The Creighton volleyball team is off to the best start in program history after picking up wins against the Drake University Bulldogs and the University of South Dakota Coyotes and improving to 12-2 on the season, including a perfect 3-0 record in MVC play.
After a clean sweep of Drake in their previous match, the Bluejays had to fight for every point Tuesday night to earn a win in their final non-conference game of the 2012 regular season. The Bluejays battled off a late attack by South Dakota to win the match three sets to one. Scores in Creighton’s favor were 25-18, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-21.
Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth commented that her team was lucky to pull out the victory.
“South Dakota played a great match tonight,” Booth said. “I didn’t think we made some adjustments we needed to make and I think we were fortunate to get out with a win.”
After trailing early in the first set, the Jays took control using a 17-3 run to take a 17-6 lead. The Jays hit 10-19 with zero errors on their way to the 11-point lead, but the Coyotes wouldn’t go down without a fight.
After Creighton built a 19-7 lead, the Coyotes scored six straight to cut the deficit in half. The Jays held on, however, and closed out the first set with a seven-point victory.
In set two, the Jays had to fight for another victory. Creighton found themselves trailing 15-10 before the Jays ended the set with a 15-3 run to pull off the come from behind
seven-point triumph.
After two hard-fought victories by the white-and-blue, the Coyotes were not willing to give up in the third set. South Dakota jumped out to a 5-0 lead, forcing the Jays to play from behind yet again, and Creighton was unable to mirror their success from the second match. The Jays held a one point lead only twice and never led by more than that during the third set. South Dakota led by as many as five en route to their four-point victory.
After falling to the Coyotes in the third set, the Jays started strong in the fourth set, taking a 4-0 lead and forcing South Dakota to use a timeout to slow the bleeding.
The visitors fought their way back into the final match, taking a 9-8 lead after an attack error by sophomore outside hitter Leah McNary.
The final set was a see-saw battle much like the third, entailing 10 ties and four lead changes. After an impressive rally, McNary electrified the crowd with her final kill of the evening to put the Jays ahead for good, 20-19.
McNary led the Jays with 20 kills.
Freshman outside hitter Melanie Jereb ended the night with her fourth kill of the evening to seal the victory in the final set.
“[South Dakota] came out and played us a tough match,” senior setter Megan Bober said. “We were able to come out and stay focused and take care of our side of the net and control the match and come out with the win.”
Between a tough five-set loss to the University of Kansas Jayhawks and the victory against South Dakota, the Jays stepped back into conference play last Friday night looking to bounce back against a struggling Drake squad. After winning a hard-fought first set, the Jays cruised to the sweep in the second and third sets. Scores in favor of the Jays were 25-23, 25-14 and 25-11.
The Jays put forth a dominant defensive effort, holding the Bulldogs to .073 hitting and recording eight blocks. Drake also committed 20 attack errors and five service errors, compared to only ten and two for the Jays.
The back line came up big as freshman libero Kate Elman, senior defensive specialist Brooke Boggs and freshman defensive specialist Ashley Jansen combined for 36 of the team’s 54 digs, and Boggs said their defense fueled
the offense.
“Every aspect of the game is important, and if we make those digs we give our hitters a chance to put the ball away,” Boggs said.
McNary led the attack with a game-high 12 kills, sophomore middle blocker Kelli Browning chipped in eight kills and two aces and Bober led everyone with 31 assists.
Creighton got off to a slow start and the game went back and forth early. The Bluejays appeared to take control with a 5-0 run that gave the Jays a 16-11 lead, but the Bulldogs fought back to tie it up at 20-20.
Creighton regained the lead and had a chance to end it at 24-21, but Drake fought off the set point twice to cut the lead to one. Following a Creighton timeout, McNary converted on the Jays’ third set point with a strong kill and put Creighton up 1-0.
Despite winning, Booth had more good things to say about the Bulldogs than she did about her own team’s performance in the set.
“I didn’t like the way we came out in the first game,” Booth said. “I thought Drake came out and really was digging a lot of balls and played with good passion.”
The Bluejays came out ready to play in the second set, however, and jumped out to an 8-0 lead with Boggs serving. Drake responded with a 4-0 run of their own, but would get no closer as the Jays took control and never looked back. A block by junior outside hitter Natalie Hackbarth and sophomore middle blocker Savannah Smith closed out the set and put Creighton ahead 2-0.
Creighton’s excellent play carried over into the third set, although Drake kept it close for a while. Creighton held a 13-9 lead midway through the set before going on a 12-2 run to end the match.
“We played a tough match on Wednesday night and wanted to come out strong,” Bober said. “We came out a little slow to start but we were able to get focused in and come out with a victory tonight.”
Booth said she was pleased with the way her team was able to maintain focus against a team that had only won one game all season.
“Defensively I thought we did a pretty nice job,” Booth said. “I think a team like this is tough to play, and to keep your momentum and kind of keep your focus and keep your energy. After game one, I thought we did a nice job of that.”
Booth wasn’t as happy with the team’s performance on the offensive end.
“The one gripe I have over tonight is I didn’t think we passed well, pretty much universally the whole night, so we’ve got to make sure we lock that in and get that going for us to be successful,” Booth said.
The win against South Dakota marked the end of the Jays nonconference season, and now they are turning their attention to competing for the Valley title. That begins this weekend with a tough road trip, although playing on the road hasn’t given them many problems thus far with six wins and only one loss away from D.J. Sokol Arena this year.
“I think this team is comfortable playing at home and on the road and I think that’s a good thing,” Booth said. “We’re going to need to be ready for a battle both nights. This is just a tough road swing. Should be fun though.”
The Jays travel to Carbondale, Ill. on Friday to take on the 11-3 Southern Illinois University Salukis at 7 p.m.
“(The Salukis) are a very, very good team … this is a legit team that we’re going to have to play like we did against some of the other top-40 teams in the country to walk out with a win there,” Booth said.
They follow that up on Saturday by traveling to Indiana to take on the University
of Evansville Purple Aces at 5 p.m.