On one side you have an All-American in Jaali Winters. On the other side you have a three year starter in Jess Bird. In the middle you have an honorable mention All-American and essentially a three year starter in Lauren Smith. Junior Marysa Wilkinson teams up with Smith to patrol the net. All are options on both offense and defense. If you watch them, they will be fine.
But if you want something to keep your eyes on during Friday evening’s Blue/White scrimmage at DJ Sokol Arena, the key will be finding a setter to connect with that potent offense for 2017.
Maggie Baumert fought through everything to help run the Creighton offense last season (Spomer/WBR)
Maggie Baumert literally suffered through blood, sweat, and tears last season to help lead the Bluejays to their first ever Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. When Baumert couldn’t go, it was the combination of Ashley Jansen and Kenzie Crawford to run a 6-2 offense. That made opponents prepare differently not knowing what they would see. However, Baumert and Jansen graduated. While Crawford could be considered at the setter position this season, it is possible she may be more in the mix on the defensive side of things.
Fortunately, in a piece of news that Bluejay fans might have missed, setter Lydia Dimke transferred from Purdue to the Bluejays during the offseason. She looks like she could step in right away and run the offense for the Jays. Dimke came to Creighton in the spring and got a head start with her teammates during the spring season.
Some of the other potential candidates at setter include Crawford, sophomore Samantha Bohnet, and freshman Jaclyn Taylor. But at media day, it sounded like the competition at setter was between Dimke and Taylor.
At 6’3″ Dimke fits into the mold of past Creighton setters that have included Megan Bober, Michelle Sicner, and Baumert — great setters who could also be a force at the net with the block or turn around and be a hitter to keep opponents off balance. With the top programs in the nation trending towards setters that are tall and versatile, Dimke fits that description perfectly. Although mainly used as an outside hitter and serving specialist at Purdue last season, her primary position is at setter. With an opportunity to move back to her natural position, Creighton looked like a great fit when she decided to transfer.
“It has been amazing,” Dimke told us. “I came at semester. It is such an awesome group of girls and they are supportive, which has made everything so enjoyable. It is the culture that brought me here. I watched a couple games in the NCAA Tournament and they just played so well together. The girls seemed to like love each other. The coaches were all in there and encouraging them. I really wanted to be part of a program that would be so positive.”
Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth was quick to make note at media day about Dimke’s talent and versatility on the court.
“Lydia is outstanding. If she didn’t set for us, she would be in the mix to be a starting hitter. We have focused her effort all on setting right now. You never know with the transfer if they are going to come in and mesh with the players. But she has from day one. She is a leader already on our team. Physically she is pretty special.”
So far in practice, Dimke has worked hard to create that connection with her teammates.
“We are working out a lot of kinks right now and sometimes it connects and you are like ‘Wow that was awesome’ and sometimes it doesn’t. It will come along.”
When it comes down to deciding who to play at setter, Coach Booth broke it down.
“I think the big thing for me for a setter is you have to be physical, but are they able to lead the team? Are they able to get the hitters to buy in, just like a coach needs players to buy-in, setters need players to buy-in? I can tell you Lydia established that for us this spring. That is huge for us.”
Dimke agreed about the opportunity to join the team last spring.
“Every time you come to a new team, whether you are a freshman or transfer, everything is weird at first. It is run so differently. Being able to work with the girls ahead of time before the season started was definitely a big advantage.”
Creighton also needs to replace Kate Elman who was a four year starter for the Bluejays at libero (Spomer / WBR)
One other thing to watch in Friday night’s scrimmage is on the defensive side where the Bluejays have to replace Kate Elman at the libero position. One of the leading candidates for that position is freshman Brittany Witt. Witt continues the pipeline of liberos to come locally from Omaha Marian, including Elman and Julianne Mandolfo over the past six seasons. But there is a lot of competition at the position between Witt, Crawford, Amanda Foje, Samantha Bohnet, and Mac Conlon.
The luxury Coach Booth has a little more than in the past is some depth at every position. With the success of the program, the talent is getting better and better and the competition is fierce.
“In every position we have such a battle right now,” said Dimke. “We have 15 great girls who are all competing for a spot. Jaclyn (Taylor) is the freshman setter. She is amazing, so it will be a great battle.”
“I think we have great talent. I think we have great culture,” said coach Booth. “I think there are probably about 25-30 teams that are in that boat. It is about who is working hard when no one is looking. It is about how people handle academics with all of it. It is who stays healthy. All those things will play a factor. I am really pumped.”
Coach Booth will have some tough decisions to make over the next week or two before the Bluejays head on the road for the first two weekends against a gauntlet of tough opponents — Wichita State, Iowa State, USC, Kentucky, Northern Iowa — before enjoying the friendly confines of DJ Sokol arena. But the tough schedule will build a resume for down the road.
“I think making the Sweet 16 last year made us really hungry,” said Booth at media day. “As a coaching staff we want to go further. Now it is ‘what do we need to do to get to the Elite 8, Final Four’ and that expectation is there. That is how tradition is established and I think we are getting there step by step. We have bigger goals and it will take a lot of hard work against a lot of great teams to make that happen.”
Join the volleyball team at DJ Sokol Arena on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. for the annual Blue/White scrimmage.
“Truthfully, I have no idea what our lineup is going to look like,” said Booth. Fans can hope that may be better defined after Friday night.