Creighton University
Evansville
Volleyball Sweeps Aces, Now 6-0 in MVC
10/5/2007 10:15:00 PM | Volleyball
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Creighton improved to 6-0 in MVC play for the first time in program history with a 30-21, 30-27, 30-17 win at Evansville on Friday night. Coupled with Missouri State's home loss to Wichita State, the win puts Creighton all alone in first place of the MVC standings, one-half game ahead of both WSU and MSU.
The win, Creighton's season-high fifth straight, improved the Bluejays to 12-5 overall on the year. Evansville dropped to 8-9 and is 1-5 in Valley action."
I'm really excited about our start but we still have so much more that we want to accomplish," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "That's secondary to tomorrow's match and then continuing on through conference season."
Kelly Goc led Creighton with 16 kills, while fellow middle blocker Lauren Bloemke had 11 kills and six digs while hitting .409. Also playing well was Sarah Schulze, who had eight kills, seven digs and five blocks. CU finished with 52 kills, four aces, 60 digs and 11 blocks while hitting .210.
Evansville was led by 11 kills from Megan Spurlock, but no other UE player had more than four kills. UE had 30 kills, two aces, 54 digs and eight blocks while hitting .032.
The Jays used a 6-1 run midway through game one to take a 21-14 lead and take the first game by a 30-21 score. CU hit .300 in the opening set, keyed by five kills each from Goc and Allie Oelke.
The second game was tied 27-27 late before the Jays scored the final three points to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room. CU went ahead 28-27 on a service error, got to game point on a kill from Goc and won the game on one of Schulze's three solo blocks this evening.
Game three featured five different runs of three points or more as CU won going away, 30-17. Goc had six kills in the final game to lead CU, which had a trio of other players with three kills each.
"I thought our middles took over the match," said Booth. "They struggled to shut down both Kelly Goc and Lauren Bloemke. We did a lot of good things defensively and our serve reception really got us into system."
Creighton returns to action on Saturday at 7 pm with a match in Carbondale, Ill. at Southern Illinois (11-6, 3-3 MVC).
NOTES: Creighton's previous best MVC start had been 5-0 last season ...Bianca Rivera's school-record streak of five straight matches of 20 or more digs was snapped, as the junior finished with 18 ...Creighton has now beaten Evansville nine straight meetings, the longest streak over any opponent in program history.
