Taryn Kloth had a second straight strong night for the Bluejays (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
The residual hangover that carries from a 5-set match against the reigning national champion is to be expected, sure. Emotional weight, physical fatigue, and mental stress can linger for hours, even days. For the Jays, they had little time to nurse the hangover by having to play a solid opponent in Iowa State less than 24 hours after dropping an exciting 5-setter against Nebraska.
“If we’d won or lost last night, this was going to be a tough game. It was such an emotional match, and it was almost worst case scenario. We go five, we lose, and it’s been a tough 24 hours emotionally,” Kristen Bernthal-Booth said after the match.
The first set was an erratic measure in the aforementioned hangover as Iowa State mixed it up in system, keeping the Bluejays off balance and scoring some points off mental goofs by the front row. After a 4-0 run to get up 13-9, Iowa State never looked back, forcing the Jays to hit .054% with a plethora of attack errors, giving the Cyclones a 1-0 lead after finishing off the 14th ranked Bluejays 25-22.
It was in the second set where things grew to a fever pitch of turmoil for Creighton as they failed to gather themselves in the little time between sets. As Iowa State’s lead blossomed to six points at 17-11. Coach Booth proceeded to call a timeout, steady the ship, and try to get her squad to claw their way back into the match, only to surrender a point coming out of the timeout.
18-11. Seven points divide them, seven points away from a 2-0 deficit.
Not on Taryn Kloth’s watch.
Kloth, who’d been so spectacular against the Cornhuskers the night previous, proceeded to drive a kill into the Cyclone block, acting as the first dagger in what’d become Iowa State’s death by a million cuts. From there, Kari Zumach plowed a kill into the teeth of the Cyclone defense. Aided by an attack error by the Cyclones, the Jays were suddenly on a 3-0 roll.
It wouldn’t stop there.
Three ISU miscues and a kill by Kloth suddenly had the Jays within three at 20-17. The Cyclones called a timeout in an attempt to stop the pendulum that was careening towards the Bluejay side, yet it was all for naught as Jaali Winters sent a swing off one touch into the heart of the Cyclone defense, knotting the score at 22-all.
It’s in these moments where Creighton’s resiliency begins to shine through. Up until this point they’d all but laid an egg, proving that the Nebraska match took too much out of them, proving that perhaps the schedule of numerous top-25 and potential tournament teams was too drastic, too heavy a load to bear. It’s in these moments where the words like grit and confidence get thrown around all too often. In these moments you see the leaders stand tall and their teammates trust in their abilities.
Jaali Winters came up big when needed most on Friday night (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
In this moment, we saw it all
After surrendering a point to make it 23-22, Megan Ballenger received a gorgeous set from Madelyn Cole and promptly slammed the imaginary hammer, forcing the ball through the Cyclone defense and into the floor, hard. After surrendering another point, with set point on the opponent’s serve, Coach Booth called another timeout.
Do it all again.
Out of the timeout, Ballenger was given another beautiful set – this time by Megan Sharkey – which she promptly sent into the floor, tying the set up at 24-24.
Iowa State’s Brooke Andersen had the opportunity to extend the set in her hands, but met a wall of Ballenger and Zumach, giving the Jays a one point lead at 25-24.
The crowd on their feet as these Bluejays had finally found themselves again, Iowa State wilted, then goofed on a set, the ball careening out of bounds, ultimately surrendering the set to the Jays. With that kind of rally, with that kind of soul sucking, heartbreaking defeat to take with them into intermission, Iowa State’s squandered chances would ultimately doom them.
It’d propel the Jays forward in bright light of glee. A return to form. A reassurance that they are who they are.
They’d start the third set on a 4-0 run. Kloth received two gorgeous sets from Cole, punishing Iowa State’s strain, whole Cole herself acquired an ace. The fourth point was on a block by Annika Welty and Jaela Zimmerman, forcing Coach Kristy Johnson-Lynch’s hand in calling a timeout.
It was too little, too late. The Jays found their mojo and there’s seldom a team in this nation that can stop that sort of running freight train.
Iowa State fought valiantly, but could never tie the match back up. They’d get it to within a point but with Megan Sharkey slotting in at setter and Kari Zumach hitting from the outside, the Jays offered Iowa State something they weren’t expecting. There’s little tape on Sharkey (she hadn’t really played all year, she noted afterwards) and Zumach has her inconsistencies as all freshman do, yet the two combined to for the final two kills of the set, giving the Jays a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set.
“Sharkey did a great job, making us a little more unpredictable,” Coach Booth said of her junior setter.
Wilting like a flower in a drought, Iowa State went from formidable opposition to an exhausted spectator. They had one punch left, however, and led the fourth set 9-6. Life, at that moment, stood still. The thought of another five set match in just under 24 hours, between two arenas, seemed like a measure in marathonery.
These anxiety-inducing thoughts passed quickly, however, as the Jays rattled off a 10-1 run in the blink of an eye, a 16-10 lead, and the Cyclones absolutely reeling. Their energy sapped, the emotion of the crowd turning over with each point, the inability to stop Taryn Kloth.
The Jays polished off the win soon thereafter, relishing in the momentum given to them, and those first two sets where they hit .054 and .128 seemed like a distant memory after their systemic dismantling of Iowa State in the final two sets.
Wichita State looms on Sunday for the Jays, who improved to 5-3 with the win.