Leah McNary and teammates celebrate the win over Wichita State (Spomer/WBR)
If you walked past Sokol Arena this past weekend, it would have been hard to miss all the kills going on in there. The Creighton Bluejays volleyball team opened Missouri Valley Conference play last weekend against the preseason second and third ranked teams in Wichita State and Missouri State and walked away with two victories. They sit at top of the MVC rankings and are on the verge of creating history.
With momentum on their side, they play their first mid-week match of the season and head down to Lawrence, Kansas on Wednesday night to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. It is definitely not a break, but another big match to build on their resume.
Creighton received 34 votes this week in the AVCA Top 25 volleyball rankings, putting the Jays at #32 in the nation after their 10-1 start — tying the best start in program history. Those votes are the most received by a Creighton volleyball team. They are striving for their first ever national ranking. Their last five wins have been against teams that went to the NCAA Tournament last season. Needless to say, there is something special happening on the Hilltop with a program that is generally overlooked.
For head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, the recognition is nice, but the team is still focused on the end goal.
“As much as you like to have recognition and it is good for recruiting, it is a pretty biased poll, with all coaches voting. Obviously I look at it because I vote on it, but the committee puts no weight on it. We want to win a conference championship and make some waves in the tournament. Those are the two things we want to do; that’s our number one priority.”
Sophomore Leah McNary agrees with that sentiment.
“It is definitely exciting and it is something nice to hear. But I don’t think it is going to our heads or anything. It is making us work harder.”
On Friday night against Missouri State, the Bluejays looked like they were going to run the Bears out of the gym before a team effort led them to a five-set win. McNary scored 21 kills against Wichita State on Saturday night, at times looking unstoppable. Senior setter Megan Bober set the ball masterfully.
“We came out like gangbusters against Missouri State, who came out poorly,” said Bernthal Booth. “I thought [Missouri State] played so much better about a game and a half later and then it was a dogfight and we were really fortunate to get the win. The Wichita match was just two evenly matched teams. Each game was exciting and could have gone either way.”
Freshman Melanie Jereb continues looking like a veteran with her consistent play, this past week earning MVC Freshman of the Week honors. She is the league’s only outside hitter with two double-doubles in league play thus far in the wins over the Bears and the Shockers.
“We talked about what Wichita would do against us and they contained our middles pretty well,” said Bernthal Booth. “Then it was about other people stepping up. Leah was flashy and led the team in kills while Melanie hit over .350 in the match and carried the load for us.”
CU transitions now to a mid-week match against another school from the Sunflower State. The Jayhawks come into tonight’s match with their own 11-2 record with wins including Tulsa, Arizona State, and Loyola Marymount before breaking a nine-match win streak in a loss to Notre Dame on Sunday. Bernthal Booth knows KU will challenge the Bluejays.
“I think we are a pretty physical team and I think they are more physical than we are. They are really an athletic team with a very good system. We will have our hands full.”
Kansas is led by middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc, who was named the MVP in all three of their invites they have been in averaging 3.84 kills and 1.44 blocks per set while hitting a high percentage at .434. Hitter Sara McClinton supplements the offense with 3.49 kills per set and hitting .253. With five returning starters plus their libero, a win over Kansas would give CU another feather in the cap for the non-conference season. The Bluejays are 0-4 all-time against KU.
The first mid-week match will offer the Bluejays some changes in the way they prepare for not only Kansas but also Drake (Saturday, in Omaha).
“Today would usually be a pretty aggressive practice and we will go lighter because of tomorrow. You just lose some of your training. But of course playing a match is a great training aid too,” said Booth.
But don’t be fooled; the Bluejays are not taking this match lightly.
“I think we are going to take it how we took last weekend. We know that every game we play is a big deal and we don’t take anyone lightly,” said McNary.
No matter what happens on Wednesday night, you can bet that Sokol Arena will be rocking again on Saturday night and beyond with a fun team to watch.
NOTES:
- The 6:30 p.m. match on Wednesday night will be on live TV. It will be available across Metro Sports in Kansas and can be seen in Omaha on Cox Channel 2.
- You can also listen to the match on 1180 The Zone2 and follow the live stats.
- Creighton ranks 6th in the Rich Kern Percentage index which is similar to the NCAA’s RPI system. Kansas is 15th.
- NCAA statistics were released this week and sophomore Kelli Browning leads the nation in blocks per set at 1.75. As a team, the Bluejays are 8th in the nation in blocks per set.
- The Bluejays last played Kansas in 2010 as a part of the Bluejay Invitational losing 3-1.