Slovenia Tops Creighton Volleyball In Five Sets

MARIBOR, Slovenia -- The Creighton Volleyball dropped a a five-set decision to the Slovenian National Team on Thursday at Dras Center in Maribor, Slovenia. Scores of the match in favor of Slovenia were 25-16, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 25-22, as the teams had agreed beforehand to play five sets regardless of the match score.

Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth turned to a different line-up than Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Austria, starting three freshmen as well as one transfer as she continued to tinker with the multitude of pieces on her 2018 roster. Slovenia used a 4-0 run to double up the Bluejays 14-7, and earned a first set victory by a 25-16 margin.

CU turned to a more veteran squad in the second set that included returning All-Americans Taryn Kloth, Brittany Witt and Jaali Winters among others, only to suffer another loss. CU led 7-4 early before allowing a 5-0 surge. The Bluejays trailed just 16-14 but could not get over the hump in dropping a 25-19 contest.

Booth used the same line-up in both the third and fourth sets. The third set saw Creighton win 25-20, as Witt served up a crucial 5-0 run to extend CU's lead to 16-10. The fourth set didn't go nearly as well, as Slovenia pushed across a 6-1 flurry to move ahead 22-13 and take home a 25-18 win to clinch the match victory.

CU reverted back to its opening line-up in the fifth set, which was played to 25. The teams were tied as late as 20-20 before the Slovenians closed the night with a 5-2 run to seal a 25-22 win.

As it did on Wednesday, Creighton utilized 14 different student-athletes in the match, including four new starters on Thursday. Kloth had 12 kills on 24 swings, while Winters served up three of CU's 10 aces. Leading CU at the net with three solo stuffs was freshman Annika Welty.

Creighton will get a chance to avenge that loss on Friday with an 8:40 a.m. Central match against the same team, albeit in a different gym. Earlier in the month Slovenia had toppled Texas (3-1) and Texas A&M (5-0), as it continues to prepare for some key European qualifiers later this month.

Creighton began Thursday with a community service outing at a local school before ascending the world-famous Maribor Pohorje hill. After eating lunch atop the mountain, the team raced the alpine slides down the hill at speeds up to 30 mph.

Following the contest, the two teams enjoyed dinner together in the mountains of Maribor at the Doppler Winery, taking in a spectacular sunset prior to dinner. Friday's scheduled activities include biking and shopping prior to the match, with another mountain-top dinner on the agenda pending good weather conditions, in its final day in Slovenia.

For more information on the team's adventures in Europe, search the hashtag #JaysGoEuro or visit http://gocreighton.com/JaysGoEuro.

Players Mentioned

Taryn Kloth

Annika Welty

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

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