get so much as a lead throughout the contest, handling each game with both offense and defense working as one.

Games two and three looked no different from the first. The Jays handled the next two 25-16 and 25-20. Leading the way offensively for the second night was Oelke with 12 kills and 13 digs.

Runge also added 10 kills of her own while junior setter Megan Bober tallied 31 assists, 10 digs, seven kills and six blocks, giving both she and Oelke a double-double on the night. Sanford added seven blocks of her own to go along with eight kills.

The Jays look to continue on this path going into the weekend at home where they will face the No. 16 team in the country, the University of Northern Iowa, and

Bradley University.

“We’re excited about this weekend,” Sanford said. “We want to play UNI this weekend and we want to show people how good we can be.

“We look forward to playing Bradley also because they are a team that we can not look past either.”