Last weekend, the Creighton volleyball team hit the road and got a couple of nice wins to finish out their successful October going 6-3. They dominated Indiana State on Friday night and then the Illinois State Redbirds took them to a five set thriller. The Bluejays now stand alone in second place heading into one of their most important series of the season.
Wichita State, who is in fourth place and Missouri State, currently in third, come to town for the final home matches for the Bluejays. The results of these matches will be a key factor in determining seeding for the MVC Tournament at the end of the month.
With these also being the final matches at Sokol Arena this season, Creighton will say goodbye to two seniors in Laurel Sanford and Karisa Almgren. But with two more weekends of matches after this, there is still a lot of volleyball to be played.
This weekend is all about building a resume for that chance to still get an at large bid. Creighton is sitting at #55 in the latest RPI rankings. Getting a couple wins against the #44 and #40 teams can do nothing but help them continue their rise.
With a lot at stake this weekend, head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth took some time to talk the team and their preparations for this weekend.
White & Blue Review: Last weekend, Illinois State took you as far as they could and after the dominance the night before against Indiana State, how do you think your team did?
Kirsten Bernthal Booth: “I thought we played very well on Saturday night. I thought we played better Saturday than Friday. Illinois State is really good. Right now the league has separated itself with five teams and then the rest. Illinois State has struggled for a couple of years so people are forgetting about them, but they are a good team. We knew that going in. They are playing very, very well.
My disappointment Saturday was that we were up 20-15 in game two, so we had an opportunity to go 2-0 into the locker room. Game three we dominated. Game four could have gone either way and then we played well in game 5. I think we have good momentum and I think we are playing better. Even in practice yesterday we were doing some drills and were getting kills. I said to them that they were a different team than they were in August. In August, we could not terminate. That is why we went to the 6-2 to get more offense. I feel like we are playing better. With that said, so are the other teams. Wichita State and Missouri State are both great teams. So we are going to have to play great as well as getting better. Matches could go either way, but we feel good going into the weekend.”
WBR: Is playing these teams this weekend a good resume builder for an at-large chance to the NCAA Tournament?
KBB: “You look at where we are RPI-wise and wins and losses. We don’t have any ‘bad’ losses, but we also don’t have any ‘good’ wins. So for us to be in the discussion we have to get some wins. There is no question we are fighting for our at-large life this weekend. Also we are fighting for seeds in the conference tournament.”
WBR: At this point of the season are you at a point where you don’t make any drastic changes with the lineup or just work on little things?
KBB: “Most years we have had a lineup solidified by early October. This year is atypical on that front that we have been moving things around. I don’t know if there is a formula. Some years you are firing on all cylinders and then it is about fine tuning. Two weeks ago I said I didn’t think we were playing well and that we were not as consistent as we need to be. We were going very hard at it in practice, which is later in the year than when we usually do that. But I didn’t think as a staff we felt we were playing like we needed to so we were still training the way we do in early September.
Today’s practice was geared toward trying to get ready for Wichita State and Missouri State and some tactical things we are going to try and do. We did give them Monday off last week and Monday off this week. Rest is important this time of year. We’ll go about two hours today. Hopefully over the next few weeks we can go shorter, but it just all depends on how we are playing.
WBR: With Megan Bober getting another triple-double last weekend, how does that show her versatility and how rare is that?
KBB: “I think Megan is surprising all of us on what she can do this year. The fun thing is each week her offense gets better. She hasn’t hit since high school and she didn’t play a lot in high school anyway, at least in Volleyball. She was more of a basketball player. I think what she is doing is remarkable right now. I think it is an testament to her character. She only does things well. So if she doesn’t feel like she is doing something well, she works on it until she is doing it well whether that was with setting or offense. She is second on the team in digs this year. When she came in she was a defensive liability. Her serve at the beginning of her career to now has turned into one of our best servers. She is the sort of kid that will go in the gym and work. It frustrates her to death if she is not doing something great.”
WBR: With senior day already being this weekend what will the emotions be with Karisa Almgren and Laurel Sanford?
KBB: “There will be a lot of dancing! Really with the two of them, there will be a lot of emotion. The thing about it having senior day already is that there is still a lot of volleyball to be played. So there will definitely be some emotion and maybe some of that translates to the court Saturday night.”
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NOTES:
- Friday night’s match against Wichita State will be carried by Cox Kansas channel 22 which will broadcast across the state of Kansas. The feed will also be carried on Cox channel 2 in Omaha.
- Both matches can be heard on 1180 KOIL.
- Creighton Volleyball will be going for win number 250 in the program history this weekend. Coach Booth owns 156 of those wins.
- The team to win the first set has won 41 of Creighton’s last 43 matches, and 38 of Creighton’s last 39 contests against MVC competition. The first set winner of the Creighton-Wichita State match has won 15 of the past 16 meetings and 19 of the past 21 match-ups.
- Read the rest of the Volleyball Notes for this weekend’s matches.