The Creighton volleyball team is continuing beat the teams they’re supposed to. They got a scare from Southern Illinois last Friday night in a five-set thriller and then turned around and swept Evansville on Saturday.
Megan Bober and Laurel Sanford are leading the way for the Bluejays. Bober was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week with another triple-double performance, while Sanford was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week. These upperclassmen leaders may be peaking at the right time.
The conference race is in the home stretch and if Creighton is going to be near the top they will have to take care of things on the road. This weekend starts the final month of the regular season, with a string of three of the final four weekends traveling to the different ends of Valley territory. Up this week is a trip to Indiana State and Illinois State — two teams that could spoil the Bluejays’ chances of making it to the postseason.
As the team was preparing for the challenging road trip, I had a chance to talk to head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to get her view of the team and their goals for this weekend.
White & Blue Review: Last week with Southern Illinois and Evansville, the Salukis made things close but then swept Evansville. How did you feel about those wins and how the team did?
Kirsten Bernthal Booth: “I thought Southern Illinois played great and I thought that was a great win for us. I think sometimes we haven’t been as strong mentally and emotionally as we should be. I thought after losing game three it was a pivotal moment for our team, whether we would roll over or would we compete. I was really pleased to see us come back in the fourth game and play well and win the fifth game. A lot of people on paper would say we should have beat that team in three, but I thought Southern played great and we played a solid match and I was really pleased on how we competed.”
WBR: Against Evansville, it seemed Natalie Hackbarth came in and gave the team a spark of energy. How has her play been this season with it being up and down?
KBB: “Natalie has had one of the toughest roles on the team. She didn’t play early, then she played, and then she didn’t play. I think it is easy for a kid to throw in the towel at that point. We talked to her a couple of weeks ago. We told her that she needed to fight for this spot, come in early and getting reps. The other thing we tell players who aren’t starting are that they need to impress us on the scout side and she has been doing that. She earned that playing time opportunity by what she has been doing in practice.
She struggled some on Friday night when she went in, but I thought on Saturday she came in and gave us a great lift. The other thing that Natalie does that is really intense is she’s ‘comic relief’ to the team when we take things too serious. She is someone that can lighten it a little bit and relax us and bring a good vibe to the court.”
WBR: With Megan Bober and Laurel Sanford getting honors this week, are they peaking at the right time?
KBB: “I think Laurel and Megan have carried a lot of load for us all season. They continue to play well. Laurel didn’t play as well offensively this weekend. This is where I think great players are determined — if you are not succeeding in one area where you want to, are you going to let that affect other areas or are you going to play great? Obviously her blocking took over this weekend. I think we will get her offense going again. Here’s another thing. When teams approach Creighton, they say to shut down the middle. They are triple-blocking Laurel and Heather (Thorson). I have coaches tell me that they just have to shut down Creighton’s middle. Evansville said their whole objective was to shut down Laurel Sanford. They did do that, but then other people stepped up. That’s what we need.
Megan was incredible all week, and especially I thought against Southern Illinois. It was almost like a joke amongst the staff that everything she touched went down regardless of what she was doing. She was pretty phenomenal.”
WBR: With three of the four last weekends on the road, how tough is that going to be to get through the rest of the league?
KBB: “It is what it is because that Drake weekend is a little deceiving because it is one match. As much as I would like to be home that last weekend, I think it is okay because we only have one match that weekend. I think playing one match regardless of whether it is home or on the road is an advantage going into the conference tournament. I would take that over a double-home weekend any day. I think you find the positives in the situation. We can play one match and then focus on the conference tournament, assuming we qualify.”
WBR: With Illinois State and Indiana State this weekend, Illinois State seems to be a team that will present quite a challenge?
KBB: “First of all, Indiana State is missing their best outside, but they have a middle that has just torn us up. The other thing with Indiana State historically during my time here has played very poorly in Omaha and very well in Terre Haute, so I anticipate that will be the same. I would be very surprised if it is not a battle for us. So we will have to be ready to go on Friday night.
On Saturday night we’re going to have to play great. Illinois State is one game behind us. Their only loss beyond the losses we have is to us and they were missing one of their starting outsides when we played them at our place. They are playing really well right now, taking a game form Northern Iowa last week, so we’ll have our hands full.”
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NOTES:
- A couple of players were out earlier this week due to illness, but the team is back to full strength and will be ready to go on Friday night.
- Only the Illinois State game on Saturday will be on the radio. You can listen to the game on 1180 KOIL AM.
- Against Indiana State, the team to win the first set has won the past 15 meetings.
- The Bluejays have one 11 of past 12 against Illinois State since breaking an 11-match losing streak back in 2006.
- Megan Bober needs only two more triple-doubles to get to the top of the MVC all-time in that statistic.
- Julianne Mandolfo is over 1000 digs for the season, the second quickest in Creighton history to get to this mark.
- The team will fly to St. Louis on Thursday and then bus their way around the rest of the trip to Indiana State, Illinois State and back home on Sunday.
