Volleyball Returns Home To Face Redbirds, Sycamores
9/26/2007 10:15:00 AM | Volleyball
This Weekend
Creighton (9-5, 3-0 MVC) looks for two wins to match its best Missouri Valley Conference start in history when it returns home to host Illinois State and Indiana State this weekend.
Friday's match against Illinois State (10-5, 2-2 MVC) will mark CU's first at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in more than a month.
The public is invited to attend a Chili Feed prior to the 7 pm match. The event is part of the weekend's Homecoming festivities and the cost is $5 per-person for the all-you-can-eat chili feed which is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m., in the south end zone of the arena.
Saturday's match will be against Indiana State (3-9, 0-4 MVC) and also take place at 7 pm.
Both contests will be held at the Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,377).
Radio Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM), and will be streamed live on-line at http://ww.kvss.com and http://www.gocreighton.com. Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will call the action.
Video Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend match will be video webcast and can be seen at http://www.gocreighton.com.
Friday's video webcast can be seen free of charge via http://www.mvc.org.
Fans can sign up to buy Saturday's match for $4.95 each or a season package of all of CU's remaining home matches for $34.95 by clicking on the “Sign Up” graphic below the video box on the top right of the page.
Live Stats Information
Both matches this weekend will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the right-hand side of the page.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 9-5 through 14 matches this season, including nine contests against teams that were in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Preseason all-MVC MB Kelly Goc leads the offense with 3.43 kills per game while also hitting .331.
Her partner in the middle, second-team all-Valley MB Jessica Houts was also off to a strong start with 3.35 kpg., and 1.65 bpg., before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in her right knee prior to the team's Sept. 11 match at Drake.
Two other newcomers have made an immediate impact. Freshman Allie Oelke has a team-best 160 kills (3.27 kpg.), while junior libero Bianca Rivera ranks second in the MVC with 5.84 digs per game.
Two-time MVC assist champ Korie Lebeda sets the offense and averages 11.53 apg.
Creighton is averaging 15.02 kills, 1.49 aces, 17.65 digs and 2.73 blocks per game while hitting .195 as a club.
Scouting Illinois State
Illinois State brings a 10-5 record into the weekend, including a 2-2 mark in MVC play. The Redbirds are an impressive 5-0 in true road matches, but have dropped an uncharacteristic four home matches already. All five of ISU's losses have come to teams that have received votes in the AVCA poll.
Three players average more than 3.30 kills per game, paced by preseason all-Valley OH M.C. Richmond. Richmond averages 3.94 kills and 3.57 digs per game while hitting .319.
Also playing well have been Peggy Riessen (3.39 kpg., 3.67 dpg.) and Kari Staehlin (3.31 kpg., 1.19 bpg.).
Directing the offense has been all-Valley setter Erin Lindsey (12.15 apg., 3.54 dpg.).
Illinois State is averaging 15.54 kills, 1.74 aces, 20.46 digs and 2.22 blocks per game while hitting .210.
Scouting Indiana State
Indiana State is 3-9 on the season but is riding a five-match losing streak since beating East Tennessee State on Sept. 8.
The Sycamores are being led by Jodilynne Stoker, who averages 2.37 kills per game. Also averaging more than two kills per game is Kristen Kerscher (2.14 kpg.).
Alisha Polite averages 7.62 assists per game as the team's setter.
As a team, Indiana State averages 11.98 kills, 1.44 aces, 15.74 digs and 2.49 blocks per game while hitting .116.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 76-58 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.
Illinois State is coached by Sharon Dingman (Northern Michigan, 1984). She owns a career mark of 325-205 overall in 17 years, including a 136-91 mark in eight years with the Redbirds. She is assisted by Laura Ludwig and Chris Gaskill.
Indiana State is coached by Julie Krofcheck (Union College, 1994), now in her fifth year with the Sycamores. She owns a 34-93 career mark, all with ISU. Prior to being hired at Indiana State, Krofcheck served as a Creighton assistant for four seasons from 1999-2002. She is assisted by Nick Wolf and Sue Ralston.
Series History vs. Illinois State
Illinois State owns a 23-6 lead in the all-time series over Creighton, including a 10-3 record in Omaha.
Creighton snapped an 11-match losing streak to Illinois State last year, when the Jays won all three meetings in four games.
The Redbirds have won game one in 14 of the last 17 meetings with Creighton, and led 2-0 at intermission in 10 of the last 14 meetings overall.
Creighton has never swept Illinois State in three games.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-7 against Illinois State and 3-7 against Sharon Dingman.
Series History vs. Indiana State
Creighton owns an 18-9 record all-time vs. Indiana State, including a 9-4 mark in Omaha. CU's 18 wins against the Sycamores is the Jays most versus any opponent.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 5-3 against Indiana State and 5-3 against Julie Krofcheck.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton went 2-0 while winning on the road at both Northern Iowa and Bradley.
On Friday, Creighton rallied from an 0-2 deficit at UNI to beat the preseason favorites in five games (25-30, 24-30, 31-29, 30-26, 15-12). Abby Baumann had a career-best 24 kills in that win.
On Saturday, Creighton showed no signs of a letdown while sweeping Bradley (30-21, 30-22, 30-25). Allie Oelke had a season-high 23 kills for the Jays.
Back From The Brink
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 Friday, 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 107-6 (.947) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 49-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 50-3 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 last Friday night 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 695 kills and 877 career digs. She is 17 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.
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
Rivera Keeps On Digging
Bianca Rivera had 24 digs against Northern Iowa, then followed that up with 21 digs in three games at Bradley. Combined with her 26 dig performance at Minnesota on Sept. 15, that gives her three consecutive matches of 20 or more. With 20 or more digs on Friday against Illinois State, Rivera can become the first Bluejay in history with four straight matches of 20 or more digs.
Consecutive Matches, 20 or More Digs
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
3 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 15, 2007-Present
Home At Last
After more than a month away, Creighton will finally return to the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Friday.
The Jays opened the season with three home matches at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, but have since played 10 of its last 11 matches out of town. The only game in Omaha since then was a match at Qwest Center Omaha against Cal Poly way back on Sept. 2.
Creighton's Best MVC Starts Ever
Creighton is two wins away from matching its best opening in MVC play ever. 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
3-0 2003 at #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
3-0 2007 ? ? ?
2-0 1997 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
Krofcheck Faces Former School
Fifth-year Indiana State coach Julie Krofcheck was an assistant coach at Creighton from 1998-2002, before accepting an assistant's job at Indiana State. Shortly after she arrived, she was named head coach when Jim Bertoli resigned to take another job.
Krofcheck owns a 34-93 record in five years, while CU coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 76-58 in that same span.
Goc Rocked The Redbirds
Kelly Goc gave Illinois State all kinds of problems last season. The Bluejay senior from Ralston had 20 or more kills in all three victories over the Redbirds last season, hitting over .300 each time.
In the three matches, Goc averaged 5.33 kills, 1.50 digs, 0.58 blocks and 0.42 aces per game while hitting .329.
No Houts, No Matter
Creighton has won five of six 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 and three sweeps. Their only loss in that span was a four-game setback at #13 Minnesota.
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.
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 has been named this week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week.
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 last week.
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 160 kills and 21 aces (against just 12 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 160 kills through 14 matches, Oelke has an outside shot of becoming CU's 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 5.84, good for second in the league.
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just 14 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 286 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). With 14 digs in her next 11 matches, she'll become the quickest to 300 digs as well.
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
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 four Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, Ellie Blankenship (UNI), Kristy Elswick (SIU) and Kelly Broussard (WSU).
Rivera's streak of 14 straight double-digit dig matches is tied for fourth-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
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
14 Mallory Lahm, Oct. 4-Nov. 25, 2005
14 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24, 2007-Present
Goc Nears 100th Match
Senior Kelly Goc enters this weekend having played in a team-high 100 matches in her career. She became the 10th player in Bluejay history to play in 100 career matches on Saturday night at Bradley. If Goc plays in each of Creighton's final 15 conference matches, she'd tie Leah Ratzlaff with 115 career matches played.
Goc also ranks fourth in school history with 86 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 76-0 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 11 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 9-5
Total 33-32 169-210
Statistically Speaking
Creighton can be found throughout the second edition of the NCAA statistics, which include matches through Sept. 23rd.
As a team, Creighton ranked 49th in blocks per game, 77th in assists per game, 99th in kills per game, 57th in digs per game, 90th in winning percentage, 166th in hitting percentage and 213th in aces per game.
Individually, Creighton has five different players that rank in the top 500 of a category, as seen below:
Name Rank Stat
Bianca Rivera 15th 5.84 digs per game
Korie Lebeda 92nd 11.53 assts. per game
Kelly Goc 112th .331 hitting pct.
Allie Oelke 197th 0.43 aces per game
Kelly Goc 267th 3.43 kills per game
Kelly Goc 283rd 0.98 blocks per game
Allie Oelke 337th 3.27 kills per game
Lauren Bloemke 491st 0.78 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 34-13 this year and were 66-45 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 35-12 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 34-13 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 36-11 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 44-3 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 43-4 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 43-4 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 one week 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.
13,081 Is New 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 third nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 3,890 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-16 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 5,419 37,932 7
3. Creighton 3,890 15,560 4
4. Wisconsin 3,609 10,827 3
5. Florida 3,228 16,142 5
6. Minnesota 2,770 22,157 8
7. Penn State 2,568 17,979 7
8. Wichita State 2,552 15,314 6
9. New Mexico State 2,323 11,617 5
10. Northern Iowa 2,095 12,569 6
11. Texas A&M 2,006 10,029 5
12. Texas 1,967 7,869 4
13. Purdue 1,917 5,753 3
14. Colorado State 1,753 8,766 5
15. BYU 1,708 6,833 4
16. Illinois State 1,683 8,413 5
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 second on the team with 14 aces in only 153 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 has now played in 13,913 of a possible 13,916 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.978 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 four 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 .331 hitting percentage and 3.43 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 14 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 149 of its last 152 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 1364.5
Hitting Pct. 2nd .278
Points Per Game 3rd 4.05
Kills Per Game 4th 3.39
Kills 4th 1,144
Matches Started 4th 86
Block Assists 5th 263
Attack Attempts 6th 2,817
Blocks 6th 299
Block Solos 7th 36
Blocks Per Game 8th 0.89
Matches Played T-9th 100
Games Played T-9th 337
Aces T-10th 53
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 23-7 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 17-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 26-0 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 38-40 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 61 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 55-6.
CU is 60-10 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.
Regular-Season Tournament History
Creighton is 41-48 in the 30 regular-season tournaments it has participated in all-time, including an 8-1 mark last year. Kirsten Bernthal Booth's teams are 25-17 in 15 regular-season tournaments.
After winning just one of its first 18 regular-season tournaments all-time (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic), the Jays have won five of its last 12 regular-season tournaments.
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
Sept. 28 Illinois State
Sept. 29 Indiana State
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.
Creighton (9-5, 3-0 MVC) looks for two wins to match its best Missouri Valley Conference start in history when it returns home to host Illinois State and Indiana State this weekend.
Friday's match against Illinois State (10-5, 2-2 MVC) will mark CU's first at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in more than a month.
The public is invited to attend a Chili Feed prior to the 7 pm match. The event is part of the weekend's Homecoming festivities and the cost is $5 per-person for the all-you-can-eat chili feed which is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m., in the south end zone of the arena.
Saturday's match will be against Indiana State (3-9, 0-4 MVC) and also take place at 7 pm.
Both contests will be held at the Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,377).
Radio Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM), and will be streamed live on-line at http://ww.kvss.com and http://www.gocreighton.com. Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will call the action.
Video Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend match will be video webcast and can be seen at http://www.gocreighton.com.
Friday's video webcast can be seen free of charge via http://www.mvc.org.
Fans can sign up to buy Saturday's match for $4.95 each or a season package of all of CU's remaining home matches for $34.95 by clicking on the “Sign Up” graphic below the video box on the top right of the page.
Live Stats Information
Both matches this weekend will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the right-hand side of the page.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 9-5 through 14 matches this season, including nine contests against teams that were in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Preseason all-MVC MB Kelly Goc leads the offense with 3.43 kills per game while also hitting .331.
Her partner in the middle, second-team all-Valley MB Jessica Houts was also off to a strong start with 3.35 kpg., and 1.65 bpg., before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in her right knee prior to the team's Sept. 11 match at Drake.
Two other newcomers have made an immediate impact. Freshman Allie Oelke has a team-best 160 kills (3.27 kpg.), while junior libero Bianca Rivera ranks second in the MVC with 5.84 digs per game.
Two-time MVC assist champ Korie Lebeda sets the offense and averages 11.53 apg.
Creighton is averaging 15.02 kills, 1.49 aces, 17.65 digs and 2.73 blocks per game while hitting .195 as a club.
Scouting Illinois State
Illinois State brings a 10-5 record into the weekend, including a 2-2 mark in MVC play. The Redbirds are an impressive 5-0 in true road matches, but have dropped an uncharacteristic four home matches already. All five of ISU's losses have come to teams that have received votes in the AVCA poll.
Three players average more than 3.30 kills per game, paced by preseason all-Valley OH M.C. Richmond. Richmond averages 3.94 kills and 3.57 digs per game while hitting .319.
Also playing well have been Peggy Riessen (3.39 kpg., 3.67 dpg.) and Kari Staehlin (3.31 kpg., 1.19 bpg.).
Directing the offense has been all-Valley setter Erin Lindsey (12.15 apg., 3.54 dpg.).
Illinois State is averaging 15.54 kills, 1.74 aces, 20.46 digs and 2.22 blocks per game while hitting .210.
Scouting Indiana State
Indiana State is 3-9 on the season but is riding a five-match losing streak since beating East Tennessee State on Sept. 8.
The Sycamores are being led by Jodilynne Stoker, who averages 2.37 kills per game. Also averaging more than two kills per game is Kristen Kerscher (2.14 kpg.).
Alisha Polite averages 7.62 assists per game as the team's setter.
As a team, Indiana State averages 11.98 kills, 1.44 aces, 15.74 digs and 2.49 blocks per game while hitting .116.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 76-58 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.
Illinois State is coached by Sharon Dingman (Northern Michigan, 1984). She owns a career mark of 325-205 overall in 17 years, including a 136-91 mark in eight years with the Redbirds. She is assisted by Laura Ludwig and Chris Gaskill.
Indiana State is coached by Julie Krofcheck (Union College, 1994), now in her fifth year with the Sycamores. She owns a 34-93 career mark, all with ISU. Prior to being hired at Indiana State, Krofcheck served as a Creighton assistant for four seasons from 1999-2002. She is assisted by Nick Wolf and Sue Ralston.
Series History vs. Illinois State
Illinois State owns a 23-6 lead in the all-time series over Creighton, including a 10-3 record in Omaha.
Creighton snapped an 11-match losing streak to Illinois State last year, when the Jays won all three meetings in four games.
The Redbirds have won game one in 14 of the last 17 meetings with Creighton, and led 2-0 at intermission in 10 of the last 14 meetings overall.
Creighton has never swept Illinois State in three games.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-7 against Illinois State and 3-7 against Sharon Dingman.
Series History vs. Indiana State
Creighton owns an 18-9 record all-time vs. Indiana State, including a 9-4 mark in Omaha. CU's 18 wins against the Sycamores is the Jays most versus any opponent.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 5-3 against Indiana State and 5-3 against Julie Krofcheck.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton went 2-0 while winning on the road at both Northern Iowa and Bradley.
On Friday, Creighton rallied from an 0-2 deficit at UNI to beat the preseason favorites in five games (25-30, 24-30, 31-29, 30-26, 15-12). Abby Baumann had a career-best 24 kills in that win.
On Saturday, Creighton showed no signs of a letdown while sweeping Bradley (30-21, 30-22, 30-25). Allie Oelke had a season-high 23 kills for the Jays.
Back From The Brink
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 Friday, 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 107-6 (.947) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 49-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 50-3 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 last Friday night 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 695 kills and 877 career digs. She is 17 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.
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
Rivera Keeps On Digging
Bianca Rivera had 24 digs against Northern Iowa, then followed that up with 21 digs in three games at Bradley. Combined with her 26 dig performance at Minnesota on Sept. 15, that gives her three consecutive matches of 20 or more. With 20 or more digs on Friday against Illinois State, Rivera can become the first Bluejay in history with four straight matches of 20 or more digs.
Consecutive Matches, 20 or More Digs
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
3 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 15, 2007-Present
Home At Last
After more than a month away, Creighton will finally return to the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Friday.
The Jays opened the season with three home matches at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, but have since played 10 of its last 11 matches out of town. The only game in Omaha since then was a match at Qwest Center Omaha against Cal Poly way back on Sept. 2.
Creighton's Best MVC Starts Ever
Creighton is two wins away from matching its best opening in MVC play ever. 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
3-0 2003 at #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
3-0 2007 ? ? ?
2-0 1997 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
Krofcheck Faces Former School
Fifth-year Indiana State coach Julie Krofcheck was an assistant coach at Creighton from 1998-2002, before accepting an assistant's job at Indiana State. Shortly after she arrived, she was named head coach when Jim Bertoli resigned to take another job.
Krofcheck owns a 34-93 record in five years, while CU coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 76-58 in that same span.
Goc Rocked The Redbirds
Kelly Goc gave Illinois State all kinds of problems last season. The Bluejay senior from Ralston had 20 or more kills in all three victories over the Redbirds last season, hitting over .300 each time.
In the three matches, Goc averaged 5.33 kills, 1.50 digs, 0.58 blocks and 0.42 aces per game while hitting .329.
No Houts, No Matter
Creighton has won five of six 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 and three sweeps. Their only loss in that span was a four-game setback at #13 Minnesota.
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.
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 has been named this week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week.
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 last week.
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 160 kills and 21 aces (against just 12 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 160 kills through 14 matches, Oelke has an outside shot of becoming CU's 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 5.84, good for second in the league.
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just 14 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 286 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). With 14 digs in her next 11 matches, she'll become the quickest to 300 digs as well.
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
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 four Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, Ellie Blankenship (UNI), Kristy Elswick (SIU) and Kelly Broussard (WSU).
Rivera's streak of 14 straight double-digit dig matches is tied for fourth-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
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
14 Mallory Lahm, Oct. 4-Nov. 25, 2005
14 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24, 2007-Present
Goc Nears 100th Match
Senior Kelly Goc enters this weekend having played in a team-high 100 matches in her career. She became the 10th player in Bluejay history to play in 100 career matches on Saturday night at Bradley. If Goc plays in each of Creighton's final 15 conference matches, she'd tie Leah Ratzlaff with 115 career matches played.
Goc also ranks fourth in school history with 86 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 76-0 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 11 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 9-5
Total 33-32 169-210
Statistically Speaking
Creighton can be found throughout the second edition of the NCAA statistics, which include matches through Sept. 23rd.
As a team, Creighton ranked 49th in blocks per game, 77th in assists per game, 99th in kills per game, 57th in digs per game, 90th in winning percentage, 166th in hitting percentage and 213th in aces per game.
Individually, Creighton has five different players that rank in the top 500 of a category, as seen below:
Name Rank Stat
Bianca Rivera 15th 5.84 digs per game
Korie Lebeda 92nd 11.53 assts. per game
Kelly Goc 112th .331 hitting pct.
Allie Oelke 197th 0.43 aces per game
Kelly Goc 267th 3.43 kills per game
Kelly Goc 283rd 0.98 blocks per game
Allie Oelke 337th 3.27 kills per game
Lauren Bloemke 491st 0.78 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 34-13 this year and were 66-45 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 35-12 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 34-13 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 36-11 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 44-3 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 43-4 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 43-4 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 one week 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.
13,081 Is New 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 third nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 3,890 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-16 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 5,419 37,932 7
3. Creighton 3,890 15,560 4
4. Wisconsin 3,609 10,827 3
5. Florida 3,228 16,142 5
6. Minnesota 2,770 22,157 8
7. Penn State 2,568 17,979 7
8. Wichita State 2,552 15,314 6
9. New Mexico State 2,323 11,617 5
10. Northern Iowa 2,095 12,569 6
11. Texas A&M 2,006 10,029 5
12. Texas 1,967 7,869 4
13. Purdue 1,917 5,753 3
14. Colorado State 1,753 8,766 5
15. BYU 1,708 6,833 4
16. Illinois State 1,683 8,413 5
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 second on the team with 14 aces in only 153 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 has now played in 13,913 of a possible 13,916 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.978 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 four 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 .331 hitting percentage and 3.43 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 14 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 149 of its last 152 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 1364.5
Hitting Pct. 2nd .278
Points Per Game 3rd 4.05
Kills Per Game 4th 3.39
Kills 4th 1,144
Matches Started 4th 86
Block Assists 5th 263
Attack Attempts 6th 2,817
Blocks 6th 299
Block Solos 7th 36
Blocks Per Game 8th 0.89
Matches Played T-9th 100
Games Played T-9th 337
Aces T-10th 53
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 23-7 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 17-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 26-0 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 38-40 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 61 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 55-6.
CU is 60-10 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.
Regular-Season Tournament History
Creighton is 41-48 in the 30 regular-season tournaments it has participated in all-time, including an 8-1 mark last year. Kirsten Bernthal Booth's teams are 25-17 in 15 regular-season tournaments.
After winning just one of its first 18 regular-season tournaments all-time (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic), the Jays have won five of its last 12 regular-season tournaments.
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
Sept. 28 Illinois State
Sept. 29 Indiana State
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.
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballCreighton Volleyball Media Availability September 9
Tuesday, September 09
Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. USC, 9/7/25
Sunday, September 07
Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. UCSB - 9/6/25
Sunday, September 07
Creighton Volleyball Postgame Interview vs. UCSB - 9/6/25
Sunday, September 07
