Creighton volleyball fans got their first look at the team during the annual Blue-White scrimmage Saturday evening.
As to be expected, play was sloppy at times and a number of balls fell to the floor due to poor communication. Veterans next to true freshmen, first night jitters for those freshmen and players in new positions accounted for most of the mistakes, but Coach Booth feels her team is ready for its opening match Friday against Texas-San Antonio in the Texas A&M Invitational.
“I think we are [ready]. I think that anytime that it’s this early in the season there are things that you could work at forever, but at some point you gotta get out there and play,” Booth said. “I think this team’s ready to play.
“I didn’t think we played great tonight, but I think that we’ve been playing pretty well in practice and I think we’ll be ready on Friday.”
What to take from the scrimmage
It’s clear that Megan Bober and Julianne Mandolfo have their spots locked up.
Bober, now in her third season as setter for the Bluejays, made the All-American Honorable Mention list in her redshirt sophomore season last fall. Mandolfo earned MVC All-Freshman team honors last year and looks to be one of the league’s top liberos.
As of fall sports Media day on Wednesday, Coach Booth said that those were the only two spots really locked up. After the scrimmage, she admitted that her lineup is fairly solidified.
“I think I have an idea of what we’re going to start with next weekend, but I think we’re still looking at some things in practice to see how people are developing,” Booth said.
After watching the scrimmage, I’d bet good money that spots #3 and #4 are going to junior middle blocker Heather Thorson and fellow junior, defensive specialist Brooke Boggs.
Thorson and Boggs started 20 and 21 of the possible 33 matches last season, respectively. Thorson played well in the scrimmage and provides a great deal of height at the net with her 6’3” frame. Boggs has battled the injury bug this summer, but looked in good form. She served 11 consecutive points during the first set for the White and served three aces in a row for the Blue during the fourth set. (Players were shuffled between teams throughout the match. Whichever team Bober was on remained the Blue team)
Booth commended Thorson’s play in the scrimmage and practice.
“I thought Heather Thorson had a really good night tonight,” she said. “It didn’t surprise me because she’s been playing really well in practice, but I thought she played well in the middle tonight.”
The final two spots will be a toss-up. Laurel Sanford made the second team all-MVC a year ago despite an early season ankle injury. She’ll likely find herself in the starting lineup again, but with talented newcomers nothing is set in stone.
Also vying for a heavy dose of playing time are highly touted freshmen Michelle Sicner, Katie Neisler and Kelli Browning, as well as the ever-celebratory senior Karisa Almgren. Sicner will see limited time at setter behind Bober, though it will be tough to keep her off the floor in some capacity given her talent. Neisler has a strong defensive upside, though is just a true freshman without experience. Browning seemed to have some first night jitters, but with her athleticism at 6’4”, she’ll surely receive some playing time. Lastly, Almgren is a textbook leader for the team and came on strong toward the latter part of last season. All four are great candidates for a starting role, though my guess is that Sicner will be in the starting lineup sooner or later.
Extra tidbits
Brooke Boggs and Brianne Fliss both played two sets at libero for the White. Fliss is transitioning from playing setter a season ago. Brittany Moon played the fifth set at libero for the White.
Freshman Leah McNary displayed her athleticism and was the cause for a number of oohs and ahhs. The outside hitter can absolutely jump out of the gym and is “possibly the best athlete ever in the gym at Creighton” according to Booth. She hit just .091 for the White and .000 for the Blue, though when she got a kill, you knew it. Booth has talked of redshirting her, however has not made a decision on the matter yet.
Booth on redshirting McNary:
“We haven’t made a final decision on Leah. She’s such a great kid and she said, ‘Whatever you think is best, I’ll do it.’ We’ll have to see how things play out this week and this weekend. If we think she is gonna start and play, then we probably wouldn’t redshirt her. If we aren’t so sure about that, we think she’s special and we think she’s a kid who can be an outstanding player and we’d take the opportunity to train her for an extra year.”
McNary on being redshirted:
“I think it’s a win-win situation, because if I am [redshirted] it’ll help me get more consistent.”
Be sure to check out our season preview series beginning Monday.