The 23rd-ranked Creighton Volleyball team got their season off to a successful start with a pair of wins against Lipscomb and Utah Valley on the first day of the Kansas Invitational at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center in Lawrence, Kansas. Just as they did to begin last season and in 2012, t the Jays dropped the opening set before winning the next six to open the season 2-0.
No. 23 Creighton 3, Lipscomb 1 (29-31, 25-17, 26-24, 26-24)
Creighton’s experience came into play in the season-opening win over a scrappy Lipscomb squad. After squandering a late lead and falling in the first set, the Jays responded quickly to win the next three sets and take the season-opening match over the Lady Bisons.
“Going in this match really concerned me,” said Bluejay head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “Lipscomb is a great team, senior-laden, and I thought they really showed a lot of poise at the end of games. I think this win is going to pay a lot of dividends for us throughout the year.”
Lipscomb fought off set point seven times to win the opening set 31-29. It was the third straight season that the Bluejays dropped the opening set to begin the season. Just like the previous two years they bounced back and won the next three sets to win the match. Junior outside hitter Melanie Jereb swears it’s just a coincidence and not a Bluejay tradition, “That’s not how we want it to be. Definitely not. That’s how it happened today and good thing it worked for us,” she said.
Jereb finished with 14 kills, eight digs, and four blocks to finish among four Bluejays with double-digits in kills, led by senior outside hitter Leah McNary’s 16. It was an all-around performance for the junior from Cary, Ill. In each of the final two games Jereb helped set up set point with kills before senior middle blocker Kelli Browning finished off each game.
“‘Mel’ had a great night. She just saw the court so well,” said Booth. “They were playing a defense against her that she was able to exploit. Her vision was exemplary today.”
The trio of Browning, Jereb, and McNary combined for 44 kills and just five attack errors. A great result considering Booth’s deployment of dual setters in senior Michelle Sicner and junior transfer Maggie Baumert. The two combined for 53 assists, nine digs (all by Baumert), and four blocks (all by Sicner) as they seemed to pass game one of that experiment with flying colors after a neck-and-neck battle during the preseason.
“I like it. I think it lends to both of their strengths,” Booth said. “It’s obviously a work in progress. They both do great things they just do different things, and I like having both of them out on the court.”
As a recipient of several of their sets, Jereb says she couldn’t tell the difference.
“I really liked it because they are both phenomenal setters. There wasn’t really even an adjustment to make between them. They both set the ball where you want it to be.”
Two of the unsung heroes of the match were sophomore middle blocker Lauren Smith, who finished with 10 kills and eight blocks, along with senior outside hitter Katie Neisler, who tied her career-high with five kills. She also dug some balls that ended up saving huge points to help swing the momentum during the middle portion of the match.
“Katie is kind of our steady-eddy, under the radar kid that we always talk about who does great things,” said Booth. “If it be defensively, she gets a ton of kills in practice. She sees the block so well. I noticed today that she made some great block plays. She had a play that had been dropping and she made it easy then ran a ’32’ and a got a kill.”
No. 23 Creighton 3, Utah Valley 0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-20)
The Bluejays weren’t quite as sharp in this one as they were this morning, but they still finished off the sweep of the Wolverines thanks to some excellent hitting in the third set by senior Leah McNary and what looks to be her heir apparent in talented freshman Marysa Wilkinson. The duo had three kills apiece midway through the third set to give Creighton a 22-17 lead and provide the final margin as Michelle Sicner finished off the Wolverines with a kill to seal it.
Wilkinson’s performance stood out to head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth who praised the freshman for her poise,
“I thought Marysa was impressive. I talked to her beforehand and said you’re going to be scared I get that as a freshman. You need to block and you need to have great energy, and her first ball was a really tough off-block defense play and she gets it. She puts some great blocks up, then doesn’t hit for a while then finally she gets balls and she’s smart with all of her swings,” Booth said. “I’m really proud of the way she performed tonight.”
For her part, McNary led all players with 12 kills in the match and was the only player in double figures in kills. She helped swing the momentum and put away Utah Valley when the set was knotted up at 13-all. A kill by Wilkinson gave Creighton the lead for good. McNary followed with three straight kills to cap off the 4-0 run to help Creighton pull away for good. “I thought Leah had a good match and we needed her tonight,” said Booth.
Getting the block going proved to be key in this match. Utah Valley hung with Creighton the whole first set after the Bluejays failed to establish themselves at the net defensively, but the Wolverines’ confidence waned after six early blocks in the first half of the second set. The Jays scored six of their first nine points courtesy of the block as they took a 9-4 lead and never looked back.
“I wish I could say it was some genius coaching move, but no real adjustment there.” Booth said of the strong block the Jays put up out of the gates in the second set. “I think that is a lot of times the hitters getting familiar with the kids on them. We want them to watch it in warmups, but there is just something about getting on the court and watching the ball come off the hand. A lot of times you’ll see that, at least historically with our teams, is that you’ll start we’ll get more blocks as the match progresses because we get some comfort with what we see.”
Senior middle blocker Kelli Browning, who led the Big East and finished 8th nationally in blocks per set, agreed with her coach, saying it took it some time to figure out their attack and once they did the block became more of a factor.
“I know I personally tried to communicate a lot more with Lauren (Smith) and we did a good job of attacking their pin hitters, and our other hitters really stepped up and clamped on their hitters as well.”
Of their 101 total attacks, the Wolverines had 57 between Macky Treanor and Kalani Norris. The Jays held them both to under .100 attack percentages.
Though the Jays are happy to be 2-0 they know the Utah Valley match was not one of their best efforts and in order to beat No. 22 Kansas tomorrow afternoon they will have to be a lot sharper in all phases.
“Kansas is highly athletic. They have two star seniors from Omaha that carry a lot of the load, so they have experience there,” Booth said, “but they’ve got a new freshman who is highly touted and really fantastic. I think they are only going to get better, and I told the team that they are going to be better tomorrow than they are today, and they are going to progress throughout the season. We have a big opportunity and it’s going to be a dogfight. We’re going to have to play far, far better than we did tonight, but I think we’re capable of that. Win or lose I hope we play good volleyball tomorrow.”
The 23rd-ranked Bluejays and 22-ranked Jayhawks will meet in the second game of the day tomorrow afternoon with first serve set for 2:00 p.m. from the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. The match will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app on your mobile device.