This is the first of a four part preview of the 2011 Creighton Volleyball team. Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth leads the Bluejays into the regular season starting on Friday, August 26th at the Texas A&M Invitational opening against Texas-San Antonio.
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A season ago, the Creighton volleyball team began the season with the injury bug and ended the season with its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. To say that then redshirt sophomore Megan Bober wasn’t one of the primary reasons for making the Big Dance, would be outlandish.
Bober, who has started every match the last two seasons, will return to setter for the Bluejays after receiving first-team all-MVC and honorable-mention All-America honors last year. Lucky for Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Bober has improved this offseason.
“She’s a much better setter than she was at the end of the season in December,” Booth said.
Bober was the nation’s lone player to average over 10 assists, 1.4 kills and 0.9 blocks per set in 2010.
As for personal goals and accolades, Bober is indifferent.
“I want to keep improving every time we practice and every time we step on the court, making sure we’re getting better and helping make my teammates better around me so that we can do better than we did last year and improve every day,” Bober said.
With the loss of leadership from last year’s squad since graduating Allie Oelke and Alicia Runge, Coach Booth is expecting Bober to take more of a leadership role this season as a third-year starter. Bober has embraced that role with open arms, she said.
“We definitely did lose a lot of great leadership last year, but the seniors and upperclassmen, we’ve been stepping up to fill those roles just being verbally communicating on the court, being leaders by example, being verbal leaders, leaders by our play, just doing everything we can to get the team going in the right direction,” Bober said.
If Bober can top her play from last season, odds are that a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament is likely.
“We set our goals really high,” Bober said. “We’re a really motivated team and we’re going to work really hard to get there.
“I don’t think that our goals are unachievable and we definitely want to make it back to the (NCAA) Tournament and keep pushing and doing better and keep building our program each day.”
Also competing for playing time at setter is highly-touted freshman Michelle Sicner. The Millard North grad was named No. 60 on the PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces list and is expected to receive a heavy dose of playing time this season. The problem is, Bober will play the vast majority of matches at setter, so Coach Booth will have to find a place for Sicner to play. That’s a great problem to have.
Booth on Sicner:
“Michelle’s incredible. She is a phenomenal player and setter. Right now, I think Megan Bober will probably be our starting setter. Michelle is fighting for time in a couple different roles. We’re looking at a couple different spots. I think it’s going to be hard to keep her off the court in a couple different capacities, I’m just not sure where she’s going to play right now. We’re still working on that.”
Sicner has had the chance to practice with and against one of the nation’s top setters in Bober. That’s an asset that she is excited about and hasn’t taken for granted, Sicner said.
Sicner on Bober:
“She’s been the one who’s been helping me, showing me the ropes and all the offensive stuff and how to work with the defense; what plays to run with who. Working with her has been a great advantage for me.”
Bober on Sicner:
“She’s a great player and a great competitor. She’s definitely really skilled already on the court and I know she’s going to work hard to get better. She’s going to make all of us better playing with her and against her.”
Sophomore Brianne Fliss is transitioning to more of a role as a defensive specialist this season, though could see some time at setter should injuries occur. In the Blue-White scrimmage, Fliss played two sets at libero for the White team, however she is behind Julianne Mandolfo and Brooke Boggs on the depth chart.
Fliss on getting back to the NCAA Tournament:
“That’d be really important because it’d show that we belong there and that our program’s moved up a lot and has improved from last year. It would show that it wasn’t just a fluke last year.”