Creighton 3, Gonzaga 0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-16):
Ballenger and Wilkinson had big games for the Bluejays in the Ameritas Players Classic on Friday (Spomer / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
With nearly all of the talk centering around Saturday night’s rivalry match with reigning champion and top-ranked Nebraska, the Bluejays might have had a chance to overlook the first hurdle on the track at the Ameritas Players Challenge in Lincoln this weekend. That hurdle came in the form of a 6-1 Gonzaga team with an RPI in the 50s that had already defeated one Big East team (Butler) earlier this season.
“You try not to put too much pressure on the players, but we needed to win,” Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “We didn’t need a moral victory, we needed to win.”
Sitting a game below .500 after the first nine matches of the season with four “close, but not quite” results against Wichita State, Southern Cal, No. 4 Kansas — all three in five sets — and No. 25 Kansas State, the Bluejays still had to strengthen their resume with less than a handful of opportunities remaining before entering Big East play next week.
That added extra pressure to their 10 a.m. match against Gonzaga, and it showed in the performances early on by some of players … except for Megan Ballenger.
The redshirt freshman from Ankeny, Iowa pulled the Bluejays out of an early rut with a pair of kills, a block, and an ace to even set one at 6-6. Both teams traded a few more points before Ballenger added two more kills and another ace to give Creighton the lead for good in the opening game. The 6-foot-1 middle blocker ended the set with six kills on six swings, three digs, two aces, and a block.
“I think Megan carried us through game one,” Booth said. “I thought we looked nervous I guess is the best way to put it. I think there are a couple factors going on — this was a high pressure match; we’re 4-5, we’re playing tight against all these teams, and we’re playing a very good Gonzaga team but we’re still supposed to beat them. I think that they felt some of that pressure.”
Creighton’s efficiency improved from .244 in the first game to .297 in the second. Senior middle blocker, and Lincoln native, Lauren Smith got going with five kills on six swings to form a strong front attack with Ballenger. Smith finished a tight second set with a kill just as she did in game one to send the Bluejays to intermission with a 2-0 match lead over the Bulldogs.
The Bluejays fell into a bit of hole in the third set after a shaky start, but a 10-3 run midway through got them back on track where they stayed the rest of the way. The run was capped off by a five-point serving run where sophomore outside hitter Taryn Kloth alternated kills for every other point. They finished the set on a 8-2 run, hitting .516 on 31 total swings to raise their attack percentage to .336 for the entire match.
Junior setter Lydia Dimke finished the sweep with 41 assists, keeping her plethora of dangerous hitters engaged throughout the match. Five players got at least 14 sets, and none of them had more than 26.
“I thought Lydia played really well,” Booth said. “We’ve really challenged her on a couple things and she did them today. I told her she may have had her best match today. Some things that fans may not notice, but things we want her to be doing she did those today. I’m really pleased with what she did.”
Dimke and Smith propelled the Bluejays down the stretch in game 1. (Spomer /WBR) CLICK TO BUY
“She’s a phenomenal setter. She is outstanding, and the good thing is she plays incredible defense, she’s got a great serve, and the team really responds to her. I think our connection has been improving every single game. We aren’t firing on all cylinders right now, but we’re getting better and that’s what you’re trying to do this time of year.”
Ballenger finished her career day by making an impact in a variety of areas. She finished with 13 kills — one shy of her career-high — on a .579 attack percentage to go along with five digs, two blocks, and a personal-best three service aces.
The Creighton coach could see the nerves playing into the performances of some of her other players, but she wasn’t surprised to see her redshirt freshman middle blocker rise to the occasion.
“Megan’s not that kid anyway — she’s a gamer,” Booth said. “That’s the reason we recruited her; the kid likes to win and she goes after it. In a big atmosphere that’s when she says, ‘give me the ball.’ As a coach you look for kids that thrive in those scenarios.”
The Ankeny High standout gave her setter the credit for her standout performance.
“I thought Lydia did a great job of distributing the ball,” Ballenger said. “I think I was one on one on a lot of the quick stuff in the middle for a while. In the third set they had a double and brought their left pin in to block. Once they were sitting on me we could go back to Marysa [Wilkinson] on the pin and out to Jaali [Winters] to pull in their hitters.”
Creighton 3, Montana State 0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-12):
Wilkinson went to work for the Bluejays in the afternoon session (Spomer / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
In the morning session it was the Megan Ballenger Show. In the nightcap it was Marysa Wilkinson’s turn to get the Bluejays rolling after a slow start and lead them to a sweep.
Early on Creighton had some issues connecting sets and passes as everyone seemed to be a touch off after a big win this morning and a huge match with No. 1 Nebraska on the slate in just over 24 hours. But, Lincoln Southwest product Marysa Wilkinson was on her game from the outset. She had three kills and a block to get her team out to an 8-2 lead in front of her hometown fans.
“I was ready to go,” Wilkinson said.
It would have been easy for them to overlook the Bobcats with the reigning national champions awaiting, but Wilkinson maintains that the inefficient play early on had nothing to do with anyone getting caught looking ahead to Saturday night.
“Nebraska has not been our focus at all yet, because we knew that we had these two games today,” she said. “Our whole team was ready to go. We were pumped for this game.”
Wilkinson had seven kills and five blocks in the first set, leading a giant wall that Creighton set up at the net to hold Montana State to a -.114 attack percentage.
The Bobcats remained in the red for the rest of the match, finishing with 20 attack errors versus only 18 kills as a team. Their -.021 attack percentage was lowest by a Creighton opponent since Providence hit -.151 back on October 19, 2014. That match was also the last time someone hit as well as Marysa Wilkinson did against Montana State. Against Providence, current Bluejay senior Lauren Smith finished with 12 kills on 14 swings for a school record .857 attack percentage. Wilkinson also had 12 kills on 14 attempts, but her one attack error — on her last attack of the night — dropped her percentage to .786, good for second place all-time right behind her teammate and fellow Lincoln native.
Wilkinson added a career-high eight blocks to compliment her nearly-historic efficient night offensively.
“I didn’t realize Marysa’s numbers were as high as they were,” Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “She did a great job. Marysa does that a lot. Sometimes she sneaks under and hits — she doesn’t hit .780, but she’ll hit .300, .350, .400 when I look at the stat line.
“She’s just that steady eddy. She’s so versatile — she plays middle and right side for us, and she could play outside if we needed her to. I can’t say enough about what a great kid she is, so you’re always rooting for those kids.”
As the match shifted more and more into her team’s favor, the Creighton coach was able to give all of her players some meaningful time on the floor — something she considers an underrated part of her job.
“We don’t have very many matches like that during the non-con that I have an opportunity to put all of our players in,” Booth said. “As a coach I love that, because all of them work their tail off and all of them are great players playing at this level, so it was great to get all of them off the bench tonight.”
The Friday sweeps over the Bulldogs and Wildcats moved the Bluejays from 4-5 to 6-5 with one game remaining on their non-conference schedule.
Finally turning the focus to the top-ranked Huskers
Creighton and Nebraska will showcase the best Volleyball in the state on Saturday night (Spomer / WBR)
Kirsten Bernthal Booth’s one match at a time mentality filters down from her assistant coaches, to her starting lineup, to the last person on the bench. That makes looking ahead to the marquee match-up of the weekend an exercise in futility. With Gonzaga and Montana State now in the rear view mirror the time to talk all things Huskers started when match point hit the floor against the Bobcats.
“It’ll be fun,” the Creighton coach said. “I think they are the best team in the country right now, but we’ve played teams that are close. The good thing is I don’t think we’ll be scared. We’re going to have to play cleaner than we have the last two matches, but it should be fun. It will be a great atmosphere. I say this over and over again, but it’s really a celebration of how much talent we have not only in Nebraska, but in the Midwest. It’s great to have two high-level programs duking it out in Lincoln, Nebraska.”
For the players, especially the local ones on the Bluejay roster, it’s a chance to step on the court and compete in front of a crowd they used to be a part of growing up.
“We’re all excited. It’s going to be great to be back at home and playing against people that I played with in club,” Wilkinson said.
Creighton’s junior middle blocker believes Friday’s match helped to prepare them for some of the adversity they are sure to face against the top-ranked team in the nation.
“I feel more relaxed here,” Wilkinson said. “I know that the team does, too. It was good to have these two games today.”
Creighton has never beaten Nebraska in 14 regular-season meetings. A sold-out crowd is expected at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday night. First serve is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
Like the Bluejays, Nebraska also swept Montana State (25-15, 25-5, 25-16) and Gonzaga (25-15, 25-12, 25-11) to improve to 8-0 on the season. The reigning national champions have won 24 consecutive matches, and have only dropped eight sets all together, since an October 24th setback last season against No. 16 Wisconsin.