Jaali Winters, the 2015 Big East Freshman of the Year, gets ready to serve Thursday night vs. Kansas (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Having to answer questions about moral victories is something no player or coach wants to do, because it means they didn’t get the victory that goes into the record book. Unfortunately for the Creighton volleyball team, those are the kinds of questions they were asked on Thursday night after they ended up on the losing end of a highly-competitive five-set thriller against the undefeated and fourth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.
The Bluejays out-hit the Jayhawks, .157 to .155, but fell short on what sophomore outside hitter Jaali Winters referred to as “the little things” in dropping the match on scores of 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 26-28, 13-15.
“We knew for sure it was going to be a fight the whole way through,” Winters said. “We knew we had to earn all of our points, each and every one of them. They were not going to give us anything. We just battled and it came down to the little things, so that’s what we’re going to work on.”
In a match that looked like it would come down to Creighton’s size and physicality against Kansas’ athleticism and range, the Jayhawks led almost the entire way in the opening set. Last year’s Final Four participant held the Bluejays to an .091 attack percentage in game one. Only sophomore outside hitter Taryn Kloth — four kills on seven swings — made it out of the first set with an attack percentage above .200.
“I thought in the first game we showed a lot of nerves,” Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “It’s our first home game and I did not think we played a good first game. It was competitive, but we had some miscues that I think are atypical for us.”
Playing from behind from the first serve on, the Bluejays found themselves tied 16-16 at the midway point of the opening set thanks to some sloppy play from Kansas’ normally potent attack. Senior libero Cassie Wait, junior right side hitter Kelsie Payne, and redshirt freshman outside hitter Patricia Montero each committed a service error one right after the other to let the lead slip away. The trio regrouped on the court, however, to score five of the next eight points before junior defensive specialist Tori Miller came in and served up an ace to win game one, 25-21, for the Jayhawks.
The second set was almost a mirror opposite of the first as Creighton was the team jumping out to a fast start and playing ahead. Junior setter Lydia Dimke started going to her big gun in Winters on the left side of the court, and the 2015 Big East Freshman of the Year responded with seven of her season-high 21 kills coming in that second game to help her team build a 14-9 lead.
That lead evaporated in a hurry, though, as Kansas rattled off a 10-3 rally to take a 19-17 lead. After a timeout, the Bluejays got some big time kills from Kloth and Winters, along with a combo block from Kloth and redshirt freshman middle blocker Megan Ballenger to retake the lead at 24-22. Junior outside hitter Madison Rigdon saved set point with one of her match-high 24 kills, but junior setter Ainise Havili committed a costly service error to send the teams into the locker room all tied up at one.
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Dimke (1) & Smith (16) were big in the 3rd set for the Bluejays (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Creighton came out of the locker room and dominated most of the third set, especially at the net. Senior middle blocker Lauren Smith formed a human wall, turning away attack after attack from Kansas hitters. The Lincoln native came up with four block assists and a solo block in the set after combining for two total blocks in the first two games. She covered the entire net for the Bluejay defense, sliding from the left side to the right side, and everything in between. Dimke, Creighton’s 6-foot-1 setter also chipped in three blocks to team up with Smith at the net throughout game three.
Kansas eventually trimmed what was a 16-8 lead down to one point at 21-20, but kills by Winters, Kloth, and junior right side hitter Marysa Wilkinson finished off a 25-21 win for the Bluejays, giving the home team a 2-1 lead in the match. The Jayhawks were held to .019 hitting as a team due to Creighton’s improved presence at the net. It was nearly .050 points lower than they had hit in any set so far this season.
“I think blocking is a huge part of defense, and we are a tall team,” Dimke said. “Tonight we took advantage of that and we got in their face. They did an amazing job of bouncing back and covering — they definitely never gave us a single point, but we were in control at the net and that was really fun to see. We’ve been working on that a lot.”
The fourth set started out much like the third, with Creighton taking command out of the gates with a 9-4 run that forced an early timeout by the Jayhawks. Kansas came out of the break with an adjustment to deal with the Bluejays at the net, opting to attack down the line more often instead the seams or in the middle. The adjustment worked, too, as Dimke and Smith’s combo block at 9-4 was the one and only block of the set for the Bluejays.
Madison Rigdon was the benefited most from the tactical tinkering, leading all player with seven kills and only committing two attack errors in a must-win game four for her team. Kansas got to set point at 24-21, but Creighton save five game points before eventually falling 28-26 to set up a fifth and final set.
The final game would end up being Creighton’s best all night from an efficiency standpoint. The Bluejays had 10 kills on 25 swings for a .280 attack percentage, but a 4-0 run by the Jayhawks after the teams switched sides midway through the set had them playing catch up the rest of the way. They didn’t fade down the stretch like they did in fifth set losses against Wichita State and Southern Cal, but a pair of costly service errors at the end sealed their fate as they fell 15-13, and lost out on a chance to earn the program’s first win over a team ranked in the top five.
Kansas improved to 7-0 on the season with their 37th win in the last 40 matches. Creighton on the other hand, fell to 2-4 on the season, including 0-3 in matches that have gone five sets.
Three straight losses is a hard pill to swallow, but true to their emphasis on the process and the big picture, the Creighton coach believes her team’s performances continue to improve.
Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth tries to rally her squad on Thursday night (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
“I think what I learned is we’re continuing to get better,” Booth said. “I thought we played better tonight than we did against USC, and that’s the objective. Obviously we’d like to get wins in the process — we’re trying to build a resume — but we have to continue to get better, and I think we did that tonight.”
As they do after wins, the Jays will now put this match in the memory bank and move on to prepare for a TCU team that awaits them on Friday for the nightcap of Day 2 of the Bluejay Invitational. The Horned Frogs started the year 4-0, including wins over NC State and Duke before getting swept by No. 12 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. last Saturday.
“I think they are a smart group,” the Creighton coach said of who she expects her team will bounce back. “I think they get the ramifications of matches and why we set up the schedule we set up from an RPI standpoint. I think they respect TCU — we’ve been trying to tell them how good they are. They haven’t seen the scout, but TCU is a really solid team.”
“I think you look to leadership in these situations, and I said this on the radio, it’s easy to come out ready after wins, but now it’s character time. How am I going to handle a loss? Am I going to dwell on it or am I going to move forward and be confident? This is what champions do — they bounce.”
The Bluejays and Horned Frogs have never met in volleyball, but that will change on Friday night as they are scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. first serve after the match between No. 4 Kansas and Chattanooga kicks off the action at D.J. Sokol Arena at 3:30 p.m.