Thanksgiving is a time that people get to spend time with family and others eat an extraordinary amount of food. Some will do both. When you play Division I college volleyball, at least at Creighton, one thing to plan on right away is that your Thanksgiving is going to be spent playing the sport and going for an MVC championship. With the season that Creighton has had, I don’t think they would have it be any other way.
“It is something we are used to now,” said senior setter Megan Bober. “It is fun to spend it together and if we bring home a championship it will make it a little sweeter and a little easier too.”
The Bluejays head to Springfield, Missouri for the MVC Tournament this week. Last weekend, Creighton finished the regular season in Springfield winning against Missouri State in five sets and capping off a regular season where they went 17-1 in conference play, have won a school record 14 straight matches and won their first MVC regular season championship. While those are great accomplishments, head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth knows her team wants more
“We really need to be playing well,” said Bernthal Booth. “We set goals at the beginning of the year. We’ve never had a conference championship and we achieved that and the other goal they said is that they win the conference tournament. I think this team is motivated. They want to play for a long time and I think they are up for it.”
The six team tournament allows the Bluejays a bye on Thanksgiving night and they will be waiting to see whether they face either Illinois State or Southern Illinois on Friday. Both have given the Bluejays their own troubles this season.
Southern Illinois was the only squad to beat the Jays in the MVC this season. When they met in Carbondale, the Salukis took advantage of the Bluejays’ errors in the match and pulled off the win. Since then the Bluejays have gone undefeated including knocking off SIU in Omaha.
“I think the nice and bad thing is that we have seen these teams a lot,” said Bernthal Booth. “I feel like I have a good grasp of Southern Illinois and Illinois State. They will be playing for their lives on Thursday and they will be putting their best out and not hiding anything. The negative is that they are getting the nerves out. We might have some nerves heading into Friday and they get a chance to get rid of theirs on Thursday. So we will have to be ready to go.”
Illinois State was swept by Creighton for the first time ever (41 meetings) when they visited Normal. However on the return trip to Omaha, the Redbirds had the Bluejays on the ropes winning the first set and almost took the third set before Creighton rallied from a 24-23 deficit to win the third set and that momentum took them to a 3-1 victory.
“For most of the teams, the season is over if they don’t play well,” said Bernthal Booth. “You should see some really high caliber volleyball this weekend.”
With a win on Friday, the Bluejays then would meet any one of the three teams picked ahead of them in the preseason, Northern Iowa, Missouri State, or Wichita State who are all on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament fighting for their lives to get the automatic bid to avoid waiting. Luckily for the Jay, they have played a season well worth a bid, win or lose.
“Our goal is definitely to come out and win the Valley tournament this weekend,” said Bober. “That is the thing we have been wanting to do since the beginning of the season. That is what we are focused on right now. Right now we are preparing for our Friday match and hope that it will carry over into Saturday and we can bring home a championship.”
Coach Bernthal Booth sees that anyone can take the tournament this weekend.
“I think all six teams heading into the Valley tournament have a shot at winning it. We are going to need to be playing really well to win the tournament. They haven’t made the [Tournament]. Stranger things have happened. We have got to go out and play well this week. I think regardless of what happens this weekend, we’ve earned a bid, but it is a group of humans making a decision, so let’s take the choice out of the matter and win this weekend.”
Media Menu
The MVC Tournament will be easier to view this season with many ways to watch and follow along. With the new MVC television package, the preliminary rounds of the MVC tournament will be available on ESPN3.
- You can watch the ESPN3 broadcast streaming live on your PC or XBox 360 through ESPN3.com if your internet provider carries this access. All of the major cable companies (Cox, Time Warner, Charter) carry ESPN3.com on their internet service. Here are a list of other high speed internet and video providers that carry ESPN3.
The MVC Tournament Finals (7PM on Saturday) will be available on Fox Sports Net:
- FOX Sports Midwest
- FOX Sports Indiana
- FOX Sports Kansas City
- DirecTV (Channel 671)
- Dish Network (Channel 418)
- AT&T U-Verse (Channel 748)
- ** Outside of the MVC six-state footprint, the championship game will be available to other viewers on ESPN3
Other options to follow:
- Follow the Live Stats on Friday and Saturday
- Listen to KOIL 1290 or online for Friday’s semifinal match
- Listen to 1620 the Zone or online for Saturday’s final.