The Creighton Volleyball team split their first conference road trip, falling at Southern Illinois University before taking down the University of Evansville. The Jays have tied their best start through 16 games with a 13-3 record and are second in the MVC at 4-1 in Valley play.
Freshman outside hitter Melanie Jereb was named MVC Freshman of the Week for her ply against South Dakota, Southern Illinois an Evansville. Jereb racked up 32 kills, 35 digs, 12 blocks and hit .304 over the course of the week to earn he honor. Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said Jereb has played really well all season long.
“She’s just so good in every aspect of her game,” Booth said. “She’s a great serve receiver for us, a great defensive player, she has a great serve, she’s a great blocker, she’s just really a well put-together player.”
Jereb gives some of the credit for her strong first collegiate season and steady improvement to her teammates.
“The girls [are] always bringing me up and helping me with every part of my game and I know I can always go to them for help,” Jereb said. “Even during matches I’m still learning from them and everyday they’re helping me get better at my play.”
Coming into their game at Evansville, Creighton had not lost consecutive games all season long, and that trend would continue against the Purple Aces as the Jays won in four sets. Scores in Creighton’s favor were 25-16, 25-10, 23-25 and 25-17. Jereb said the team used their previous loss as motivation.
“I think we came in Saturday with the idea that we’re going to work harder and be faster and stronger than we ever have been before and the loss actually helped propel us to be even better,” Jereb said.
The Bluejays’ defense carried the team to victory, holding Evansville to just .086 hitting and recorded 15 blocks along with 82 digs. The Jays finished with a 58-39 edge in kills and hit .283 as a team.
Jereb led the Jays with a career-high 18 kills on .349 hitting to go with her eight digs and six blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Kelli Browning added 13 kills and eight blocks. Senior setter Megan Bober finished with a double-double of 43 assists and 17 digs. Freshman libero Kate Elman led Creighton with a career-best 27 digs.
The first set was tied at 13-allwhen Creighton took a timeout to settle the team down. The Jays came out of the break and went on a 4-o run to take control of the game and closed out the nine-point victory on an ace by freshman defensive specialist Ashley Jansen.
The second set was an easy 15-point win for Creighton as the Jays’ defense dominated and forced -.061 hitting from the Purple Aces.
Creighton took control of the third set early on and looked poised to complete their fifth straight sweep against Evansville, but the Aces rallied with a 7-1 run to take a one-point lead. Creighton tied the game at 23-all, but Evansville closed out the set with back-to-back kills.
The fourth set went back and forth early and was tied at 11-11 before Creighton ripped off three straight points to take the lead. From there, solid play on both offense and defense allowed Creighton to pull away and close out the match with an eight-point victory.
Creighton began the road trip in Carbondale, Ill. against the Salukis of Southern Illinois on Friday night. The Jays were riding a 19-game win streak against the Salukis, but the streak came to an end as Creighton lost in four sets. Scores of the match in Southern Illinois’ favor were 25-21, 16-25, 25-22 and 28-26.
Browning finished tied for the lead with 16 kills and four blocks while hitting a game-high .480. Jereb posted a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs and also chipped in four blocks.
Although Creighton had the edge in kills, digs, aces, blocks and hitting percentage, Southern Illinois still managed to win the match. Booth felt the service game was the difference,as although the Jays had finished with six aces they also committed 10 service errors compared to only four for the Salukis.
“We made a lot of service errors on Friday night, Booth said. “We got aced too many times. We always talk about you have to win the serve and pass game and I didn’t think we did that all that effectively.”
Jareb also said she felt the Salukis came out with more energy and intensity.
“They definitely outworked us I think in some plays and that they came with an extremely high drive to beat Creighton,” Jereb said. “I think that’s a big element in why we loss.”
The Jays got off to a fast start in the first set and took an 8-4 lead, but the Salukis responded and tied the game up. The two teams battled back and forth before a 4-0 run after a 17-all tie gave the Salukis a lead they would not relinquish.
Creighton responded by taking the second set behind a strong attack led by Jereb’s six kills on eight swings.
In the third set Creighton fought back from being down early, but back to back to back errors by the Jays gave the Salukis a 2-1 set lead.
The Salukis were in control for much of the fourth set before a 5-0 run behind the serving of Browning gave Creighton an 18-16 lead. The Jays had chances to sen the match to a fifth set with a 24-22 lead, but SIU held on and took a 25-24 lead. Creighton also fended off two set points by Southern Illinois before finally succumbing to the Salukis attack, losing 28-26.
Creighton returns home on Friday night to host the first place University of Northern Iowa Panthers at 7 p.m. at D.J. Sokol Arena. The game can be heard on the radio on 1180 AM KZOT.