Depth is key to the long college volleyball season. With the Creighton Volleyball team, that depth continues to be developed after the win against Providence on Friday night at DJ Sokol Arena. The Bluejays swept the Friars 25-19, 25-15, 25-17. The Bluejays remain in first place in the Big East with a 10-0 record and move to 16-7 on the season.
“I’m really excited that a lot of players got to play tonight. With 16 players that bust it every day in practice and do a great job in practice, not only did they get to play but they came in and did a phenomenal job,” said head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth after the match. “That was a really fun part of the night.”
The Bluejays had a balanced attack with freshman Jaali Winters leading the way with 11 kills, but contributions from Jess Bird, Taryn Kloth, and Lauren Smith with 9, 8, and 7 kills respectively, while as a whole the team continued to increase their hitting percentage throughout the game.
The 6-2 set was employed once again on Friday night with Ashley Jansen and Kenzie Crawford handling the setting duties and gave the night off to Maggie Baumert. The versatility of this team to play both the 6-2 and the standard 5-1 formations keeps opponents guessing what the Bluejays will do next.
“I think this is the best we have played in the 6-2,” said Booth. “I thought our sets were better. I thought the decision making of the setters to make the easy play. I thought Ashley set the best she has all season. She was consistent with the ball, ran a variety of sets. Since we went to the 6-2, Sam (Bohnet) and Ashley have gotten a lot more setting reps in practice than they did before we started this. Sam came in briefly, she is a great setter too. I feel confident with both the 6-2 and the 5-1. I have to think when teams run a bunch of different lineups, we have to scout twice. I would anticipate it is more of a pain than anything from a coaching perspective. It may not be from a player perspective. From my perspective as a coach, it can be a little discombobulating.”
In the first set, the Bluejays were rolling early jumping out to a 6-1 lead and looked like they were going to run away fast against the Friars. Things went back and forth for the rest of the set and the Bluejays held onto their lead getting the 25-19 win behind freshman Kloth’s 4 kills and Marysa Wilkinson’s perfect 3 of 3 on attacks, but only hit .222 for the set. Providence wasn’t much better hitting only .139.
“You have to give credit to Providence there. I thought they really dug a lot of balls that I think against a lot of teams those are kills,” said Booth. “We challenged the hitters to be creative on what they are doing. Don’t just hit right off the shoulder because they are doing a good job digging around it. You have to create a little more and go after the hands a little more. We didn’t do a perfect job, but a pretty good job tonight.”
The Bluejays applied those thoughts to the second and third sets. The second set started very similar to the first, but it was a much cleaner set with the Bluejays pulling away early with a 6-2 lead and then doubling up to a 12-4 lead. Their hitting increased to .407 for the set and the Bluejays distributed the ball around with Winters, Kloth, Bird, Smith getting kills and hitting almost at a .500 clip.
After the break, the Creighton dominance continued, but not initially as Providence took a 3-2 lead in the third set. After some back and forth to tie things at 6, the Bluejays went on a 4-0 run and continued to pull away with even more accurate hitting, going .517 for the set, keeping the Friars on their heels. The Bluejays ended things with a block by Kloth and Smith to take the third set 25-17, sweeping Providence.
“Our passing of the first ball started it. They did a great job getting the ball to the setters and that just opened up our offense,” said senior Ashley Jansen.
“One of the luxuries for the setters is that they are comfortable setting everybody,” said Booth. “I thought Ashley, Kenzie (Crawford) and Sam (Bohnet) all did a really good job of distributing the offense tonight. Our passing was a big part of that but our setting was a better than the last time we played. We spent a lot of time working on that and they did a really nice job.”
Kloth has continued to establish herself as a solid player for the Bluejays since the 16 kill performance in the 0-2 comeback against DePaul a couple weekends ago. Kloth has registered 8, 9, 8, and 8 in the past four games including Friday night’s match. After having to sit out the first few weeks with a broken foot, she is starting to get the confidence needed during the stretch run and showing what made her the #18 recruit in the nation coming out of high school.
“Everyone on the team helped me when I was hurt. It just gave me confidence through the games. They kept encouraging me knowing I could put the ball away,” said Kloth. “It is different seeing the game from the outside, but if you pay attention, you can learn from everyone else.”
“I think the other thing for Taryn is that she is playing a different position,” said Booth. That is a big transition for her to be playing on the right side.”
Providence falls to 1-9 in Big East play, playing only their second season in the conference as they are working to fully fund their program with a full complement of scholarships. Their leading player Friday night was Kayla Fitzgerald who had 12 kills through the first two sets, but then was held without a kill in the third set that allowed the Bluejays to roll to victory. No one else in their lineup had more than 5 kills.
Creighton returns to the court on Sunday afternoon when they take on St. John’s at DJ Sokol Arena.
Pumpkin Carving A Big Deal
With the Bluejays out of town next weekend for Halloween, the team celebrated a little early with a little pumpkin carving contest. Before the game on Friday night, fans were asked to vote for their favorite sculpture that was done by the different classes and coaches. The competition is pretty fierce:
“The freshman team usually does terrible because they don’t realize how high of a level these pumpkins need to be,” remarked Booth. However, our freshmen were on their official visit last year and they saw the pumpkins last year and they knew they had to bring their ‘A’ game.”
The freshman came close, but came up just short. The juniors–Amanda Foje, Jess Bird and Lauren Smith took top honors with their Minions pumpkins.
Pumpkin #3. This class knows what is popular right now! Minions! Going after the kids vote. pic.twitter.com/oR7l2mTlRo
— Coach Booth (@CoachKBooth) October 23, 2015
The Freshman came in a close second with their Cinderella pumpkin.
Here they are…our annual pumpkin carving contest. Come out & vote for ur favorite. Can’t go wrong with Cinderella. pic.twitter.com/NIIGwIAQMP — Coach Booth (@CoachKBooth) October 23, 2015
The Coaches had their own pumpkin…I mean Trumpkin
Pumpkin #5. This class is going after the adults…that’s right–Trumpkin…”Making America Great Again.” Hair & all pic.twitter.com/c1PjLYehjn — Coach Booth (@CoachKBooth) October 23, 2015
The sophomores had swimming fish inside their pumpkin.
Pumpkin #2. Yes, that is a REAL fish swimming in there. pic.twitter.com/O8zPz2yeFl — Coach Booth (@CoachKBooth) October 23, 2015
The Seniors had Nemo on their side but finished last.
Pumpkin #4. Classic Disney. Can’t go wrong with Nemo! pic.twitter.com/xaDxENUwve
— Coach Booth (@CoachKBooth) October 23, 2015
When asked which one I voted for, I had picked the Freshman one with their hard work on Cinderella, of course.