Spring is in the air. College basketball season has ended, the birds are singing, and the whispers of spring football spur water cooler discussions. But there’s another fall sport working hard to get ready for next season: the Creighton volleyball team.
The Creighton Bluejays opened last season with a lot of excitement surrounding the program. The Jays opened the new Sokol Arena facility, there was a new group of players taking over for stars Amanda Cvejdlik, Bianca Rivera, and Korie Lebeda, and the team looked to finally break into the NCAA Tournament.
After winning their first match of the season in a buzz-filled Sokol, the Creighton spikers went on to lose 7 of their next 8 matches and finished the season 14-17. The rollercoaster year provided the Jays with some great efforts and experiences upon which to build, something the players and coaches have worked on since the season ended.
WBR recently caught up with Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth to talk about the team’s preparations for next season.
Spring Season
After Creighton’s loss to Northern Iowa in the semifinals of the MVC Conference Tournament, the women received a little time off for the end of school and holidays. They got right back to work on strength and conditioning efforts in early January. The NCAA allows for the coaches to work with individuals or groups of players in January through early March, which provided the opportunity to address a lot of different things.
But after spring break, the team is allowed to hold full practices like in the fall. They do a lot more lifting at this point of the year than during the regular season. In addition, they are allowed to schedule four dates to play as much as they want during that particular day. The Bluejays took full advantage of this time.
They hosted their first event at the end of March, playing all day against Drake, South Dakota State, Kansas, and UMKC. They won their matches against Drake, South Dakota State, and UMKC while splitting with KU. Last weekend they played matches out at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff against Northern Colorado, Air Force, and Colorado State. WNCC is where the Bluejays recruited their last two liberos — Rivera and current Bluejay Nayka Benitez. This weekend they finish their spring season down in Kansas City against the likes of Kansas State, Saint Louis, and Arkansas. Playing well against this different competition has to give the team some great confidence.
“This is all very low key,” Bernthal Booth said about this time of year. “We have the opportunity to go out and talk to our players about what position they need to be in during game play.”
While playing complete matches are great opportunities for the team, Booth and her staff work on some of the little things as well.
“We feel blocking is one of our strengths so we work on that, but we also work defense in the back rows, a lot of effort in serving, and a lot of the little things to be crisper.”
Strengths for Next Season
The players working on these little things, as Booth puts it, will form a more veteran squad in the fall. Benitez brings her exciting jump serve back to CU, and the Jays also return middle blocker Laurel Sanford and outside hitters Allie Oelke and Alicia Runge, giving Booth a solid core around which to build.
But probably one of the bigger returnees is setter Megan Bober. The to-be redshirt sophomore had some big shoes to fill replacing the four-year stalwart Korie Lebeda. Bober’s game evolved over the season as she got used to the role as the floor general. The pressure to continue solidarity at the setter position is something that Bober embraces.
“She has done a great job,” Booth begins. “It is hard to replace a four-year starter and she needs time to connect with her hitters. She is a perfectionist and she is spending the time in the gym doing what she needs to do to do it well. She seems to be really connecting with her middle hitter at this point.”
At six-feet tall, Bober has the ability to be not only a setter but use her hitting skills in situations when they are out of their system.
Bober holds the keys to the offense and defense
Recruiting
To complement the returning core of players, the Bluejays have three new scholarship players joining the team in August. Each of these players will have opportunities to make their impact right away:
- Savannah Smith: Smith is a middle blocker from Oakland, Iowa. She is the first player to receive a D-I scholarship from her school. Not only was she great on the volleyball court, but she also was outstanding on the track team. Booth noted that Smith is a lot like Kelly Goc, and that she will compete for playing time right away. Smith was a captain of the Omaha World-Herald Western Iowa All-Class First Team last season.
- Lexi Malm: Malm is a standout middle blocker from Central City, Nebraska. She finished her high school career as the only player in Central City history with more than 1,000 kills. “Lexi is a long term outside hitter that is just phenomenal,” Booth said. Malm was a second-team all-stater in volleyball this past season.
- Natalie Hackbarth: Hackbarth was one of the best players in Iowa at any level throughout her career in Algona. “Natalie is potentially a really good outside hitter,” Booth said. As with many outstanding volleyball players, she excelled on the basketball court as well, holding school records in points scored, 3-pointers, and rebounding. She led her basketball team to the state tournament this season.
As for immediate contributions from these three, Booth sees a lot of potential. “Going into the season, there are a couple of positions up for grabs, so there will be some early opportunities for the new players coming in.” In addition to the three scholarship players, there are potentially a couple of walk-ons that will be joining the class.
Scheduling
Last week, Creighton released the volleyball team’s fall schedule. And once again, the Bluejays face a tough slate of opponents. Booth and her team welcome the challenge.
“It is always good to schedule tough. You want to be able to play against some top competition and measure how good you are. We took some lumps at the beginning of the season, but we started playing pretty well by the end.”
It is very possible the tough schedule last season helped the team come together down the stretch, and the lessons learned should make for an exciting season in 2010.
The schedule opens at home with the Bluejays hosting their own tournament. Then, the national power Nebraska Huskers will come to Sokol Arena for the first time in what promises to be an amazing atmosphere. After that showdown the Jays will hit the road for a couple of tournaments. They’ll also start the conference season on the road, meaning Booth’s team will be away from Omaha for three straight weeks. In fact, the Jays will only play two home matches in September, something that is not out of the ordinary for volleyball programs in general.
Golf Outing
On Monday, May 17, the volleyball team will host its annual golf outing for fans and boosters of the program. The event gives everyone the opportunity to play a round of golf while getting a chance to meet the players and coaches.
“I can’t take any of the credit for this. (Assistant Coach) Paul Giesselmann puts all of this together and it is an awesome day. Boosters enjoy getting to meet the players and see that they are a lot more than just volleyball players,” Booth said.
There is still time to join the golf outing or even just attend the dinner and social time afterwards. See the brochure for more details.
Be on the lookout this fall as White & Blue Review continues to follow the volleyball team as the Bluejays start another successful season behind the net.