The Creighton University volleyball program has made tremendous strides over the past three years. Although the Jays went 17-14 in 2011, two true freshman helped pave the foundation for the future success of the Creighton volleyball program. Leah McNary and Michelle Sicner were both named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-freshman squad, and both continue to make incredible plays on the volleyball court for the Jays. Now both are juniors and coming off a thrilling 29-4 campaign in 2012 these ladies are dreaming big as new members of the Big East conference.
Volleyball has been a part of Michelle Sicner’s life for a very long time, beginning with YMCA youth volleyball leagues in third grade. Sicner, a native of Omaha, began playing competitive volleyball when she was in sixth grade with the Nebraska Elite Volleyball club. Early in her volleyball career, Sicner had the goal to play volleyball in college.
When she reached high school, Sicner had transformed into a very successful setter and hitter. Despite playing for three different coaches, she excelled on the court. As a senior, she had 829 assists, 225 kills, and 85 aces. She was named an Under Armour honorable mention All-American and was a candidate for the Andi Collins award, which is awarded to the nation’s best prep setter.
“I knew that I wanted to play a college sport, and volleyball was kind of set for me. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I knew that for sure I wanted to try to play Division I volleyball.”
With the opportunity to continue playing volleyball while getting a quality education, Sicner chose to stay in Omaha and attend Creighton. In addition to being busy with practices, games, film sessions, workouts and study hours, Sicner still has the time to be a nursing major. The arduous task of balancing volleyball with school is something that Sicner has become a master at. There are four other Jays on the volleyball team who are also nursing majors, which has been very helpful, allowing them to study together on road trips. Helping people is something that Sicner is really passionate about, which is why she wants to work in pediatric medicine.
With all of her accolades and honors, she joined the Creighton volleyball team and made an immediate impact. As a freshman, she made
23 starts between right-side hitter, defensive specialist and setter. Then as a sophomore, she made the difficult transition to being exclusively a right-side hitter. Because of this transition, Sicner had a difficult time finding her comfort zone in a new position on the court.
“Coach Kirsten and I have always talked about how setters and hitters have different personalities,” Sicner said. “It was tough, but getting back to setting is a lot more comforting forme.”
Thus far this season, Sicner has started every game for head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth as the team’s setter. She already has 459 assists while averaging over 10 assists per set. Going into the season, Coach Booth was excited about what the Jays’ offense could do with Sicner as the floor general.
“I think we’ve got really good offensive firepower. Michelle Sicner is a phenomenal setter,” Booth said.
Due to the lack of seniors on the roster (there are four freshman, four sophomores, and five juniors), the juniors have had to step up and provide leadership. Sicner believes that each junior brings a different type of leadership to the team.
“We have had a lot of people step up into a leadership role,” Sicner said. “I think that my role is more of a stern role, but it’s really nice that we all have a part in it.”
Although the Jays may be young, they are confident that they can improve upon last year’s monumental season. Sicner says that team goals for this season include reaching the Elite Eight, winning the Big East conference, and not having any upsets or bad losses that could hurt the Jays’ postseason chances. She believes that the “big pieces” are in place, it’s just a matter of cleaning up the small miscues and little things.
“We have a strong chemistry on and off the court, and that’s one of the things that we need to keep because it makes a huge difference on the court,” Sicner said.
Booth agrees saying, “Transferring what we do in practice is huge. Composure is something that can transfer into future matches.”
The Jays were picked by the Big East coaches to win the conference in their first full year as a member of the Big East. After a challenging but impressive non-conference slate of games, the Jays open conference play with a weekend road trip to Butler University and Xavier University. Friday evening against the Bulldogs the match is set to begin at 6 P.M. CST, while the Saturday afternoon match against the Musketeers is set for 3 p.m.