Jaali Winters serves for the Bluejays (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
364 days ago, Creighton outlasted Marquette in a five-set thrill ride in Milwaukee to win their fourth consecutive Big East Tournament title. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles will be across the net again as the Bluejays go for the fifth. Both teams were victorious on Friday in their Big East Tournament semifinal matches. 16th-ranked Marquette dropped set one to St. John’s, but bounced back to win the next three to eliminate the 23-win Red Storm club. Immediately following that, 9th-ranked Creighton made quick work of Villanova as they swept the Wildcats 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 in front of over 2,000 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena to claim the second spot in the championship match.
What’s at stake in Omaha at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday is some Big East Tournament hardware, the final hurdle in a stretch of unprecedented Big East dominance by Creighton’s senior class, and one more chance for either team to boost their NCAA Tournament resume and show the selection committee that they deserve to be one of the 16 teams that get to host a first round regional when the field is officially announced on Sunday night. None of that is lost on Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. But she also sees it as a chance for the much-maligned Big East to put its premier programs on display in a winner-take-all setting.
“I think we are all excited for the opportunity to play a very, very good Marquette team, and it should showcase how great the volleyball is in the Big East,” she said after her team’s win over Villanova. “It’s two awesome teams and it could be really fun volleyball tomorrow. I think we’ve had a really good week of practice. I know our players are really driven. They want to hoist that trophy, but I think we all know that we’re in for a battle. This is what you work for all year for these opportunities. The other thing is this is awesome preparation for next week. To be in this atmosphere with something on the line, a winner takes all type of thing. This is good practice for us as we continue down the road.”
Creighton’s win over the Wildcats was their 19th in a row since a four-set defeat at the hands of an at the time 8th-ranked Illinois club on the road. Since then, the Jays have carved up the Big East, a stretch that includes 33 wins in their last 34 sets played since they fell behind 0-2 at home against Xavier on October 18 before rallying to win in five sets. For their final trick before the NCAA Tournament, they’ll try to put away a nationally-ranked Marquette team for a third time this season.
Creighton-Villanova Notebook:
Creighton’s defense comes up big in the big games (Spomer / WBR) $CLICK TO BUY$
Creighton’s Defense Stifles ‘Nova Attack
Villanova led 1-0 in set one, 2-1 and 10-9 in set three, and chased Creighton’s lead the rest of the way. The Jays maintain an enormous amount of control thanks in large part to a defensive performance that resulted in holding the Wildcats to a sub-.100 hitting percentage in each of the three games. The Bluejays had nine blocks and 69 digs on 125 swings. They held ‘Nova to an .081 attack percentage in set one, a .089 attack percentage in set two, and an .093 attack percentage in set three. The .088 clip the Wildcats finished the match with was their lowest against Creighton since November 21, 2014 when hit -.040.
“We played them two weeks ago, so we had a pretty good familiarity of the team,” Bernthal Booth said. “[Freshman right side hitter Sanaa Barnes] tore us up a little bit the last time we played them, so we really tried to key in on making sure she didn’t go off. Her hitting .000 on the night I think was a key factor to our success. I did think the defense did a great job covering ground. This week in practice I feel like we’ve been playing really scrappy defense and it’s good to see that transfer into the game.”
Sophomore Naomi Hickman, who rotates in the middle and on the right side of the front row for Creighton, tied her career-high with nine kills, but it was her defensive effort at the net — which resulted in a team-high four blocks — that her teammates thought made the difference.
“Her blocks were killer tonight,” senior outside hitter Jaali Winters said. “She’s a great player all around in the front row for us, and it’s just awesome to see her do well … she really showed up when we needed her.”
Creighton has now held each of their last two opponent under an .090 attack percentage after they were disappointed with their defensive performance in the first match against Providence last weekend.
“I thought we put a lot of pressure on them from a serving standpoint,” Bernthal Booth said. “Keeping a team under .100 means the players are doing their job from a blocking and defensive standpoint. I thought they executed the game plan well.”
All-Conference Snub Doesn’t Faze Witt
Witt was not one of the three liberos named to the different Big East All-Conference teams. She is one of the top in the league though (Spomer / WBR)
When the Big East released their all-league selections on Wednesday, it was a bit shocking to see three liberos among the first and second team honorees and not one of them was Creighton’s defensive anchor Brittany Witt. The junior from Omaha was the Big East Libero of the Year a season ago, so to go from that as a sophomore to no recognition at all as a junior despite averaging a career-best 4.30 digs per set during the regular season defied logic.
“I try not to worry about it too much because we have such an amazing team, and I care way more about our team accomplishes,” Witt said when asked if she felt disrespected by the other coaches in the league. “There was a little bit inside me that was kind of upset, but I didn’t take it too personally. There was no vendetta to come in here tonight and try to prove to people. I think I just go like that all season. Plus, my team is amazing so I don’t really care that I didn’t get the honor. I care about our team’s honor instead and congrats to all of our other teammates that made it.”
For her part, she finished with 22 digs in the semifinal win over Villanova, including one that went from a full-extension diving dig that soared over the net and all the way to the far corner of ‘Nova’s back row for first kill of the season. Despite the match only lasting three sets, it was the most digs she recorded 27 in a five-set win at Butler on September 28. However, according to newly crowned Big East Player of the Year Jaali Winters, the 5-foot-8 defensive specialist’s impact isn’t every going to be properly conveyed on the stat sheet.
“She’s so vocal on the court,” Winters said. “Half of our kills should be attributed to her, because we are hitting where she is telling us to hit and it’s usually a kill when she tells us. And even more than that, she’s getting awesome digs for us and keeping everyone calm in the back row when we’re in serve receive — that’s huge for us.”
Zimmerman Answers The Call After Bohnet Injury
On paper, Friday’s win is going to look like every other one of late for the Jays, but there was some adversity to overcome. Prior to the match the Bluejays lost one of their back row defenders and top serving specialists when senior Samantha Bohnet injured her knee during pregame warm-ups. As a result, the coaching staff turned to freshman Jaela Zimmerman, who herself missed five matches due to injury from mid-October to mid-November.
Although she only recorded two digs and was responsible for one of her team’s five service errors on the night, her performance stood out to her teammates and her head coach considering she was playing a position that she had never practiced at all season prior to the match.
“I thought she did awesome,” Bernthal Booth said of the Lincoln, Nebraska native. “She passed nails, she played good defense. I think the rub is sometimes they would run into each other a little bit, because they’re not used to playing next to each other; Jaela doesn’t play right back in practice for us, so she literally got thrown into a new position today. Usually she is playing middle back if she’s working defensively.
“We don’t know the status of Sam at this point. We don’t know if it will be a long term situation or not, but Jaela is a great passer and defender, and we knew that. I said that even though she was only playing front row earlier in the year. We were confident she would come in and do a good job, and she did.”
The two players who spent the most time covering the back row with Zimmerman during the match echoed their head coach’s assessment.
Brittany Witt: “She didn’t get nervous at all before warm-ups when coach told her she’s playing right back … I think she did really well, and we helped her as much as we could on the court by talking to her. She took feedback really well, which shows her maturity as a freshman. She did amazing tonight.”
Jaali Winters: “She did awesome. She’s such a good listener, even in practice. She’s always going to do what she’s told, and she just wants to be the best that she can be. She just led by what we were doing and did the best she could. We are really proud of her tonight.”