Senior Megan Bober leads the Bluejay volleyball team this season.
The Creighton Bluejays volleyball team hit the courts this past week, starting practice for the 2012 season. Kirsten Bernthal Booth guided the Jays to a win in their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2010, but the 2011 squad suffered an up and down season. Despite missing the postseason, the Bluejays played in one of the toughest volleyball conferences in the nation, finishing fourth, as the MVC sent three teams to the 2011 tournament.
The Bluejays head into the season looking to fill some holes with the graduation of All-Valley middle blocker Laurel Sanford, hitter Karisa Almgren, and the transfer of MVC Libero of the Year, Julianne Mandolfo, to Ohio State.
Led this season by All-Conference setter Megan Bober and veterans Brooke Boggs and Heather Thorson, Creighton has a great opportunity to build a post-season profile through a strong non-conference schedule. Today, we take a look at the Bluejays’ non-conference opponents and key matches in the first of our previews of the Creighton volleyball team.
The Bluejays start the season playing in three different invitationals — one at South Florida, hosting their own Bluejay invitational, and then a final invitational trip at Northern Colorado. They also will head to Kansas and host South Dakota.
USF Invitational:
The Bluejays start their season on the road at the South Florida Invitational. This will be a bit of a homecoming for sophomore Leah McNary, who is from Tarpon Springs, located close to the South Florida campus in Tampa. Creighton will be meeting all of the teams in this invitational for the first time.
8/24 — Central Florida
Central Florida out of Conference USA kicks things off against the Bluejays. UCF finished fourth in the conference last season, but returns five of six starters and their libero heading into 2012. They are led by Angelica Crump and Evija Vilde, who averaged 4.34 and 3.32 kills per set respectively. The challenge for the Knights will be breaking in a new setter. The off-season was busy for their head coach, Todd Dagenais, as he was appointed as the head coach for the USA Women’s Junior A2 program.
8/25 — South Florida
South Florida finished eighth in the Big East last season. They are breaking in a new head coach; long time coach Claire Lessinger resigned for family reasons. The Bulls return four starters but are replacing their libero and setter. While USF will host this invite and have home crowd support, this is a great opportunity here for Creighton to get a win.
8/25 — Wisconsin
Wisconsin, like USF, finished eighth in their conference. They return five starters and their libero, making the Badgers a pretty cohesive team heading into 2012. Their setter, Courtney Thomas, also doubles as an outside hitter making her pretty versatile.
Creighton sophomore Kelli Browning was originally courted by Wisconsin before deciding to join the Bluejays. She led her high school team to a pair of state titles and was a first-team all-state as a senior. The Bluejays round out the invitational playing against a school for the first time. With the Big Ten always tough in volleyball — Wisconsin still finished 57th in the RPI — a victory here would be a big bump to the Bluejays’ RPI resume.
Bluejay Invitational:
Creighton will once again host an invitational at Sokol Arena. The Bluejays have hosted this invite each season since 2005 and once again bring a nice lineup of teams to Omaha.
8/31 — Syracuse
The Bluejays continue their tour against first time opponents by welcoming Syracuse to Sokol Arena. The Orange finished fourth in the Big East. However, they lost seven letter winners including their libero. Four starters return for new head coach Leonid Yelin, who brings over 30 years of experience to the program. Although a school known better for its basketball program, Syracuse provides a big matchup to open the home slate at Sokol Arena.
9/1 — Kansas State
The Wildcats are coming off a Sweet 16 appearance last season, including knocking off MVC foe Wichita State in the first round. If you are looking for a match to pack the home court, this one would be it. Kansas State returns all starters including their libero and could be considered one of the top teams in the nation. Creighton is 0-5 against Kansas State since the Bluejays relaunched their program in 1994. This will be their first meeting since 2005, where they lost in three sets to the ranked Wildcats.
9/1 — Denver
The Bluejays close out their own invite in their first ever meeting with the Pioneers. Denver breaks in a new coach, Jesse Mahoney, after the team went 13-16 last season, finishing second in the Sun Belt conference. They return four starters, including middle blocker Faimie Kingsley. Kingsley had 3.25 kills per set to go along with 1.59 blocks per set last season earning first team All-Sun Belt honors. This year she is a preseason first team All-American according to Cobra Magazine. The Pioneers are playing their first season in the WAC.
Northern Colorado Classic:
9/7 — Ball State
This will be Creighton’s first meeting against the Cardinals. Ball State went to the NCAA tournament last season, losing to Louisville in the first round. The Cardinals finished tied for second in the Mid American Conference, and they return three starters and their libero in 2012. Ball State is poised to contend for the top of the MAC once again.
9/8 — Tulsa
The Bluejays meet Tulsa for the fifth time ever, but the first since 1995. Creighton is 4-0 in their previous meetings, losing only one set total in those four meetings. In his first season at the helm, head coach Steven McRoberts took the Golden Hurricane to the NCAA tournament in 2011 and advanced to the second round with a win over Oklahoma. This year Tulsa will be tough again, returning five of their six starters as well as their libero, Jessica Adams, who averaged 4.85 digs per set last season.
9/8 — Northern Colorado
Northern Colorado is coming off an NCAA tournament appearance last season as well, their second in three seasons. The Bluejays are 1-1 all-time against Northern Colorado as a part of different invitationals in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. However, this will be Creighton’s first trip to Greeley. Creighton swept Northern Colorado in the 2005 season as a part of the Bluejay Invitational. The Bears return five starters, including Big Sky MVP Kelley Arnold (3.85 kps, 2.45 dps), and will likely be in the mix to defend their Big Sky championship.
9/19 — @ Kansas
After a grueling weekend hosting a couple of tough MVC opponents in Wichita State and Missouri State, Creighton hits the road to take on Kansas looking for their first win against the Jayhawks. This will be their first get together since KU came to Omaha in 2010 as a part of the Bluejay Invitational. The Jayhawks finished in the top 50 of the RPI last season and return five starters and their libero. Kansas is expected to finish in the middle of the Big 12 this season after finishing eighth last season. This game will be on TV across the Kansas viewing area on Metro sports. It is possible it could be carried in Omaha as well.
9/25 — South Dakota
Creighton finishes the non-conference portion of the schedule in their second ever meeting with South Dakota in a mid-week match. The Coyotes finished sixth in the Summit League last season. However, they do return four starters and their libero. Theses two teams played last season at Sokol Arena, with Creighton winning 3-1 after losing the first set.
Later this week we will continue our preview looking at how the Missouri Valley Conference stacks up this year as well as a more in-depth look at the 2012 Creighton Volleyball team.
The Bluejays kick off their season with the annual Blue & White Scrimmage at Sokol Arena on Friday night, August 17.