Creighton went into this week fully aware that the matches away from their own gym against fifth-ranked Nebraska and fourth-ranked Louisville provided them an opportunity to make a statement to themselves and the rest of the college volleyball world.
They were taught a hard lesson with a slow start and poor finish sandwiched around aggressive performances in must-win third and fourth sets dooming them against the Huskers. Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said, unprovoked, after sweeps of Northern Iowa and Rice on Friday and Saturday that they couldn’t afford to follow that same script on Sunday against the Cardinals and expect a different result.
Unfortunately, her intuition proved prophetic as the ninth-ranked Bluejays did just that as Louisville served them the same flavor they taste-tested in Lincoln by winning the first two sets 25-18 and 25-20, dropping the third and fourth sets 25-10 and 25-15, then restarting the engines and cruising to a 15-8 clincher in set five.
So why did Creighton not heed their veteran head coach’s warning five days after finding out how it would likely turn out?
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Booth said. “I thought our defense — we were in locations, but we didn’t make digs. I thought we did start to in [sets] three and four. Our block setups struggled some, so, you know, that’s what we talked about in the locker room afterwards. This is now a trend. So how are we going to respond?”
The most glaring issue in set one at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday was serve receive. Louisville senior libero Elena Scott set the tone with her first trip behind the line, which fueled a 5-0 run that produced the one and only lead change of the entire opening game. The Cardinals only hit .147 as a team in the first set, but their serving made Creighton’s offense easier to read, which in turn helped them record ace blocks on half of CU’s 10 attack errors.
The Bluejays cut those errors in half and produced 16 kills as a team in the second set, allowing themselves to get within two late at 20-18. However, Louisville’s offense was also much sharper with 17 kills on .417 hitting. That allowed them to separate midway through and outscore Creighton 5-2 at end game to bag the first two sets heading into the locker room.
Senior middle blocker Elise Goetzinger came out with her hair on fire to help Creighton get its mojo going in a backs-against-the-wall third set. CU used an 8-0 to open up a commanding 15-6 lead with seven of those rallies ending on either a kill or a block by the transfer from Kentucky.
For the set, she hit .714 with five kills and three blocks. More than any player on either team in each category.
“Set three was just a flow state [of mind], almost,” Goetzinger said. “I was just not even thinking about anything. The scout was almost locked in the back of my mind. I knew what I needed to do, and the connection with Kendra was just as perfect as it could be. The sets were in the right place, so I got to put them down.”
The fourth set wasn’t as decisively in Creighton’s favor as the third, but it wasn’t far off. They served up three aces, committed 10 fewer attack errors than the Cardinals, and never trailed at any point from the very first rally on.
“We served aggressive, we passed well, and we moved the ball around,” Booth said. “All the things that we needed to do in [set] five. We were the aggressor.”
If that quote sounds familiar that’s because it’s the same sentiment that was echoed after the loss to Nebraska. Just like the Huskers that night, Louisville raced out to a 6-2 lead and won eight of the first 12 rallies before the changeover and Creighton was just never able to reestablish the rhythm or aggression that allowed them to force the fifth game in the first place. Between the tiebreakers, the Bluejays recorded just 13 kills on 52 swings.
For Booth, the commonality is simple.
“They stepped up and we didn’t,” she said. “There’s a mix of different things, but ultimately, we have to make plays in big moments, and we didn’t do that.”
Well after the cooldown period in the locker room, several players were still visibly upset after the match, even while their parents and loved ones tried their best to lift their spirits. It stings to squander those opportunities against the teams that are projected to be standing between you and a national championship later on down the road, especially with each setback following the same script.
But like Tuesday, they won’t be afforded a few days to lick their wounds. That’s because two more stiff tests await them on Friday and Saturday when they’ll head down to Lawrence, KS to take a pair of undefeated teams in Purdue and Kansas that will both likely be ranked in the Top 10 of the AVCA Coaches’ Poll on Monday.
“We don’t get much time,” Goetzinger said. “We have the next couple days to practice and get better. We don’t have a whole lot of time to think about it, so we need to get in the gym and hold ourselves to a higher standard. We need to compete at a higher level. We need to maybe work on some drills to 15 and react in those situations. We can’t roll over teams in the third and fourth and think we’ve got this. We have to actually execute on those things.
“I think it’s really important that we have the next opportunity right in front of us. However, I hope that we actually make the change and aren’t just [content] with going to five sets with a top five team, because we should be winning these games.”