Volleyball Opens MVC Play at Bradley, UNI
9/16/2008 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball
This Weekend
After a rare weekend off, the Creighton volleyball team (3-4, 0-0 MVC) opens Missouri Valley Conference play on the road this weekend.
The Bluejays will play Bradley (3-7, 0-0 MVC) on Friday at their temporary home in East Peoria, Ill., on the campus of Illinois Central College. First serve at the Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium (1,750) is set for 7 pm.
On Saturday, Creighton visits defending MVC Tournament champion Northern Iowa (9-1, 0-0 MVC) in Cedar Falls, Iowa. First serve at McLeod Center (7,018) is set for 7:30 pm.
This Weekend
Sept. 19 7 pm Creighton at Bradley East Peoria, Ill. (Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium)
Sept. 20 7:30 pm Creighton at Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa (McLeod Center)
Radio Broadcast Information
Both of Creighton's matches this weekend will be broadcast on KVSS (88.9 FM), as well as on http://www.kvss.com. Brad Burwell and Rob Anderson will announce.
Video Webcast Information
Both matches this weekend will be video webcast.
Fans can view Friday's match from East Peoria by visiting Bradley's website at www.bubraves.com, clicking on the Media tab across the top, and then going to BUBraves.tv - Live Video. It appears fans will need to sign up for a monthly subscription, which costs $9.95. Fans who have already bought the Creighton Volleyball season video webcast pass should be able to log in through www.gocreighton.com to get the video feed at no additional charge.
Fans can view Saturday night's match from Cedar Falls by visiting UNI's website at www.unipanthers.com, then clicking on the “Gameday Online” feature on the right sidebar. Fans can purchase an individual match for $9.95. Fans who have the Creighton Volleyball season video webcast pass will NOT be be able to see the feed through www.gocreighton.com.
Live Stats Information
Both matches this weekend will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and then click on the Live Stats link on the left side of the home page.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton has played one of the nation's top schedules and brings a 3-4 record into MVC play.
However, whether we see a team that is well-rested or just plain rusty remains up in the air, as Creighton hasn't played a match since Sept. 6th after last weekend's Ladyjack Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas, was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
Creighton's wins have come against 2007 NCAA Tournament qualifier Mississippi (25-8 in 2007), Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley Conference co-champ in 2007) and a Texas A&M team that was 21-10 last year and just missed out on a spot in the NCAA's.
Creighton's losses have come to No. 16 Minnesota, No. 21 LSU, an Iowa State team ranked No. 18 in the preseason and a UAB team that returned five starters from last year's 24-10 squad.
Senior Korie Lebeda (9.96 aps) is a two-time first-team all-MVC pick and already owns the school record with 4,481 career assists.
One of the teams biggest strengths is its offensive diversity, as seven different players own 250 or more career kills. Jessica Houts is one of five players averaging at least 1.00 kills per set this year, leading the way so far with 3.62 kps. She was named to the all-Tournament Team in both events this fall.
Defensively, senior libero Bianca Rivera (3.15 dps.) set school records for single-season digs and digs per set last fall. She owns 10 or more digs in 34 of 38 career matches at Creighton.
Creighton averages 12.46 kills, 1.00 aces, 14.42 digs and 2.54 blocks per set while hitting .217.
Coming off back-to-back 21-10 seasons, Creighton has been picked third in the preseason MVC poll, trailing only No. 16 Wichita State (11-0) and Northern Iowa (9-1).
Scouting Bradley
Under the direction of first-year head coach Sean Burdette, Bradley is 3-7 on the young season already matching last year's win total from a dreadful 3-28 campaign.
The Braves owns wins over SIU-Edwardsville (3-2), Eastern Michigan (3-0) and Fairfield (3-2) and have lost to Gonzaga (3-0), Montana (3-1), UC Riverside (3-0), Towson (3-1), Loyola (3-0) and Northern Illinois (3-0).
The Braves are 2-1 at their temporary home on the campus of Illinois Central College as construction continues on a new on-campus facility that replaces the recently razed Robertson Memorial Field House.
Amy Reichel leads the team with 2.97 kills per set, with Melissa Collins not far behind at 2.38 kps. Sam Black averages 8.11 assists per set in her quest to lead the team in that category for a third straight campaign.
Senior MB Katrina Goncher, the program's active leader in kills and blocks, has yet to play this season due to injuries.
Bradley averages 11.27 kills, 1.05 aces, 13.49 digs and 1.92 blocks per set while hitting .149 as a team.
Scouting Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa is 9-1 on the young season in search of its ninth NCAA Tournament in the past 11 years.
The Panthers have swept North Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Florida Atlantic, Northern Illinois, Marquette, Liberty and Cornell, and own four-set triumphs over Clemson and Iowa State.
UNI's only setback came last Friday when it was swept at No. 19 Kansas State.
Shannon Aschoff leads the team with 3.97 kills per set, while Ashten Stelken averages 3.45 kills and 1.48 blocks per set while hitting .389. Also back is libero Ellie Blankenship, who has 10 or more digs in all 43 career matches and is third nationally with 6.06 digs per set.
A pair of Panthers have alternated time at setter, Bre Payton (10.62 apg.) and Jessa Benson (10.94 apg.).
UNI averages 14.56 kills, 1.38 aces, 16.12 digs and 2.47 blocks per set while hitting .287 as a team.
Series History vs. Bradley
Creighton owns a 15-13 lead in the series with Bradley, but the teams have split 14 meetings in Peoria. This will be the first meeting in East Peoria, which is considered a “home” venue for Bradley.
Creighton has won all but one of the last 10 meetings in the series, but three of those contests went the distance.
CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 9-1 vs. Bradley, but has never faced Sean Burdette.
Series History vs. Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa owns a commanding 30-2 record all-time against Creighton, including a 13-2 record in Cedar Falls. The Panthers have ended Creighton's season at the MVC Tournament each of the last three years.
Creighton's only triumphs in history against UNI have been in five games, including a rally from down 0-2 on Sept. 21, 2007 in Cedar Falls (25-30, 24-30, 31-29, 30-26, 15-12). CU's other win was a five-game thriller on Nov. 18, 2005 in Cedar Falls. In that match, CU won 30-18, 30-22, 23-30, 27-30, 16-14.
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 2-11 vs. Northern Iowa and 2-11 vs. Bobbi Petersen. Petersen is 18-2 overall against Creighton.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns an 91-67 record in her sixth season with the Bluejays. She became the program's all-time winningest coach on Aug. 25, 2007 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, assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens and volunteer assistant Adam Ybarra.
Bradley is coached by former Ohio State assistant Sean Burdette (Ohio Dominican, 1997). Burdette spent five seasons at Ohio State and has also been an assistant at Towson and Pittsburgh. He is 3-7 in his first year as a head coach at any level. He is assisted by Genoa Moxley and Savanah Parra.
UNI is coached by Bobbi Petersen (Northern Iowa, 1990), who owns a 212-62 record in her ninth year with the Panthers. Petersen was named 2002 AVCA National Coach of the Year and also earned MVC Coach of the Year honors in 2006. Generally regarded as one of the best players in MVC history, Petersen ranked 10th nationally among active coaches in winning percentage entering 2008. Petersen is assisted by Kalani Mahi, Kim Davis, Shaun Juan and Michelle Coulter.
Last Action Summary
Creighton went 2-1 at the Gamecock Invitational, beating Jacksonville State (3-0) and Mississippi (3-0) but losing in five sets to UAB. UAB won the event with a 3-0 record, sweeping JSU and Ole Miss as well.
Creighton's Jessica Houts and Amanda Cvejdlik were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
Ike 1, Creighton 0
Creighton was idle last weekend after the Ladyjack Invitational, scheduled for Nacogdoches, Texas, was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
This marks the first time since Creighton brought back volleyball in 1994 that the Jays have had more than 10 days off in between matches while in-season.
Back From The Brink
In its last trip to Cedar Falls (Sept. 21, 2007), Creighton became the first team in history to win at Northern Iowa after dropping the first two sets of a match. Creighton won the fifth set 16-14 after trailing 10-4 at one point.
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-set matches, including a 278-0 mark at home.
MVC Opener Histories
Creighton owns a 7-7 record all-time in Missouri Valley Conference openers, including two straight wins and a 4-1 record under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. In the seven seasons that Creighton won its MVC opener, it has never finished worse than 9-9 in league play and owns a combined .603 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.
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.
Even better for Creighton, each of the last two eventual regular-season champions opened the MVC season against Bradley.
Home Losses Are Also Devastating
The 2006 Northern Iowa and 2007 Wichita State teams are the only programs in MVC history to lose a home conference match and still win the regular-season title outright in that same season.
It's also worth noting that 13 of the last 14 regular-season MVC champions finished the year with one regular-season loss or fewer. The exception was that 2006 UNI team that was 16-2, with both losses coming against Wichita State.
On McLeod Nine
Creighton's athletic program owns a 4-1 all-time record at the McLeod Center.
Creighton is 1-0 in volleyball, 2-0 in men's basketball and 1-1 in women's basketball at the three-year old venue.
Northern Iowa's first overall loss in men's basketball and first MVC volleyball loss at the McLeod Center both were against Creighton.
Houts Playing Strong, One Year Later
Last Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of Jessica Houts' tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, which was suffered prior to a Sept. 11, 2007 match at Drake.
Houts had surgery 10 days later and returned to the court in the spring.
This fall, Houts has been nothing short of spectacular. She's been named to the All-Tournament Team at both events CU has played in, and leads the squad in kills per set (3.62) and blocks per set (0.96) while also ranking second with a .288 hitting percentage.
Lebeda Going For 100
Senior setter Korie Lebeda will make her 100th consecutive start on Friday against Bradley. The two-time all-Valley pick has participated in all but 12 points since arriving at Creighton in 2005. Creighton is 61-38 with Lebeda as a starter after going 41-58 in the 99 matches before she arrived on campus.
Lebeda will be just the third player in CU history to start 100 matches in a career, joining Kelly Goc (2004-07) and Melissa Walsh (1998-01).
With a win on Saturday at Northern Iowa, Lebeda could also become the only starting setter in the last 25 years to post three regular-season road wins at UNI in a career.
Oelke Can Play In Peoria
Allie Oelke had one of the best matches of her award-winning freshman season last year in Peoria against Bradley.
Oelke had 23 kills while hitting .452 in a three-set sweep of the Braves on Sept. 22, 2007, second-most in CU history for a three-set match and third-most in school history by a freshman in a match of any length.
Decking The Competition
Fifth-year senior Carolyn Decker owns four different matches with 10 or more kills this season, including all three contests at the Gamecock Invitational. Decker owned just five total matches with 10 or more kills from 2005-07 while battling through a pair of season-ending injuries.
With 10 or more kills against Bradley this Friday, Decker would have four straight matches with 10 or more kills for the first time in her career.
The Big 11
A pair of Creighton attackers rank among the top-10 in school history for kills in a career. Jessica Houts has moved up to eighth with 834 kills, while Amanda Cvejdlik has climbed to 11th with 794 putaways. With 13 more kills, Cvejdlik will pass Abby Baumann (2004-07) for 10th on the CU list for kills in a career.
Dominant Defense
Creighton's 25-12, 25-15, 25-12 win over Jacksonville State on Sept. 5th ranked among the most impressive victories in school history. Creighton held JSU to a -.112 attack percentage, the lowest mark ever by a Bluejay opponent.
Additionally, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State team did not record an ace and were outblocked 15-0.
Below is the lowest hitting percentages ever by a Creighton opponent:
Lowest Opp. Hitting Pct. vs. Creighton, Match
Pct. Team K E TA Date
-.112 Jacksonville St. 18 27 80 9/5/08
-.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
-.010 Indiana State 21 22 105 10/26/07
-.008 UMKC 29 30 125 10/24/00
-.007 Wichita State 27 28 135 10/21/95
Serving Woes
Creighton has started three of its seven matches this season (and five of its last 10 matches dating to the end of last year) with a serving error in its first attempt.
All 11 players to see floor time this fall for Creighton have committed at least one service error and only four of the 11 have put at least 90 percent of their serves in play.
The Jays have 51 serving errors in its four losses and 25 such errors in its three wins.
Creighton owns five or more serving errors in 46 straight matches and 68 of it past 69 contests.
Creighton has also committed a serving error in 32 consecutive sets, dating to late last season.
Road Warriors
It's difficult to pinpoint the reason, but Creighton has traditionally played better volleyball when on the road in recent seasons.
In six years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Creighton owns a 36-27 record at home (.571), but are an even better 55-40 (.579) in matches played on the road or at neutral sites.
This surprising record of success even holds up in league play, where the Jays play each opponent once each at home and on the road every fall. Under Booth, CU is 27-18 at home but 28-17 on the road in league action. Last year Creighton went 8-1 on the road in MVC play.
The Jays were also a perfect 6-0 last year away from home in matches against unranked teams with 1,000 or more fans in attendance.
Each of the past two years, CU has been 8-5 at home in all matches but 9-4 in true road contests.
Computer Math
The volleyball-specific site at www.richkern.com has published its first computer rankings of the fall.
Creighton is ranked No. 72 in the rankings, one spot behind Illinois State and fourth-best in the MVC. Among this weekend's opponents, Bradley is 225th and UNI is 23rd.
As a league, the MVC ranks ninth with an average RPI of 109.4. Last year at this time the league had an average RPI of 123.2 and would eventually land a record four NCAA bids.
Creighton's strength of schedule, based on the average of our opponents RPI, is rated 22nd-toughest nationally.
Difficult Schedule Continues
Nine of Creighton's first 14 matches this season are against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, and three other opponents in that time won 20 or more matches or their regular-season title last year.
After Friday night, five of Creighton's next six matches will be against NCAA teams.
Opponent ?07 W-L ?07 Postseason
Minnesota 18-13 NCAA
LSU* 25-8 NCAA
Texas A&M 21-10 --
Iowa State 19-14 NCAA
Jacksonville State* 18-10 --
UAB 24-10 --
Mississippi 25-8 --
Bradley 3-28
Northern Iowa* 22-11 NCAA
Missouri State 25-8 NCAA
Wichita State* 27-6 NCAA
Drake 7-23 --
Nebraska* 30-2 NCAA
Illinois State 21-12 NCAA
*Won regular-season or conference tournament title
Houts Named To All-Tourney Team
Making her return from a torn ACL that cost her most of last season, Jessica Houts averaged 3.55 kills and 0.91 blocks per set to earn all-Tournament Team honors at the Bluejay Invitational on Aug. 29-30.
Houts led CU with 13 kills, eight digs and .346 in the season-opener against No. 16 Minnesota. She followed that up with a team-best 18 kills and six digs in a five-set loss against No. 21 LSU. She also added eight kills and four blocks in a sweep of Texas A&M, a team picked for fourth in the preseason Big 12 Conference poll.
Minnesota's Brook Dieter was named MVP, and was joined on the all-Tournament team by Rachel Hartmann (Minnesota), Brittnee Cooper (LSU), Elena Martinez (LSU), Mary Batis (Texas A&M) and Houts.
Double-Double Decker
Fifth year senior Carolyn Decker had a match-high 15 digs to go with 13 kills as Creighton became the only team to sweep Texas A&M at the Bluejay Invitational.
Decker's double-double against the Aggies was the senior's first since Nov. 20, 2004 and her 15 digs were her most in a match since a 17-dig performance in the 2005 season opener against Northern Colorado.
Decker, who also hit .429 in the sweep over Texas A&M, was the first CU player to post a double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Allie Oelke had 17 kills and 25 digs while hitting .433 against Evansville on Nov. 4, 2007.
Decker, however, became the first CU senior to have a kill-dig double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Melissa Walsh had 23 kills and 10 digs while hitting .526 against Southern Illinois on Nov. 2, 2001.
Eliminate The Errors
It's true for all programs, but one of the item the Bluejay coaching staff continues to focus on is the elimination of unforced errors.
Creighton has combined for 241 errors (kill errors + set errors + serving errors + ball handling errors + block errors + receiving errors) in 24 sets played to 25.
Creighton has had 10 or more errors in nine of the 10 sets it has lost, averaging 12.60 miscues in those lost sets.
On the other hand, in the 14 sets that Creighton won, it has made nine errors or less 11 times and averaged just 8.21 errors per set.
Preseason Poll
Creighton has been picked third in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Conference coaches. Defending regular-season champion Wichita State was picked to win the league, while defending tournament champion Northern Iowa was second. Following Creighton, Missouri State and Illinois State rounded out the top half.
Eight players were also named preseason all-MVC, including Bluejay senior Korie Lebeda.
What's New?
Several rule and terminology rules will change for the 2008 season. The term “game” has now been changed to “set”. The number of points required to win sets one through four is now 25 (was 30). The fifth set is still played to 15 points. The maximum number of substitutions for each team is 12 per set (was 15).
Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 18-6 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-set matches on a yearly basis:
Year Set 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 21-10
2008 0-2 3-4
Total 33-34 184-219
Statistics Expected To Decline Too
With the move from 30-point sets to 25-point sets, don't be surprised to see statistics plummet nearly 20 percent as well.
To help anticipate what the rule change would do this fall, Creighton Volleyball SID Rob Anderson went through all of Creighton's matches last season and deleted each point in sets 1-4 that occurred after a team reached 25 points and led by two or more.
Creighton ended up playing 20.46 percent fewer points (form 5,500 to 4,566 points) and numbers dropped across the board with the exception of hitting percentage, which rose by a scant .001.
Listed below is how stats would have been affected had the new rules been in effect last season in regards to stats for the entire team, category leaders, and some single-match superlatives.
Team Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Diff.
Kills Per Set 16.04 13.35 -20%
Hitting Pct. .211 .212 +.001
Assists Per Set 14.82 12.33 -20%
Aces Per Set 1.41 1.21 -17%
Digs Per Set 19.78 16.59 -19%
Blocks Per Set 2.65 2.15 -17%
Indiv. Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Player
Kills Per Set 4.18 3.46 Goc
Hitting Pct. .368 .369 Goc
Assists Per Set 12.50 10.41 Lebeda
Aces Per Set 0.36 0.33 Oelke
Digs Per Set 5.78 5.03 Rivera
Blocks Per Set 0.99 0.78 Bloemke
Indiv. Superlatives 30-Pt. Matches 25-Pt. Matches
20+ Kills 8 times 3 times
24+ Kills 2 times 0 times
20+ Digs 15 times 9 times
25+ Digs 6 times 3 times
50+ Assists 7 times 1 time
40+ Assists 21 times 8 times
50+ Attempts 5 times 0 times
Double-Doubles 24 times 12 times
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 117-7 (.944) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 59-1 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 54-4 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-140 (.041) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-45 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
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won four matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point. On the other hand, Creighton is 91-0 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
Production Returning
Creighton returns 9-of-14 letterwinners from last season. Below is a breakdown of the production that returns:
Stat Returners Departures
Assists 1506 (95.0%) 80 (5.0%)
Aces 127 (84.1%) 24 (15.9%)
Digs 1704 (80.5%) 412 (19.5%)
Matches Started 138 (74.2%) 48 (25.8%)
Points 1477.5 (68.7%) 673.0 (31.3%)
Kills 1139 (66.3%) 577 (33.7%)
Blocks 159.5 (56.3%) 124 (43.7%)
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 with CU owning a 26-10 lead over Montana State on Aug. 25, 2007. 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 and for five points against Indiana State on Oct. 26.
Lebeda has played every point of the 2008 season thus far as well.
Lebeda has played in 17,966 of a possible 17,978 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.933 percent.
New Facility on the Way
Creighton broke ground on a new athletics facility on October 16, 2007, to be located just northeast of Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard.
The Ryan Center and D. J. Sokol Arena, a 75,000 square-foot facility, will house a gymnasium seating 2,500-3,000, women's basketball and volleyball coaches' offices, locker rooms, ticket offices, athletic training and meeting rooms, media workrooms and much more.
The arena is also expected to be used for other campus and community events including campus assemblies, coaching camps/clinics, concerts, speakers and high school graduations. Creighton volleyball is expected to play there starting in 2009, hosting the MVC Tournament that November.
Fall 2007 Summary
Creighton's 2007 season featured the squad's second consecutive 21-10 record. Despite a tie for second-place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-4 league mark, the Jays were not one of four league teams selected to the NCAA's.
Kelly Goc wrapped up an outstanding career by earning honorable-mention All-American honors, while setter Korie Lebeda was named first-team all-MVC. Other key contributors included MVC Freshman of the Year Allie Oelke and record-setting libero Bianca Rivera.
Game 1 Result = Match Result
In its last 75 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 67-8. CU is 74-12 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 17-55 under Booth when it drops the first game.
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked third in the 2008 MVC preseason coaches poll. Wichita State (91 points, four first-place votes) was favored to win its second straight title, just ahead of Northern Iowa (84, two) and Creighton (81, three). Rounding out the rest of the league was Missouri State (73, one), Illinois State (67), Southern Illinois (52), Evansville (34), Drake (31), Bradley (25) and Indiana State (12).
Each of the past five years Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of them or better 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 T-2nd #1
2008 3rd ??? ???
AVCA Honors CU Volleyball For Academics
The Creighton volleyball program was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2008 AVCA Team Academic Award. Creighton previously won the award in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and are one of 10 Division I schools nationwide to win the award in five consecutive campaigns.
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 3.31.
Radio Broadcast Information
Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will broadcast at least 22 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:
2008 Volleyball Broadcast Schedule
Sept. 19 at Bradley
Sept. 20 at Northern Iowa
Sept. 26 Missouri State
Sept. 27 Wichita State
Oct. 3 Drake
Oct. 5 Nebraska
Oct. 17 Evansville
Oct. 18 Southern Illinois
Oct. 24 at Wichita State
Oct. 25 at Missouri State
Oct. 31 at Drake
Nov. 7 Indiana State
Nov. 8 Illinois State
Nov. 21 Northern Iowa
Nov. 22 Bradley
Nov. 27-29 at MVC Tournament
Dec. 4-20 at NCAA Tournament
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 490 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 380 season tickets last year.
