White & Blue Review is previewing the 2014 Creighton Bluejays volleyball season. You can check out all the preview posts here to read position-by-position breakdowns leading up to the season opening invitational at Kansas.
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Creighton Volleyball head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth and her staff have a tough decision to make before Friday’s season opener against Lipscomb.
Who will be the starter at setter? Do they go with the senior who has fought and clawed for the past three seasons, including being the primary setter last season? Do they go with a transfer from Georgia with two solid seasons under her belt? Or, do they go with a scrappy redshirt freshman who might sneak in under the radar?
Check out photos from the Blue-White scrimmage!
If you are keeping track at home, those are the descriptions for the Bluejays three setters on the roster: Michelle Sicner, Maggie Baumert, and Kenzie Crawford. It does create for an interesting dilemma and one that may not be completely solved during this weekend’s first set of matches.
At the top of the heap is Sicner, who has contributed all over the place her first three seasons. As a freshman, Sicner teamed up with then junior Megan Bober after the first seven matches at the right side hitter to spark the offense with the addition of another setter in a 6-2 set. She was trying to contribute in whatever way possible and Booth wanted to get the best talent on the court. Sicner had a successful season and was named to the MVC All-Freshman team.
As a sophomore, Sicner sacrificed for the team by playing at right side hitter all season while Bober finished her stellar career at setter. She recorded 119 kills that season and 95 blocks. The Bluejays eventually made their return to the NCAA Tournament after just missing the year before.
Sicner received the call last season, the Bluejays first in the Big East, to return to her original setter position and run the Bluejay offense. She took advantage of the opportunity by leading the Bluejays to the NCAA Tournament once again and finished with honors from AVCA including being named an Honorable-Mention All-American and placed on the All-East Region first team, she also was named to the All-Big East 2nd team.
During her career, Sicner has stepped on the court as a starter in 78 of her 90 matches. With so many honors received and the success the team has had, it seemed like a lock that Sicner would be the starter heading into her final season. While Booth has said numerous times that all positions are up for grabs in the preseason, the position that is really up for grabs turns out to be at setter.
This past spring, Elkhorn native Baumert decided to return to her home town after spending three seasons (one as a redshirt) at the University of Georgia. Baumert was a part of the 6-2 offense for the Bulldogs, appearing in every match for them in each of the past two seasons having almost mirroring statistics each year. Georgia went 22-10 last season and made it to the NCAA Tournament. Baumert joined the Bluejays in January and played with the team throughout the spring season and during the team’s trip to Nicaragua this summer. With both Sicner and Baumert playing at very high levels, it has not made things easy going into the fall.
“When we brought Maggie in, that was a huge discussion,” said Booth. “She was told that she would get an opportunity to fight for the position. But she also needs to be a great team player if she is on the bench.”
Last Friday night at the Blue-White scrimmage, the coaching staff hoped that the competitive setting would help clarify things at the position. In fact, it made things harder as they headed into this last week of practice before the season opener.
“All of them did a great job. It is a tough decision,” said Booth after the scrimmage. “We will put a setter out next week. I don’t like to do the revolving door with setters, but this might be the year, that to some degree, we might have to do that a little bit. We still have a lot of decisions to make. We didn’t necessarily try a lot of lineups. We were trying to see if we could get flow and see what players performed well and I think the challenge got harder because a lot of people performed well.”
The teams were evenly split for the first set and Baumert and Sicner mirrored each other in assists and other stats. For the second set, they both played with the team full of last year’s starters and subbed out for each other at different points in the set and again performed pretty evenly. It is hard to say whether this final week of practice really separated both players heading into this week.
The third setter, Kenzie Crawford, has also been mentioned in the mix at setter. After redshirting last year, the freshman from Grand Rapids, Michigan has come out fighting to get into the hunt. While her inexperience might keep her watching Sicner and Baumert this season, the coaching staff has not been shy about having her in the mix. She creates a different look for the Bluejays with her speed and energy and could get some opportunities to try and keep opponents off balanced.
“All three of us are good setters and we fight every day,” said Sicner. “Every drill and every point. It is unusual to have three setters, but we know it just makes us better.”
Booth reiterates their skills.
“I will tell you that all three have had days where they have been the best setter in the gym at practice. They are all fantastic. They are all going out there and winning it. It is a tough decision and a lot of things play into that. Skill, what they can do front row versus back row, what they are providing leadership-wise, there are a lot of components to this.”
No matter who starts, all three embody the type of people Booth, a setter herself during her college days, wants to have on the team to help make them successful.
“I think any of the players that don’t earn the role will be a great teammate. That is an area that does not concern me. They are all great setters, great young women, and this is a battle.”
We will all be watching who starts the season at the position on Friday against Lipscomb.