Creighton volleyball head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth has never been shy about scheduling some tough competition for her team. As the volleyball regular season inches closer and closer, it is obvious that this year’s schedule is no different. The Bluejays return basically the whole team for the 2014 season and even added a few more weapons to the arsenal. It is also no coincidence that after a second consecutive trip to the round of 32, as well as three of the past four seasons, that Creighton will start the season in the top 25.
Behind a set of veteran players, this season sets up to possibly be one of the best in what has already been a historic run by Bernthal Booth’s team. Here is a breakdown of what is to come for the Bluejays this season.
Invitationals & Non-Conference
During the non-conference season, the best way to use those games is to incorporate as many invitational tournaments as possible. That allows for the most games and the opportunity to play in some challenging competition. The Bluejays will take part in four different ones this season, including hosting two of their own. However, the first two weekends, Creighton will be on the road.
Kansas Invitational (Aug. 29-30; Lipscomb, Utah Valley, Kansas)
Lipscomb: The Bluejays will start the season the weekend of August 29th by heading to Lawrence, Kansas for the Kansas invitational. Creighton will open on Friday against Lipscomb which will be a touch opening match for the Bluejays. The Lady Bison finished 3rd in the Atlantic Sun last season and returns five of their starters and their libero. Jewell Dobson and Lauren Ford lead the way combining for more than 8 kills per set. The other part is that Lipscomb also leads the all-time series 2-0 against the Jays, their last meeting in 2009 in the same Kansas Invitational where the Bluejays lost in four sets.
Utah Valley: Creighton will turn around for an evening game on Friday against Utah Valley. Both of these teams will be meeting each other for the first time. The Wolverines return three of their starters and their libero from last season where they went 18-15. Although Creighton used to be in the WAC back in the day, they aren’t anymore. While the schedule has a lot of big time opponents, the Bluejays can’t ignore this match against probably one of their more inferior opponents.
Kansas: On Saturday, if everything goes as expected the Bluejays will get an opportunity to take the invitational against what has become one of their bigger nemesis as of late, the Kansas Jayhawks. After the Bluejays beat the Jayhawks early last season at Sokol Arena, the Jayhawks returned the favor, but at the expense of a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament. Both of these teams will meet for the 5th time in the past five seasons (didn’t meet in 2011) with the Jayhawks leading the all-time series 6-1. After finishing 2nd in the Big 12 and going deep into the NCAA Tournament last season, Kansas only returns two starters. The Bluejays have a great opportunity to snare a win against what has been a tough team for them recently.
Commonwealth Classic (Sept. 5-6; UNI, USC, Kentucky)
This “National Challenge” invitational will be the first of a four year series between these schools. Each team will host the invite in each of the next four seasons with Kentucky hosting this year. UNI will host in 2015, USC in 2016 and Creighton in 2017. Each of these teams have been very successful in the past and look to be again for 2014.
UNI: Creighton opens up on Friday afternoon against their former MVC rival, Northern Iowa. After getting the best of the Bluejays for several years (in a stretch where the Bluejays went 2-32 against the Panthers at one point) UNI fell to the Bluejays in both matches during the final run through the Valley in 2012 and Creighton went 17-1 in MVC play. UNI rose back to the top of the MVC last season tying for first and are highly anticipating playing Creighton again. They return three starters and their libero.
USC: When Saturday rolls around, the Bluejays will take on the USC Trojans in match one of the day.This will be the first meeting between both schools. USC finished 29-6 last season and finished at #6 in the polls. With four returning starters, the Trojans start this season at #5 in the polls behind fellow conference rivals Stanford and Washington. In fact, 9 teams from the Pac-12 are in the the preseason top 25 or have received votes. This match will be the first of two preseason top-10 opponents the Bluejays will face. A win here could provide big dividends for Creighton.
Kentucky: After a likely grueling match against the Trojans in the morning, the Bluejays will turn around and face the host, Kentucky, on Saturday night. The Wildcats start the season at #19 in the preseason polls in another first meeting between schools. Kentucky finished 22-9 and #20 in the polls last season and return four starters and their libero in 2014. They have a balanced attack that could cause the Bluejays some problems, but yet be familiar with a similar balanced offense.
Bluejay Invitational (Sept. 12-13; Pepperdine, Bowling Green, Wichita State)
After two challenging weekends on the road, the Bluejays finally make their home debut at DJ Sokol Arena by hosting their annual Bluejay Invitational. Since Creighton started hosting their own invitational in 2005, they have yet to win one, meaning they have been able to host some top-notch teams. This year the big opponent is a familiar one.
Pepperdine: Creighton will make their first appearance as the host on Friday night against Pepperdine. The Waves were 15-11 last season, finishing fourth in the West Coast Conference. They come into 2014 returning four starters and their libero taking on the Bluejays for the first time. This should be a good home opener for Creighton to give their fans a taste of what is to come.
Bowling Green: The Bluejays have a Saturday, noon, matchup with Bowling Green. The Falcons were 14-16 last season and come into 2014 returning three of their starters. The Bluejays defeated the Falcons in their only other meeting last season in their hosted invitational winning in a very competitive sweep, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25.
Wichita State: The big match of the Bluejay Invitational will take place on Saturday night as the Bluejays take on the Shockers. Both of these schools were rivals in every sport while in the MVC and that has not cooled at all since Creighton left for the Big East. Creighton and Wichita State faced each other in Wichita last season as a part of the Shocker Volleyball Classic with the Bluejays getting a 3-2 win. Wichita State finished 28-7 and tied with UNI for first in the Valley. This season might be different for them however as they return one starter, outside hitter Katie Reilly and libero Dani Mostrom. With the win last season, the Bluejays lead the all-time series 22-21. Creighton hopes to extend their winning percentage against the Shockers and walk away with their first Bluejay Invitational title.
Nebraska (September 17)
The Bluejays go through all of that before they get to one of the more anticipated matches by the players–a meeting against the Cornhuskers. If you ask the Creighton players which match they are looking forward to the most, the media guide explicitly has over half the team listing Nebraska.
Nebraska has been off the schedule for the past couple of seasons. Some may say it was because of Nebraska’s move to the Big 10 leaving few schedule openings. Others say that John Cook purposely dodged the Bluejays since 2011 –a period where Creighton has experienced some of the greatest history to the program and a run of NCAA tournament round of 32 appearances three of the past four seasons. Either way, this one will be a good litmus test to see how far the Bluejays have come.
Creighton did take on the Huskers in one of the final matches at the legendary Colliseum in a Spring Season match two years ago and walked out winners. They were not as lucky this past summer in a spring match in Wayne, Nebraska getting swept. With the Bluejays playing for the first time in the Husker’s new home, the Devaney Center, it is a whole new ball game and a whole new crowd, which will be one of the biggest they play in front of all season. There are goosebumps for a reason. It is the opportunity to take down an in-state rival and one of the top teams in the nation.
The good news is that they will face off again in 2015 at the CenturyLink Center.
Creighton Classic (Sept. 19-20; Illinois, South Dakota, Colorado)
Creighton will finish their non-conference portion of the season hosting their second inivitational in as many weeks, the Creighton Classic. Having this opportunity is somewhat rare, but another opportunity to get in a few matches before Big East Conference play starts.
Illinois: Creighton opens their part of the Classic taking on Illinois on Friday night. The Illini return all six starters from last season after finishing 18-15 and tied for fourth in the Big 10 and will create another big challenge for the Bluejays. Creighton is 0-2 all-time against Illinois including losing in straight sets in the 2009 Bluejay Invitational which the Illini went on to win. Although they are not ranked #10 this season, this will be a tough opening match in the Classic.
South Dakota: The Bluejays will quickly turnaround on Saturday to take on the Coyotes at noon for the fourth straight season. In 2011 they were part of the Bluejay Invitational, in 2012 came to Omaha for a midweek match and last season the Bluejays played them in Wichita as part of the Shocker invite. The Bluejays lead the all-time series 3-0 and look to make it a fourth straight victory. South Dakota does return five starters and their libero, but have a new coach this season. But sometimes having a new coach makes them harder to prepare for and could make for a challenge to the Bluejays.
Colorado: Creighton will finish out the non-conference portion of their season on Saturday night as they take on Colorado. The Buffalos come into the season receiving votes in the preseason poll in the very tough PAC-12 conference. This will be only their second meeting all-time with Colorado winning the only other meeting back in 2005. The Buffalos enter the season with four returning starters and their libero led by outside hitter Taylor Simpson, who averages almost four kills per set. A grueling non-conference part of the schedule will come to an end.
Big East Conference Play
We will break down conference play as we get closer to its start at the end of September. A few notes though to wet your appetite:
- Creighton will be heavily favored to win the Big East, however the conference as a whole is on the rise.
- Marquette continues to have great success while Butler and Xavier were nice surprises.
- The conference averages almost five returning starters per team, which should bolster the talent and play in the Big East.
- The conference will be a full 10 teams this season as they went ahead and welcomed Providence into the mix. They have played the past several seasons in the America East conference due to limited funding for the program with scholarships. They have made a commitment to fund the program and will join the Big East now.
- Creighton’s senior day is during the conference home opener against Butler on September 26th. This is what worked best for the senior families to be in attendance.
- The conference season for the Bluejays starts on the road for the fourth time in the past five seasons. However, this season only has one road match before returning home for two in a row, back on the road for four in a row, at home for five in a row, four in a row on the road, and finishing the regular season with two home matches.
Look for more as we continue our 2014 Creighton Volleyball preview leading up to the season opener at the Kansas Invitational.