Volleyball Visits UE, SIU This Weekend
10/2/2007 3:30:00 PM | Volleyball
This Weekend
Creighton takes to the road for a pair of matches against Missouri Valley Conference foes.
The Bluejays (11-5, 5-0 MVC) take on Evansville (8-8, 1-4 MVC) Friday night at 7 pm. The match will be held in Evansville, Ind., at Carson Center (500).
On Saturday night, Creighton visits Carbondale, Ill., to take on Southern Illinois (10-6, 2-3 MVC). That contest will start at 7 pm at Davies Gym (1,250).
Radio Broadcast Information
Friday's match at Evansville will not be on radio.
Saturday's match will be broadcast by SIU student radio station WIDB. Audio from that match can be heard on www.widb.net. A link can also be found by clicking on the Live Audio tab on the schedule of the right-hand side of the www.gocreighton.com page.
Video Broadcast Information
Friday's match will be video webcast by Evansville. It can be accessed through www.gopurpleaces.com by clicking on the Triple A box on the right side of the screen. A single-match purchase costs $6.95. It is also available through www.mvc.org for MVC subscribers.
Saturday's match at Southern Illinois will not be video webcast.
Live Stats Information
Friday's match will not have live statistics.
Saturday's match at Southern Illinois will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the left-hand side of the page.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 11-5 through 16 matches this season, including eight contests against teams that were in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
The Bluejays have won seven of eight matches since losing star MB Jessica Houts (3.35 kpg., 1.65 bpg.) to a season-ending knee injury and has matched its best MVC start ever at 5-0.
Preseason all-MVC MB Kelly Goc leads the offense with 3.61 kills per game while also hitting .341.
Two other newcomers have made an immediate impact. Freshman Allie Oelke has a team-best 183 kills (3.27 kpg.), while junior libero Bianca Rivera ranks second in the MVC with 6.04 digs per game.
Two-time MVC assist champ Korie Lebeda sets the offense and averages 11.62 apg.
Creighton is averaging 15.25 kills, 1.55 aces, 18.48 digs and 2.62 blocks per game while hitting .199 as a club.
Scouting Evansville
After using a six-match win streak to up their record to 8-4, Evansville has dropped four straight decisions to fall to 8-8 overall and 1-4 in MVC play.
The Purple Aces, who are 1-2 at home, are led offensively by Megan Spurlock's 3.08 kills per game. Kerry Sylvester averages 2.37 kills and a team-best 1.07 blocks per game.
Emily Whitney (7.66 apg.) and Katie Kincaid (6.44 apg.) share setting duties, while libero Julie Walroth leads the MVC with 6.19 digs per game.
Evansville averages 13.90 kills, 1.02 aces, 19.05 digs and 2.15 blocks per game while hitting .165.
Scouting Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois is 10-6 on the season and 2-3 in MVC play. The Salukis are 6-1 at home to date, with the only loss coming to Illinois State.
SIU's top offensive player is Kristie Berwanger, who averages 3.37 kills per game. Marina Medic averages 2.87 kills and 1.25 blocks per game and paces the MVC with a .368 hitting percentage.
Brooklyn Robbins averages 11.53 assists per game. Defensively, libero Kristy Elswick averages 4.86 digs per game.
As a team, SIU averages 14.76 kills, 1.61 aces, 17.31 digs and 2.82 blocks per game while hitting .209.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 78-58 record in her fifth season with the Bluejays. She became the program's all-time winningest coach on Aug. 25 with a 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin.
Booth came to Creighton after going 112-41 in three years at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A native of Lincoln, Neb., Booth played volleyball at Truman State, where she was named conference MVP, an Academic All-American and Missouri's 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year. She ranked third in Division II history with 6,077 assists when she graduated.
Booth is helped by associate head coach Paul Giesselmann and assistant coaches Angie Oxley Behrens and Steve Bymers.
Evansville is coached by Mike Swan, who owns a 50-89 record in six years with the Purple Aces. He owns a career record of 437-319 in 22 seasons overall. He is assisted by Jeff Getz and Evelia Yajaira Cadet.
Southern Illinois is led by Brenda Winkeler, who owns a 31-41 record in three years with the Salukis and a career mark of 113-113 in eight seasons. She is assisted by Julie Yankus and Kyle Walton.
Series History vs. Evansville
Creighton leads the all-time series with Evansville, 17-10, including a 7-6 edge at Carson Center. The Bluejays have won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including eight straight. CU has won at least one game in all but two of the previous 27 meetings with the Purple Aces.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 8-0 against Evansville and Mike Swan. The Bluejays won in five games last year at Evansville.
Series History vs. Southern Illinois
Creighton leads the all-time series with Southern Illinois by a 17-9 count, including an 8-5 record in Carbondale. Sweeps have been the norm in this series, as 1996 remains the only time in 13 years of meeting that the schools have split the season series. Creighton owns just one sweep in Carbondale all-time.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth owns an 8-0 record against SIU, including Booth's first MVC win on Sept. 19, 2003 in Omaha. She is 4-0 against Brenda Winkeler. Winkeler is 0-5 all-time against Creighton.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton improved to 5-0 in the MVC with a 3-1 win over Illinois State and a 3-0 win over Indiana State. Kelly Goc led Creighton with 4.71 kills per game while hitting .388 in the two victories, while Bianca Rivera paced the defense with 7.43 digs per game.
Win The First One
When Creighton meets Southern Illinois on Saturday, they'll continue a season series that has been dominated by sweeps. The Bluejays and Salukis have split their season series just once in the past 13 years. Creighton has swept the season series eight times while SIU has done it on four occasions since 1994.
Nice Going, Ace
Carolyn Decker's serving has come up big since MVC play started. The junior from Bellevue, Neb., has served 12 aces in that time, a figure that ranks second in the league. Five of her aces came on Saturday night against Indiana State, the most by any Bluejay in a match this fall.
Crazy 8-0's
Since Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival in 2003, Creighton is a perfect 8-0 against both Evansville and Southern Illinois. The Purple Aces and Salukis are the only Valley opponents that Booth has not lost to.
Creighton has never won nine straight meetings against any opponent.
Win Streak Reaches Four
Creighton has won a season-high four straight matches. This is the eighth different streak of four or more wins since Kirsten Bernthal Booth took over five years ago. Before her arrival, there were just five such streaks in the previous nine years.
Most Consecutive Wins
Wins Dates Snapped By
7 Sept. 4-Sept. 17, 2004 Illinois State, 3-0
5 Sept. 24-Oct. 2, 1999 at Missouri State, 3-0
5 Nov. 4-19, 2005 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
5 Aug. 25-Sept. 2, 2006 Iowa, 3-2
5 Sept. 9-16, 2006 at South Dakota State, 1-3
4 Sept. 1-Sept. 7, 2000 at #6 Hawaii, 3-0
4 Oct. 14-24, 2000 Northern Iowa, 3-1
4 Sept. 29-Oct. 12, 2001 #16 Northern Iowa, 3-0
4 Oct. 26-Nov. 3, 2001 at #18 Northern Iowa, 3-0
4 Sept. 19-27, 2003 #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
4 Sept. 28-Oct. 8, 2004 vs. #5 Nebraska, 3-0
4 Oct. 23-Nov. 6, 2004 Northern Iowa, 3-1
4 Sept. 21, 2007-Present ? ? ?
Assists With The Aces
In 2004, CU setter Brittany Coleman had 54 assists at Evansville to break the CU record for a three-game match.
One year later, Korie Lebeda broke that mark with 55 helpers, also at UE. In the second meeting of the year with Evansville, held in Omaha, Lebeda had 56 assists versus Evansville, a record that still stands.
Last year in Evansville, Lebeda had a career-high 71 assists to go with a career-best 20 digs in CU's 3-2 win. Her 71 assists are tied for third-most in CU history for any match, nine behind the mark set by Melissa Weisensee against Evansville in 1996.
Creighton Matches Best MVC Start Ever
Creighton has matched its best opening in MVC play ever at 5-0, which was also done last season. All three previous times CU has started 2-0 or better in The Valley, its first league loss came to Northern Iowa. Creighton won't face UNI again until Oct. 20th, its 11th match of the Valley campaign.
Start Year First MVC Loss
5-0 2006 Northern Iowa, 3-2
5-0 2007 ? ? ?
3-0 2003 at #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
2-0 1997 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
Seven Straight Wins in MVC Play
Creighton has won its last seven regular-season matches in MVC play, which includes a sweep of the SIU-Evansville road trip from last year. With two wins this weekend, CU can match its school-record of nine straight regular-season league wins set from Nov. 4, 2005-Sept. 30, 2006.
Before Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the previous best had been six straight league wins from Sept. 21-Oct. 12, 2001.
Back From The Brink
On Sept. 21, Creighton became the first team in history to win at Northern Iowa after dropping the first two games of a match. UNI won the first two games by scores of 30-25 and 30-24 before CU stormed back to even the match with 31-29 and 30-26 wins.
In game five, Creighton trailed 10-4 before scoring 11 of the final 13 points in the match to notch the win over the MVC's preseason favorite.
It was just the sixth time in 140 attempts that Creighton has won a match after trailing 2-0. Four of those comebacks have come in the five-year reign of head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
Prior to Sept. 21, UNI had won 217 straight matches it led 2-0. The Panthers had also been 490-2 all-time when up 2-0 in five-game matches, including a 278-0 mark at home.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 109-6 (.948) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 51-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 52-3 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-134 (.043) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-41 mark in those home matches. Those six comebacks from down 0-2 are listed below:
Date Opponent Games 3-5 scores Coach
09/19/97 at Bradley 15-11, 15-13, 15-8 Wallace
10/01/99 at Drake 15-6, 17-15, 15-11 Wallace
09/03/04 vs. Montana 30-20, 30-21, 15-11 Booth
10/15/04 at Bradley 30-22, 30-23, 15-11 Booth
10/15/05 at So. Illinois 30-25, 30-24, 15-8 Booth
09/21/07 at No. Iowa 31-29, 30-26, 15-12 Booth
Baumann Bodacious
Senior Abby Baumann entered the Sept. 21 match with UNI with 20 kills in Creighton's first 12 matches this year, only to notch a career-high 24 kills in the win over Northern Iowa.
Even more remarkable is the fact that Baumann did not have a kill in game one. Five of her kills came in game five, including consecutive putaways with the score tied at 12-12.
Baumann also added 11 digs for her first double-double of 2007 and the 22nd double-double of her career.
Though her playing time has fluctuated this season, Baumann owns 711 kills and 887 career digs. She is six kills shy of becoming one of six players in program history to rank in the top-10 in career kills and digs.
Oelke Goes For 23 Kills
Freshman Allie Oelke had 23 kills in Creighton's three game win at Bradley on Sept. 22nd. It ranked as the second-highest total in a three-game match in CU history, trailing only Leah Ratzlaff's 25 at Evansville on Oct. 30, 2004.
It's also the most kills in a three-game match by any player in the MVC this season.
Below is a list of Creighton freshmen to have had 23 or more kills in a match, as well as the longest streaks of 10 or more kills by CU freshmen.
Most Kills In A Match By A Freshmen
Kills Name Date
30 Melissa Walsh at Indiana State 10/16/98
28 Melissa Walsh vs. Drake 10/10/98
23 JoDe Cieloha at Evansville 10/07/94
23 Michelle Prorock vs. Evansville 11/04/94
23 Allie Oelke at Bradley 09/22/07
Creighton Freshmen With 20+ Kills
Times Name (High) Year
4 Melissa Walsh (30) 1998
3 JoDe Cieloha (23) 1994
1 Allie Oelke (23) 2007
1 Kelly Goc (20) 2004
1 Carolyn Decker (22) 2004
1 Jodi Bjoin (21) 1999
1 Shelly Kapler (22) 1996
1 Michelle Prorock (23) 1994
Kills In A Three Game Match
25 Leah Ratzlaff at Evansville 10-30-04
23 Melissa Walsh vs. Southern Illinois 11-2-01
23 Leah Ratzlaff vs. UC-Riverside 9-2-05
23 Allie Oelke at Bradley 9-22-07
Consec. Matches, 10 or More Kills, CU Freshmen
11 Amanda Cvejdlik, Oct. 14-Nov. 19, 2005
9 Allie Oelke, Sept. 8, 2007-Present
8 Melissa Walsh, Oct. 3-30, 1998
8 JoDe Cieloha, Sept. 2-23, 1994
Rivera Keeps On Digging
Bianca Rivera has five consecutive matches with 20 or more digs, breaking the former CU mark of three. In those five matches, she's had 123 digs in 19 games, an average of 6.47 dpg.
Consecutive Matches, 20 or More Digs
5 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 15, 2007-Present
3 Janeen Piller, Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2004
3 Mallory Lahm, Oct. 21-29, 2005
3 Katie Mehal, Oct. 13-21, 2006
3 Katie Mehal, Nov. 17-24, 2006
Goc Rocked The Redbirds
Kelly Goc has given Illinois State all kinds of problems in the Jays last four meetings. The Bluejay senior from Ralston has 20 or more kills in all four victories over the Redbirds dating back to last season, hitting over .300 each time.
In the last four matches with ISU, Goc has averaged 5.25 kills, 1.25 digs, 0.56 blocks and 0.38 aces per game while hitting .335.
No Houts, No Matter
Creighton has won seven of eight matches since Jessica Houts was injured prior to the team's Sept. 11 match at Drake.
Despite the absence of Houts, who was leading the team in kills per game and blocks per game, the Jays have won a pair of five-game matches, one four-gamer and four sweeps. Their only loss in that span was a four-game setback at #13 Minnesota.
As can be seen from the stats below, Abby Baumann, Lauren Bloemke and Allie Oelke have picked up the slack offensively, while Bianca Rivera has raised her game on defense.
Predictably, Creighton's blocking has suffered, but the Jays have made up for it with substantially better digging since Houts went down.
Stat With Houts Without Houts
Team W-L 4-4 7-1
Team KPG 14.65 15.77
Team DPG 15.85 20.77
Team BPG 3.13 2.18
Baumann KPG 0.75 2.27
Bloemke KPG 1.43 2.40
Oelke KPG 2.62 3.83
Rivera DPG 5.62 6.40
Schulze DPG 0.83 3.30
Jays Sweep MVC Awards
Creighton became the first program in MVC history to sweep the MVC Player of the Week, Newcomer of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same week on Oct. 1st.
Kelly Goc earned her third career Player of the Week honor after averaging 4.71 kills and hitting .388 in wins over Illinois State and Indiana State.
Allie Oelke was named Newcomer of the Week for the second time in three weeks. The freshman from Chaska, Minn., averaged 3.29 kills and 4.00 digs after turning in a pair of double-doubles.
Bianca Rivera was named Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row. She averaged 7.43 digs per game while increasing her record streak to five straight matches of 20 or more digs.
Baumann & Rivera Honored by MVC
A pair of Bluejays were honored by the MVC office for their play on the weekend of Sept. 21-22.
Abby Baumann was named MVC Player of the Week after averaging 4.00 kills and 2.38 digs per game while hitting .324 in wins over UNI and Bradley. Baumann had a career-best 24 kills in the win over UNI, while adding 11 digs for her first double-double of the season. Baumann, who owns a 3.96 GPA in Organizational Communications, was also named the Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
Bianca Rivera was named MVC Defensive Player of the Week. She averaged 5.62 digs per game in the two victories. She had 24 digs in the 3-2 win at UNI, then followed with 21 digs in three games at Bradley.
It was the first career weekly honor from the MVC for both women.
Houts Out For Season
Junior MB Jessica Houts will miss the rest of the 2007 season after tearing the ACL in her right knee during warm-ups prior to Creighton's Sept. 11 match at Drake.
Houts was leading the team with 3.35 kills per game and 1.65 blocks per game at the time of her injury and had been named an all-Tournament Team pick the previous two weekends.
She is expected to apply for and receive a medical redshirt, having played in only eight matches this year. Houts underwent successful surgery on Sept. 21.
Goc & Oelke All-Tourney at Gopher Invite
Creighton had two players named to the All-Tournament Team at the Gopher Invitational, Kelly Goc and Allie Oelke. Both players had 10 or more kills in all three matches last weekend.
A senior from Ralston, Neb., Goc averaged 3.90 kills while hitting .368, adding 1.10 blocks per game.
A freshman from Chaska, Minn., Oelke averaged 3.60 kills, 2.80 digs and 1.00 blocks in the three matches.
Also named all-Tournament were Minnesota's Kyla Roehrig, Jessy Jones and Brook Dieter (MVP), Charlotte's Cori Dayton and Green Bay's Betty Slinger.
Oelke Named MVC Freshman of the Week
Allie Oelke was named State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week on Sept. 17.
Oelke averaged 4.50 points, 3.53 kills, 2.73 digs, 0.87 blocks and 0.47 aces and earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Gopher Invitational as Creighton went 3-1.
The Chaska, Minn, native had 10 or more kills in all four matches, which helped her achieve the first three double-doubles of her career.
Oelke opened her week by finishing with career-highs of 17 kills, 13 digs and four aces in Creighton's dramatic road win at Drake. Oelke saved her best for game five, as she had three kills, five digs and three aces in the first game five of her young career. With the fifth game tied at 15-15, Oelke served back-to-back aces to end the match.
Oelke then returned to her home state with three strong matches at the Gopher Invitational. She had 10 kills and 12 digs to go with four blocks in Creighton's 3-0 sweep of Green Bay on Sept. 14.
One day later, Oelke had 13 kills, 11 digs, four blocks and two aces as Creighton never trailed against a Charlotte team that was 20-12 last year.
Oelke concluded the tournament with 13 kills, five digs, two blocks and an ace in a four-game loss to #13 Minnesota.
For the season, Oelke leads Creighton with 183 kills and 22 aces (against just 13 serving errors).
Oelke Over 100 Kills Already
It took just 11 matches for Allie Oelke to surpass 100 career kills, fourth-fastest in Creighton history. Leading Kelly Goc by two for the team lead in kills, Oelke is bidding to become Creighton's first freshman to pace the squad in kills since Melissa Walsh in 1998.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 100 Kills (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
JoDe Cieloha 8 09/23/94 at Drake
Melissa Walsh 10 09/26/98 at Bradley
Carolyn Decker 10 09/18/04 Illinois State
Allie Oelke 11 09/15/07 Charlotte
Rachelle Von 12 10/10/97 Evansville
Megan Waldren 12 10/07/94 at Evansville
With 183 kills through 16 matches, Oelke has a shot of becoming CU's second-quickest player to 200 kills.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 200 Kills (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Melissa Walsh 16 10/16/98 at Indiana State
JoDe Cieloha 18 10/30/94 at UMKC
Shelly Kapler 22 11/09/96 at Bradley
Rachelle Von 24 11/20/97 vs. Indiana State
Megan Waldren 24 11/12/94 at Illinois State
Carolyn Decker 24 11/13/04 Bradley
Jessica Houts 24 10/29/05 at Wichita St.
Amanda Cvejdlik 24 11/19/05 at Bradley
Rivera Ties Digs Record
Bianca Rivera tied Creighton's school-record with 38 digs in Creighton's Sept. 11 match at Drake, also done by Melissa Weisensee vs. Evansville on Oct. 10, 1997.
Rivera had 10 digs in game one, nine digs in game two, 13 digs in game three, five digs in game four, and one dig in game five.
Rivera's 38 digs rank tied for seventh in MVC history, seven shy of the record held by Patricia Dietz (UNI) and Melissa Granville (Wichita State).
Rivera's 38 digs are the most in the MVC this year and helped increase her season dig average to 6.04, good for second in the league.
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just 16 matches into her Division I career. The junior college transfer had a 23 digs on September 2 against Cal Poly, including 16 in the second game alone. She then tied a 10-year old school-record with 38 digs against Drake.
Rivera now owns 338 digs on the season. Her six matches to reach 100 career digs is easily the quickest in school history, four matches quicker than three others. She is also the quickest to 200 career digs, (needing just 11 matches to reach that milestone, five fewer matches than the next fastest) and 300 digs (15 matches, 10 matches faster than anyone else).
Creighton's Quickest Players To 100 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 6 09/02/07 #18 Cal Poly
Melissa Weisensee 10 09/30/94 Missouri State
Kailey Reyes 10 09/27/98 at W. Illinois
Brittany Coleman 10 09/19/03 Southern Illinois
Sarah Schulze 11 09/16/06 Southern Illinois
Creighton's Quickest Players To 200 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 11 09/15/07 vs. Charlotte
Kailey Reyes 16 10/17/98 at Illinois State
Melissa Walsh 20 10/30/98 at Wichita State
Brittany Coleman 20 10/18/03 at Illinois State
Sarah Schulze 21 11/18/06 at Evansville
Creighton's Quickest Players To 300 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 15 09/28/07 Illinois State
Kailey Reyes 25 09/03/99 vs. Gonzaga
Melissa Walsh 30 09/10/99 Southern Illinois
Brittany Coleman 31 09/03/04 at Missouri
Melissa Weisensee 32 09/15/95 Evansville
Korie Lebeda 34 09/01/06 Jacksonville St.
Rivera One Of A Few
Junior Bianca Rivera has collected 14 or more digs in every match this season, the only player in the MVC that can make that claim.
In fact, only three Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, Ellie Blankenship (UNI) and Kelly Broussard (WSU).
Rivera's streak of 16 straight double-digit dig matches is the second-longest in Bluejay history. Two others on the list, Abby Baumann and Katie Mehal, are seniors on this year's team.
Consecutive Matches, 10 or More Digs, CU History
43 Janeen Piller, Oct. 10, 2003-Nov. 26, 2004
16 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24, 2007-Present
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
Goc Plays In 100th Match
Senior Kelly Goc enters this weekend having played in a team-high 102 matches in her career. She became the 10th player in Bluejay history to play in 100 career matches on Sept. 22 at Bradley. If Goc plays in each of Creighton's final 13 conference matches, she'd tie Leah Ratzlaff with 115 career matches played.
Goc also ranks fourth in school history with 88 career starts.
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton survived two match points in its win over Drake on Sept. 11th, the fourth time in five years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth that the Jays had won after facing an opponents match point.
Creighton trailed 14-13 and 15-14 before winning the final fifth game 17-15.
On the other hand, Creighton is 78-0 under Booth when it reaches a match point opportunity.
Surviving Match Points, Under Booth
Date Opponent MP(s) Faced Final Game 5
09/11/07 at Drake 13-14, 14-15 17-15
10/13/06 at Wichita State 12-14, 13-14, 14-15 17-15
10/10/03 Wichita State 13-14 16-14
08/30/03 vs. McNeese State 13-14, 15-16 18-16
Double-Double Double
Creighton had a pair of players record their first double-doubles of the season on Sept. 11 at Drake. Sarah Schulze had 10 kills and 10 digs, just the second double-double of her career. For freshman Allie Oelke, her 17 kills and 13 digs led to the first double-double of her career.
At the Gopher Invitational, Schulze, Oelke and Korie Lebeda all had double-doubles against Green Bay, with Oelke following up with a third straight dub-dub against Charlotte.
Creighton has five different players with a total of 15 double-doubles this season.
By comparison, last year CU had three people combine for 38 double-doubles as Lebeda (21), Abby Baumann (16) and Schulze (1) all had double-dimes.
Game Five Frenzy
Creighton is 18-4 in five-game matches over the last five seasons. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth games prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival.
Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-game matches on a yearly basis:
Year Game 5 W-L Total W-L
1994 0-2 5-20
1995 0-2 11-19
1996 2-6 9-19
1997 3-5 15-13
1998 2-3 7-18
1999 3-3 13-15
2000 3-3 16-12
2001 1-1 14-13
2002 1-3 3-23
2003 5-1 12-18
2004 4-0 18-11
2005 3-1 16-14
2006 4-2 21-10
2007 2-0 11-5
Total 33-32 171-210
Statistically Speaking
Creighton can be found throughout the latest edition of the NCAA statistics, which include matches through Sept. 30th.
As a team, Creighton ranked 67th in blocks per game, 68th in assists per game, 85th in kills per game, 22nd in digs per game, 73rd in winning percentage, 151st in hitting percentage and 198th in aces per game.
Individually, Creighton has six different players that rank in the top 500 of a category, as seen below:
Name Rank Stat
Bianca Rivera 11th 6.04 digs per game
Kelly Goc 83rd .341 hitting pct.
Korie Lebeda 89th 11.63 assts. per game
Kelly Goc 211th 3.61 kills per game
Allie Oelke 258th 0.39 aces per game
Kelly Goc 319th 0.94 blocks per game
Allie Oelke 333rd 3.27 kills per game
Carolyn Decker 380th 0.35 aces per game
Lauren Bloemke 488th 0.79 blocks per game
Quick Starts A Key
The importance of getting off to a good start is crucial in any sport, and volleyball is no different. Below is a breakdown of all Creighton matches the past two seasons and the record of the teams to reach various milestones first during each game.
In other words, the team in Creighton's matches that got to five points in a game first are 40-14 this year and were 66-45 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 39-15 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 40-14 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 42-12 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 50-4 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 50-4 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 50-4 98-13
Game 5's Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 1-1 4-2
When getting to 3 pts first 0-2 3-3
When getting to 5 pts first 0-2 4-2
When getting to 8 pts first 0-2 4-2
When getting to 10 pts first 0-2 4-2
When getting to 13 pts first 2-0 5-1
MVC Opener Histories
Thanks to a Sept. 11 win at Drake, Creighton now owns a 7-7 record all-time in Missouri Valley Conference openers, including a 4-1 record under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. In the six previous seasons that Creighton won its MVC opener, it has never finished worse than 9-9 in league play and owns a combined .574 winning percentage in MVC action.
In the seven years in which Creighton lost its MVC opener, the Jays have had a losing record five times and own a combined .315 winning percentage during league contests.
How Do You Win The MVC? Start 1-0
At the start of the conference season, all 10 Missouri Valley Conference schools will harbor dreams of a regular-season league title. However, if the past is any indication of the future, eight teams (all but Creighton and Missouri State) have already had their dreams shattered after just three weeks of play.
Since the beginning of the Gateway Conference (which later merged to form the Missouri Valley Conference in 1992) in 1983, no school has ever won the regular-season or tournament title after dropping its first league match of the season.
Going a step further, the 1996 Illinois State team and the 2006 UNI team are the only schools to have ever won the regular-season title outright without starting 4-0 or better. The Redbirds lost its third league match of the 1996 season at Drake, but would win its final 15 matches to finish 17-1, one game ahead of the Bulldogs. UNI lost its second league match at Wichita State last year but would win the league with a 16-2 mark.
Home Losses Are Also Devastating
Last year Northern Iowa became the first program to lose a home conference match and win the regular-season title outright in that same season.
It's also worth noting that 12 of the last 13 regular-season MVC champions finished the year with one regular-season loss or fewer. The exception was last year's UNI team that was 16-2, with both losses coming against Wichita State.
All-Tourney Pair
Jessica Houts and Bianca Rivera were both named to the All-Tournament Team at the State Farm Illini Classic. Houts averaged 3.29 kills, 2.14 digs and 2.00 blocks per game while Rivera averaged 5.71 digs per game. It was the second All-Tournament Team honor this year for both women.
Crowd of 13,081 Is NCAA Record
The largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA Volleyball history, 13,081, was on hand for Creighton's match on Sept. 2 against Cal Poly. The match was the first half of a Holiday Inn Downtown Classic doubleheader that included Penn State playing Nebraska in the nightcap.
The previous largest crowd had been 12,504 when Colorado visited Nebraska on Nov. 4, 2000.
It also shattered the previous MVC and Creighton record for home attendance in a match of 12,112 that the Jays hosted last year for a home match against the Huskers.
Houts Named To All-Tournament Team
Junior Jessica Houts was named to the Holiday Inn Downtown Classic All-Tournament Team on Sept. 2. Houts led Creighton with 19 kills and seven blocks in matches against nationally-ranked Nebraska and Cal Poly over the weekend. The Bloomington, Minn., native also led all Bluejay attackers with a .226 hitting average.
Other players honored were Nebraska's Rachel Holloway, Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan (MVP), Penn State's Christa Harmotto and Cal Poly's Kylie Atherstone.
Top Five Crowds
According to numbers calculated by Diane Nordstrom at the University of Wisconsin, Creighton ranks fifth nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 2,940 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-15 on her list, joining Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
2007 Volleyball Home Average Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 6,420 70,621 11
2. Nebraska 5,250 42,000 8
3. Wisconsin 3,609 10,827 3
4. Florida 3,228 16,142 5
5. Creighton 2,940 17,637 6
6. Minnesota 2,748 24,773 9
7. Penn State 2,568 17,979 7
8. Stanford 2,364 11,818 5
9. Wichita State 2,348 21,134 9
10. Purdue 2,123 10,615 5
11. Texas 2,070 10,351 5
12. Texas A&M 2,038 12,227 6
13. Northern Iowa 1,994 13,955 7
14. New Mexico State 1,976 13,835 7
16. Illinois State 1,796 12,572 7
Bloemke Steps It Up
Sophomore MB Lauren Bloemke had the match of her career to date on Aug. 28 in a win over Iowa State. Bloemke had career-highs with 18 kills and three aces while also adding three blocks and a pair of assists. Even more impressive is that she didn't enter the match until Kelly Goc was injured with the score 15-14 in game one.
Coming into the night, her previous high had been 10 kills in one match. Her three aces, which all came during an 11-0 serving run, matched her career total to that point. Last season Bloemke did not record her 18th kill of the season until CU's 16th match, a Sept. 30 win over Indiana State.
Bloemke currently ranks tied for second on the team with 16 aces in only 185 serving attempts. By comparison, last year she had one ace and nine errors in 37 serving attempts all season.
Booth Becomes Volleyball Wins Leader
Kirsten Bernthal Booth became the winningest volleyball coach in modern school history with her team's 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin on Aug. 25. The victory was Booth's 69th at Creighton, passing Howard Wallace who was 68-94 in six years from 1997-2002.
Oelke A Rising Star
Allie Oelke improved her numbers with each of the first four matches she played in to start her career, increasing her kill totals from four to seven to eight to 13.
Oelke is just the fourth true freshman to start Creighton's season opener since 1999. Each of the previous three players (Brittany Coleman/2003, Carolyn Decker/2004, Korie Lebeda/2005) would go on to earn MVC All-Freshman Team honors.
Oelke had 13 kills, nine digs, three aces and a block in CU's win at Iowa State on Aug. 28. On Sept. 2 against Cal Poly, the unflappable freshman had 11 kills and nine digs before the largest crowd in NCAA volleyball-only, regular-season history (13,081). Oelke then had 17 kills, 13 digs and four aces in the win at Drake (Sept. 11), including back-to-back aces to finish CU's 17-15 game-five win.
Lebeda Passes 3,000 Assists
Junior setter Korie Lebeda notched her 3,000th career assist on a set to Sarah Schulze on the first point of Creighton's victory over Iowa State on Aug. 28th. The milestone came in Lebeda's 65th match played and 231st game of her career.
As a reference, it took UNI's Jill Arganbright 73 matches (247 games) to reach 3,000 career assists. Arganbright closed her career with an MVC-record 6,064 assists from 2000-03 in 138 matches.
Lebeda was already the quickest player to 1,000 career assists in Creighton history, taking 23 matches (77 games) to get there, as well as 2,000 career assists (43 matches, 152 games).
Below is Creighton's quickest players to reach 3,000 assists:
Matches to
Name 3,000 asts. Opponent
Korie Lebeda 65 8/28/07 at Iowa State
Kailey Reyes 72 11/17/00 at Wichita State
Melissa Weisensee 88 9/5/97 vs. Texas-San Antonio
Lebeda Takes A Break (Finally)
Korie Lebeda played every point of her freshman and sophomore seasons, and the first 299 points of her junior year before finally being replaced by Rachel Vrbicky with CU owning a 26-10 lead over Montana State on Aug. 25th. That brought her amazing streak to 11,849 consecutive points without a break to open her college career.
After coming out for three points, Lebeda returned for the final six points of that match.
Lebeda also rested the final four points of Creighton's win over Indiana State on Sept. 29.
Lebeda has now played in 14,258 of a possible 14,265 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.951 percent.
Scheduling Up
Last year Creighton won three matches against teams that advanced to the 2006 NCAA Tournament: Jacksonville State, Saint Louis and Middle Tennessee.
This year's schedule features 11 matches against 2006 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including defending national champion Nebraska. Creighton has already beaten Stephen F. Austin, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Tennessee this year from that group.
Other NCAA qualifiers from 2006 include Middle Tennessee, Cal Poly, Minnesota and Missouri State (2).
Creighton will play 10 matches against teams that received votes in the AVCA Preseason Top-25 poll.
Beating NCAA Tourney Teams
There's an old saying that “to be the best, you've got to beat the best”. Creighton's win on Aug. 25 over Stephen F. Austin was its seventh all-time over a team that appeared in the NCAA Tournament the previous season. Others on that list were Illinois State (twice in 1999), Missouri (2004), Florida Atlantic (2006), Nevada (2006) and Jacksonville State (2006). CU followed that up with a win on Aug. 28 at Iowa State.
However, the win over Stephen F. Austin was the first win over a team that won a match in that trip to the NCAA's, a feat they duplicated on Aug. 28 at Iowa State and Sept. 21 at Northern Iowa.
Creighton will get three more chances to beat NCAA winners from a year ago, two matches against Missouri State and one remaining match with UNI.
Goc Opened With Big Weekend
Kelly Goc had a big start to her senior season, hitting .508 while averaging a team-best 4.12 kills per game at the Bluejay Invitational. Goc led CU with 12 kills on Friday while hitting .385 against Middle Tennessee, then hit 21-1-33 (.606) in two wins on Saturday.
Included in that was a 14-0-21 performance (.667) against Stephen F. Austin that is tied for the third-best hitting percentage in school history.
Goc leads Creighton with a .341 hitting percentage and 3.61 kills per game while ranking second with 4.20 points per game.
Defensive Effort Supreme
Montana State's 15 kills on Aug. 25 tied the fewest ever allowed by Creighton, matching the mark set by Drake on Sept. 22, 2006.
Additionally, Montana State's -.044 hitting percentage was the third-lowest by a Bluejay opponent ever.
Lowest Hitting Percentages vs. Creighton
Pct. Team K E TA Date
-.108 UMKC 19 27 74 9/15/96
-.086 Drake 15 23 93 9/22/06
-.044 Montana State 15 19 90 8/25/07
-.008 UMKC 29 30 125 10/24/00
-.007 Wichita State 27 28 135 10/21/95
Crowds Kept Coming
Creighton ranked 16th nationally in average attendance (1,611) in 2006, its best finish ever. That ranks as a 683% increase from the 2002 season, the final year before Kirsten Bernthal Booth arrived. Below is the 2006 attendance list:
2006 Volleyball Home Average Attendance
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 7,186 158,093 22
2. Nebraska 4,137 78,598 19
3. Wisconsin 3,900 66,294 17
4. Minnesota 3,620 50,673 14
5. Missouri 2,565 28,216 11
6. Penn State 2,548 48,417 19
7. Washington 2,516 37,741 15
8. Florida 2,425 41,223 17
9. Texas 2,169 34,711 16
10. Wichita State 2,083 29,157 14
11. Stanford 2,061 30,918 15
12. BYU 1,882 24,464 13
13. New Mexico State 1,830 31,111 17
14. Texas A&M 1,781 21,376 12
15. Northern Iowa 1,708 23,909 14
16. Creighton 1,611 20,940 13
Cal Poly 1,611 16,114 10
18. Purdue 1,594 27,096 17
19. Michigan State 1,455 21,825 15
20. Illinois 1,366 19,127 14
Opening Weekend Records Fall
Creighton had a bunch of records fall during the first weekend of the season at the Bluejay Invitational.
Freshman Allie Oelke tied a school-record with three aces in her debut, which had been done three times previously.
In Oelke's second match, she tied a Bluejay Invitational record with four aces against Montana State.
Oelke would also go on to set the tournament record with eight aces overall in three matches.
Junior Bianca Rivera set a school-record with 14 digs in her debut match, three more than the previous mark held by Mallory Lahm (2004).
Rivera has already set another school record as she has opened her career with 16 straight matches of 10 or more digs. The previous record of three was held by Brittany Coleman (2003).
Fall 2006 Summary
Creighton's 2006 team finished 21-10 while wrapping up the program's best season since its 1994 reinstatement. The Bluejays opened 10-1, including tournament titles at Middle Tennessee and Montana State, and also hung tough in a four-game loss to #1 Nebraska before 12,112 fans at Qwest Center Omaha.
The team would finish an impressive 13-5 away from home, including a 4-1 neutral site record, and fell in the semifinals of the MVC Tourney to Northern Iowa.
Kelly Goc and Korie Lebeda were named first-team all-MVC while Jessica Houts was a second-team selection. Senior captain Emily Greisch was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and joined Lebeda and Abby Baumann on the Valley's Scholar-Athlete First Team.
20-Win Season
Creighton reached the 20-win milestone for the first time in modern school history last year and finished with 21 victories. The previous school-record for wins since the program's 1994 reinstatement had been the 2004 team that finished 18-11.
Creighton also tied its school-record with 12 conference wins last season, previously accomplished in 2001.
Reshuffled Decker
One player that might have anticipated the start of the 2007 season more than any other is fourth-year junior Carolyn Decker. Decker, who earned all-MVC Freshman Team honors in 2004, has missed the majority of the past two years with injuries.
Decker missed all but six matches of the 2005 season after tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in her right elbow.
Last season, Decker was hurt during the third match of the opening weekend when she tore the ACL in her left knee while landing on a jump serve.
Baby Jays
Two members of the coaching staff added a child during the offseason.
Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth and her husband, Erik, welcomed a daughter, Hayden Isabel Bernthal Booth, to the world on August 3rd. The couple also has a two-year old daughter, Reese. Booth missed the first two weeks of preseason practice and returned to her coaching duties full-time on August 20th.
Associate head coach Paul Giesselmann and his wife, Dr. Paige Groppe, welcomed a daughter, Ansley Paige Giesselmann, on April 9th. The couple also has twin 11-year old boys, Hunter and Garret.
MVC Leaders
Creighton has two different returners that led the league in a statistical category for MVC-only matches. Kelly Goc led the way with 3.97 kills per game and Korie Lebeda was first with 13.25 assists per game.
In addition, Amanda Cvejdlik finished second with 0.51 aces per game, though her 34 aces topped all players.
For all matches, Lebeda was first with 12.79 assists per game, easily outdistancing Illinois State's Erin Lindsey's 11.96 apg. that ranked second.
Creighton's team also led the MVC in four different statistical categories, both for all matches and MVC matches only. The Jays led the league in assists per game, kills per game, fewest opponent kills per game and fewest opponent assists by per game.
Freshman Get To Start
Creighton has started at least one freshman in 151 of its last 154 matches. The opening weekend of 2006 remains the only time since Sept. 20, 2002, that Creighton opened a match without a freshman starter.
Goc Moves Into Top 10 In Kills, Blocks
Junior middle blocker Kelly Goc got 36 kills at last year's MVC Tournament to become the fifth member of Creighton's 1,000-kill club. She's just the third player to reach that milestone as a junior, joining Melissa Walsh and Leah Ratzlaff.
Goc continues to crash the Creighton record books in several career categories, as seen below:
Goc on the Career Lists
Stat Rank Goc Total
Points 2nd 1401.0
Hitting Pct. 2nd .281
Points Per Game 3rd 4.07
Kills Per Game 4th 3.42
Kills 4th 1,177
Matches Started 4th 88
Block Assists 5th 268
Attack Attempts 5th 2,884
Blocks 6th 304
Block Solos 7th 36
Matches Played T-7th 102
Blocks Per Game 8th 0.88
Games Played 8th 344
Aces T-10th 54
Defensive Awards
Following last season the Collegiate Volleyball Update website (www.cvu.com) honored Creighton with a pair of defensive awards. The Jays were one of five teams in the running for “Deep Digging Team of the Year”, which was won by Murray State.
Additionally, Creighton was also one of five teams in CVU's Overall Defensive Team of the Year list, which was topped by Missouri State.
Setting The Fab Four
One reason Korie Lebeda led the Missouri Valley Conference with 12.79 assists per game last year was that she had plenty of offensive weapons to choose from. The Bluejays boasted four players ranked in the MVC's top 18 in kills. Kelly Goc (3.94) was second, Amanda Cvejdlik (3.58) was fifth, Jessica Houts (3.33) is ninth and Abby Baumann (2.78) was 18th.
Creighton owned four players with at least 300 kills. Not only had CU never had four players at that level in any season, but they've never done that over any two-year span either. In the first 12 years of the program, only 14 players had ever had 300 or more kills.
Production Returning
Creighton returns 10-of-13 letterwinners from last season, and more than 94 percent of their statistical production in every category except digs, as seen below:
Stat Returners Departures
Kills 1903 (99.7%) 5 (0.3%)
Blocks 305.5 (99.3%) 2.0 (0.7%)
Points 2382.5 (99.3%) 17.0 (0.7%)
Assists 1715 (98.2%) 32 (1.8%)
Matches Started 175 (94.1%) 11 (5.9%)
Aces 173 (94.0%) 11 (6.0%)
Digs 1954 (86.7%) 299 (13.3%)
The Baumann Barometer
Creighton's record is 24-7 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 18-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 27-0 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 39-40 in her career when she hasn't.
Baumann averaged 2.96 kills and hit .172 in CU's 21 wins last year, but just 2.44 kills and hit .000 in the Jays 10 losses.
Game 1 Result = Match Result
In its last 63 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 57-6.
CU is 62-10 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 14-48 under Booth it they drop the first game.
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked third in the 2007 MVC preseason coaches poll. Northern Iowa (97 points, seven first place votes) was favored to win its second straight title, just ahead of Wichita State (85, one) and Creighton (81, two). Rounding out the rest of the league was Missouri State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Evansville, Bradley, Drake and Indiana State.
Each of the past three years Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of them in the preseason poll.
Year Preseason Pick Finish Move
1994 11th 9th #2
1995 9th 7th #2
1996 9th 6th #3
1997 8th 3rd #5
1998 6th 8th i2
1999 T-7th 5th #2
2000 4th T-4th - -
2001 2nd 4th i2
2002 7th 9th i2
2003 9th T-5th #4
2004 5th 5th - -
2005 5th 5th - -
2006 4th 4th - -
2007 3rd ???
AVCA Honors CU Volleyball For Academics
The Creighton volleyball program was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2007 AVCA Team Academic Award. Creighton previously won the award in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The award honors teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA. Last spring the Bluejay volleyball team posted a cumulative GPA of 3.38, as six student-athletes landed on the Dean's List (3.5 or better).
Radio Broadcast Information
Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will broadcast at least 20 regular-season matches this season on KVSS (88.9 FM), as well as any potential MVC Tournament and NCAA Tournament matches. The matches will also be streamed on-line at www.kvss.com. A complete list of remaining matches follows:
Remaining Volleyball Broadcast Schedule
Oct. 12 Wichita State
Oct. 13 Missouri State
Oct. 19 Bradley
Oct. 20 Northern Iowa
Nov. 2 Southern Illinois
Nov. 4 Evansville
Nov. 9 at Missouri State
Nov. 10 at Wichita State
Nov. 16 Drake
Creighton Ticket Information
Tickets to Creighton's home regular-season matches are sold at all Ticketmaster outlets. Cost is $7 for adults and $4 for youth (18 years of age or younger) with children five and under admitted free. Season ticket information is available online at www.gocreighton.com or by calling (402) 280-JAYS. Creighton has sold approximately 380 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 286 season tickets last year.
