Creighton University
Drake (Senior Night)
Volleyball Seniors Go Out In Style, Beat Drake For 20th Win
11/16/2007 10:30:00 PM | Volleyball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Senior Kelly Goc had a career-high 26 kills while hitting .625 and classmate Abby Baumann had 22 kills and hit .541 to lead Creighton volleyball to a 3-1 win over Drake on Senior Night in Omaha.
Creighton won the match 28-30, 30-12, 30-22, 30-18 to pick up its 20th win of the season and close MVC play with a best-ever 14-4 mark. Drake finishes the season with a 7-23 record and 4-14 in league action.
Drake won a back-and-forth first game that featured 19 ties and six lead changes. Baumann had nine kills while Goc added seven kills, but that wasn't enough to offset a Drake attack that scored five of the final six points to steal a 30-28 game one decision.
Goc added six kills in nine second game swings as Creighton rolled to a 30-12 win. CU hit .393 while Drake hit -.176 with 12 swinging errors.
Goc continued to make her case for MVC Player of the Year honors in the third game, delivering 10 kills in 12 errorless swings to lead CU to a 30-22 win. With CU trailing 5-2 early, Carolyn Decker served seven straight points to give the Jays the lead for good. An ace by Bianca Rivera ended the third game.
The Jays would not trail in the fourth game as Baumann put down eight kills in as many swings to cap her final home match in style. CU hit .389 with just one error in the fourth game.
Goc's 26 kills and 30 points were a career-high and the Ralston native added seven blocks (one solo, six assists) while hitting .625. The .625 hitting was the best in CU history for a four-game match and 12 or more kills. Baumann was also marvelous, finishing with 22 kills, eight digs and a .541 attack percentage in her first start since in nearly a month. CU's other senior, defensive specialist Katie Mehal, had nine digs while successfully handling all 11 serves aimed her way. CU hit .357 with 68 kills, seven aces, 81 digs and 14 blocks.
Drake was led by Angela Bys, who had 18 kills, 13 errors and 58 attacks. She hit just .086 and had 11 digs. Also in double-figures was Samantha Nelson, who had 11 kills. Drake hit .105 and finished with 55 kills, one ace, 72 digs and four blocks.
The Bluejays will have a week off before heading to next weekend's State Farm MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo. Final tournament pairings will be assigned on Saturday night after regular-season play concludes, though it appears likely Creighton is headed for the third seed and will face sixth-seeded Southern Illinois at 12:30 pm next Friday.
NOTES: Kelly Goc moved past JoDe Cieloha and into third on CU's all-time kills list with 1,392...This is Creighton's second-straight 20-win season ...Katie Mehal moved into10th place on CU's all-time digs list with nine digs. She has 795 career digs ...Kelly Goc upped her season hitting percentage to .371 ...Allie Oelke, who served consecutive aces to close out CU's 3-2 win at Drake in September, had three more aces tonight to go with 13 digs ...Kelly Goc's 30 points were third-most in a match in CU history ...Creighton's eight home wins in 2007 tie a school record ...Creighton finished the season with records of 24,183 home fans and 1,860 fans per home match.
