The Creighton volleyball team improved to 18-3 on the season with a dominant victory against Drake University over the weekend.  The Jays swept the Bulldogs in three sets (25-17, 25-17 and 25-11), completing their first sweep in Des Moines since 2003.  With this win the Jays moved up to No. 28 in the AVCA poll, the highest ranking in team history.

The Jays finished with a team total of 36 kills compared to 24 for the Bulldogs.  Sophomore middle blocker Kelli Browning led the Jays with 12 kills and six blocks, while seniors middle blocker Heather Thorson and setter Megan Bober chipped in seven apiece.

“All around we played pretty well,” freshman libero Kate Elman said. ”We have some things that we still need to work on.  We need to work on our consistency with playing teams that are lower in our conference and we need to sustain our level of play when it comes to those games, and that’s one of the things we’ve been trying to work on.”

Elman led the Bluejays’ defensive effort with 22 digs.

The Jays continue conference play this weekend with games at home against the University of Evansville (8-16, 3-8 MVC) and Southern Illinois University (17-5, 7-4 MVC).  The Jays beat Evansville 3-1 and lost to Southern Illinois 1-3 in September.

Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said she is aware of the importance of the games this weekend.

“Evansville and Southern Illinois are both playing very well,” Booth said. “Evansville is coming in with a lot of momentum, seeing them on tape, they’re much improved form the first time we played them.  Then Southern Illinois, they’re our lone loss in conference, so we’re going to definitely need to be ready to play them.  They’ve got a great middle.”

The Jays host Evansville on Friday at 7 p.m.  On Saturday the Jays will look to avenge their loss against Southern Illinois in the Pink Out game at 4 p.m. Both games are at D.J. Sokol Arena.