It’s still lurking in the back of everyone’s minds: how, after the best season in Creighton volleyball history and finishing tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Jays were somehow overlooked by the NCAA selection committee for the postseason tournament.

Nine months later, the Bluejays are turning their bitterness into something productive.

“You have to get over the sourness, use it as motivation,” coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said.

With a team that returns four starters and nine letterwinners, determination is taking the place of the disappointment.

“It’s a huge reason why we’re coming out with a swagger this year,” senior right side/outside hitter Amanda Cvejdlik said. “We’re ready to play any team.”

The Jays will need that swagger when facing a daunting schedule that included two Top 25 teams in the first weekend plus No. 2 Nebraska and conference rival No. 22 Wichita State later in the season.

Booth was clear that such scheduling

was deliberate to provide Creighton with the opportunity to be a nationally recognized program.

“We sell recruits on the idea that you want to come to Creighton to be a Top 25 program, to be conference champions, and we schedule that way,” she said.

Playing such high-profile opponents also helps the team itself.

“Being able to play elite teams allows us to see where we’re struggling and where we’re succeeding so that we can be where we want to be in November,” Cvejdlik said.

This year, the Bluejays continue in their quest for their first-ever conference championship and NCAA bid. Last year’s snub only

increases the desire for the veterans on the team.

“We have a specific goal, and we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder. It makes the drive that much stronger,” junior middle blocker Jessica Houts said.

The return of a majority of the team that finished 21-10 with a best-ever 14-4 conference record is a definite advantage in Creighton’s postseason hopes.

“We have a veteran team,” Booth said. “They understand what has to happen for a conference championship, and what has to happen for an NCAA bid. I’d say they get it more.”

Both of the last two seasons have been dubbed the team’s “best season ever,” so it is appropriate that the expectations continue to grow with the team.

“That’s always the goal,” Booth said. “With a senior setter, senior libero and seniors throughout the court, we hope to take

another step.”

However, it is not to the NCAA that the Jays have the most to prove. More than anything, a “best season ever” is something they want for themselves.

“We want to show we belong [in the NCAA tournament] but we want to do what we need to do and have fun,” Houts said.