Kirsten Bernthal Booth could tell during pre-match warmups that her team was ready for what was about to transpire over the next 90-plus minutes. Booth’s Bluejays enter the season with preseason lofty expectations, not just goals, that they haven’t publicly expressed since the fall of 2017 when they were looking to up the ante on their one and only Elite Eight appearance in program history the prior season.
On Friday in front of a raucous crowd, including a packed-out student section, she sensed calmness that isn’t usually present for season-openers.
“When they were warming up my feel was that we’ve all been here,” Booth said. “I actually felt a calm and I would guess that permeated. I think they probably felt pretty comfortable, too. We had a great practice yesterday. We’re playing well. We had a lot of good things that we could build off of after Colorado State.
“I don’t know if there was a moment, and you never know going into a match, but like I felt good going in.”
Creighton reinforced their coach’s intuition over the course of three sets against North Carolina State as they produced a convincing, drama-free 25-18, 25-20, 25-13 sweep in front of 2,569 fans — the third-largest crowd in D.J. Sokol Arena history.
The Bluejays hit .385 as a team for the match while simultaneously holding the Wolfpack to a .134 attacking percentage. NC State committed 19 attack errors on 97 swings compared to only nine on 104 swings for Creighton.
“I just thought we were clean,” Booth said. “Shockingly clean for a first match, to be honest.”
NC State clamped down on veteran outside hitters Norah Sis and Ava Martin. The six rotation stars were limited to .224 hitting on 49 swings, but that calculated gamble barely put a dent in Creighton’s overall offensive efficiency as senior All-American setter Kendra Wait — who produced 39 assists, nine digs, three kills, and three blocks on the night — had plenty of auxiliary weapons in the middle blocker and opposite rotation comprised of seniors Kiara Reinhardt and Elise Goetzinger, plus redshirt freshman Jaya Johnson.
Johnson led the way with a match-high 11 kills on .526 hitting in her official collegiate debut. Goetzinger, a grad transfer out of Kentucky with a national championship on her resume, joined Johnson in double figures in the kills department with 10 terminations on .471 efficiency. Reinhardt, in her fifth season in Omaha, added eight kills of her own on 15 error-free swings for a match-high .533 attack percentage.
The trio of heavy hitters got their engines started early in set one and never let up. If the Wolfpack were content with forcing anyone besides Sis and Martin to beat them, Reinhardt, Goetzinger, and Johnson seemed more than happy to grant their wish one swing at a time.
“It was really fun to just come out guns blazing,” senior middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt. “I feel like our big goal was we wanted to get the gym and the crowd into it, and we just wanted to take it in. We love playing at home. It’s a great blessing that we just have such a great crowd and home support. We really wanted to get them involved and I think just coming [like that] right away got everyone fired up — the team, the crowd, the coaches. It was a lot of fun.”
The Wolfpack brought back 14 of 18 players, including their top six leaders in kills, from a team that took down a highly ranked Louisville squad in four sets before finishing in the top 45 of the official RPI. They were swept twice all season a year ago. Creighton handed them an early one right out of the gate while keeping their plethora of experienced studs from going off and spoiling CU’s season debut.
“I think there were a couple factors in that,” Booth said. “I think we served well. They were out of system a ton, which allowed our block to set up. We didn’t get a lot of blocks early. We got a little bit more later in the game. I thought our backcourt defense was tenacious. Against Colorado State, we felt like we didn’t win what we call ‘ugly points’ — the scrappy type is what we call ‘ugly points.’ We thought we won most of those today. The points that could go either way are going to hurt their hitting percentage if we’re able to get them up.”
The second day of the 2024 Bluejay Invitational will get underway with a Saturday doubleheader featuring of matchup of the losing teams from the day one, Drake and NC State, at 2:30 p.m. followed by a Midwest showcase between Creighton and a Missouri team that also produced a sweep early in the evening on Friday. Oregon State transfer Mychael Vernon had a monstrous debut for the Tigers with 18 kills on .472 hitting to go along with 13 digs. All-SEC outside hitter Jordan Iliff also recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs while Creighton’s coaching staff took notes from a table behind the baseline.
“They were in system a lot, and they put the ball away when they were in system,” Booth said of her first impressions of the Mizzou squad she’ll be facing on Saturday. “If they’re in system against us, we’re going to have a lot of problems. We’re going to figure out ways to get them out of system, and we’re going to have to dig transition some balls. I thought Drake did a nice job digging. They just had trouble then putting the ball back down, so we’re going to have to dig and put the ball back down. I tell you what, it’s going to be a tough match.”
First serve between the Bluejays and Tigers is set for 5:00 p.m. at D.J. Sokol Arena, pending the finish of NC State-Drake.