Volleyball Faces Tough Road Tests In Search Of 20th Win
11/7/2007 12:45:00 PM | Volleyball
This Weekend
Third-place Creighton (18-8, 12-3 MVC) hits the road to take on the top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference standings this weekend.
On Friday, the Bluejays visit Missouri State (23-4, 12-2 MVC) in a 7 pm match at the Hammons Student Center (8,846) in Springfield, Mo.
On Saturday, Creighton takes on league-leading Wichita State (22-4, 13-1 MVC) in another 7 pm match. The contest against the 24th-ranked Shockers will take place at Koch Arena (10,400) in Wichita, Kan.
Radio Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM), and will be streamed live for free on-line at http://ww.kvss.com and http://www.gocreighton.com. Brad Burwell, Jessica Houts and Amanda Cvejdlik will call the action.
Television Broadcast Information
Both of Creighton's matches this weekend will be televised.
Friday's match at Missouri State is being televised only in the Springfield, Mo., market by Mediacom Connection (channel 14). Don West will call the action.
Saturday's match at Wichita State is going to be televised by Cox in Wichita, with the feed also being shown in Omaha on Cox Channel 2. Mike Kennedy and Cori Meyer will announce.
Coordinates are as follows:
Transponder: G288K-02 Slot D01
Band: KU
Orbital Position: 89 degrees West
Carrier: Intelsat
Bandwith: 9MHz
Uplink Freq: 14043.375 V
Downlink Freq: 11743.375 H
Video Webcast Information
Only Saturday's match will be video webcast this weekend. Due to its designation as the “MVC Game of the Week”, fans can watch the video webcast free of charge through the MVC website at www.mvc.org.
Live Stats Information
Both matches this weekend will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the left-hand side of the page for links to the MSU and WSU live stats pages.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 18-8 this season and alone in third place of the Missouri Valley Conference with a 12-3 league mark. The Bluejays are a perfect 7-0 in MVC road matches this season heading into their final road trip of the season.
Senior MB Kelly Goc is having a season worthy of MVC Player of the Year consideration, ranking second in the MVC with a .358 attack percentage while ranking third with 4.16 kills per game.
Fellow 2006 first-team all-MVC selection Korie Lebeda averages 12.45 assists per game and is hitting .322.
Two other newcomers have produced big numbers. Freshman OH Allie Oelke averages 3.33 kills, 3.05 digs and 0.35 aces per game, while junior libero Bianca Rivera averages a team-leading 5.94 digs per game.
Creighton is averaging 16.11 kills, 1.47 aces, 19.70 digs and 2.69 blocks per game while hitting .213 as a club.
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State is 23-4 overall and second in the MVC with a 12-2 conference record. The Bears are 12-1 at home this year, with their only loss coming to Wichita State on October 5th. MSU is fifth among those teams also receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
Jamie Adams leads MSU with 3.91 kills per game and is one of three players averaging at least three kills. Sara Thomas averages 3.18 kills, 3.45 digs and 1.21 blocks per game while Sara Staubach averages 3.31 kills per game and hits .216.
Setter Katelyn Panzau averages 11.89 assists, 2.52 digs, 0.29 aces and 0.75 blocks per game, while Nikki Vandepopulier leads the Bears with 3.89 digs per game.
As a team, Missouri State averages 16.01 kills, 1.49 aces, 18.99 digs and 2.96 blocks per game while hitting .236 as a team.
Scouting #24 Wichita State
The nation's 24th-ranked team, Wichita State has won 15 consecutive matches and owns a 22-4 overall record. Saturday is Senior Night for WSU.
Winthrop transfer Emily Stockman leads the MVC with 4.21 kills per game while also adding 3.56 digs and 0.36 aces per game. Other offensive weapons for the Shockers include 2006 MVC Player of the Year Sara Lungren (3.19 kpg., 2.76 dpg.) and MVC hitting efficiency leader Stephanie Tokarz (2.97 kpg., .367%, 1.11 bpg.).
Kelly Broussard (5.61 dpg.) is one of the top libero's in the conference, while setter Abby Harsh is a three-time MVC Player of the Week this year and averages 12.55 assists, 2.56 digs and hits .316.
Wichita State averages 16.11 kills, 1.64 aces, 18.72 digs and 2.57 blocks per game while hitting .264 as a team.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns an 85-61 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.
Melissa Stokes is in her 12th season at Missouri State, where she owns a 268-118 record. She led MSU to the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Jeni Jones and Greg Brown are assistant coaches. Two-time MVC Coach of the Year Chris Lamb is in his eighth season with Wichita State. Lamb owns a 158-82 record, all with the Shockers, and led WSU to the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. He is assisted by his wife, Shannon Lamb, and Jeff Sanders.
Series History vs. Missouri State
Missouri State owns a 25-3 lead in the all-time series with Creighton, including 19 consecutive wins. The Bears are 12-1 in Springfield all-time against the Jays.
Creighton has not beaten the Bears since Oct. 3, 1998 in Omaha.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-9 all-time vs. MSU and Melissa Stokes, while Stokes is 21-3 in her career vs. the Bluejays. The Bears remain the only MVC team Booth has not beaten.
Series History vs. Wichita State
Wichita State owns a narrow 15-14 lead in 29 all-time meetings with Creighton. The Shockers are 8-5 at home in those contests.
Each of CU's last three wins over the Shockers have been five-game matches, including a five-gamer last year at Koch Arena that saw the Jays survive three WSU match points.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-7 vs. Wichita State and Chris Lamb, while Lamb is 9-7 vs. Creighton all-time.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton beat Southern Illinois (3-1) and Evansville (3-0) last weekend to remain third in the MVC standings.
Kelly Goc averaged 4.71 kills and 1.43 digs while hitting .431 to lead a red-hot offensive attack. Allie Oelke averaged 3.71 kills and 5.57 digs while Lauren Bloemke averaged 3.29 kills, 1.57 blocks and hit a remarkable .541. Also noteworthy was the play of Korie Lebeda, who averaged 14.14 assists, 1.57 kills, 2.29 digs and 1.43 blocks per game.
Goc Comfortable Against Bears
Junior Kelly Goc piles up the stats on a regular basis for Creighton, but it wasn't always that way. When Goc was a freshman, she had just 31 kills in her first 10 matches.
Goc broke out of that slow start in a big way during a Sept. 25, 2004 match at Missouri State. Goc had 20 kills that night despite making just her second career start.
Since that match, Goc has had 10 or more kills in 81 of the past 102 matches, including all seven meetings with Missouri State.
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).
Lebeda owns 3,981 career assists entering this weekend in 87 matches and 309 career games. That compares favorably to Arganbright's mark of 96 matches and 324 games played to reach the 4,000 mark.
Below is Creighton's quickest players to reach 3,000 and 4,000 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
Matches to
Name 4,000 asts. Opponent
Kailey Reyes 97 11/9/01 at #18 Northern Iowa
Melissa Weisensee 111 11/21/97 vs. Northern Iowa
20-Win Season Possible
With two wins this weekend, Creighton could reach the 20-win mark for a second straight 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. The Jays are currently 12-3 in MVC play and need one win to set that mark.
Bears Don't Lose Back-to-Back Often
Missouri State, which is coming off a five-game loss at Wichita State last Friday, will have another streak to protect on Friday against Creighton.
The Bears have not lost consecutive matches since going 0-3 at the Aquafina Volleyball Invitational in September of 2005, and have won the match immediately after a loss on 18 consecutive occasions.
Streak Busters?
Creighton will look to tear down a couple of extended winning streaks this weekend.
Missouri State has won 19 straight matches against Creighton dating to 1998.
Wichita State owns a 15-match win streak this year heading into Friday's home match with Drake.
According to research by Creighton Sports Information student assistant Mike Manning, that streak ranks fourth nationally, as seen below:
W's Team This Week
20 Md.-Eastern Shore @MEAC Tourney, 11/16
17 Princeton @Brown, 11/9
16 Louisville @DePaul, 11/9
15 Wichita State Drake, 11/9; Creighton, 11/10
14 Penn State @N'western, 11/9; Mich. St., 11/10
14 Texas @Kansas, 11/7; Texas A&M, 11/9
Tourney Preview?
Creighton will get its first look this fall at the Hammons Student Center on Friday, but it won't be the last match they play at the venue. The venerable facility will also play host to the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, Nov. 23-24.
Shock and Awe In Wichita A Year Ago
This will be Creighton's first trip to Wichita State since last year's five-game barn-burner won by the Bluejays.
After winning game one and two, Creighton had to survive three match points in game five to win at two-time defending league champ Wichita State. Jessica Houts had a career-high 23 kills to pace the Jays in its 30-28, 30-25, 28-30, 26-30, 17-15 win.
Some Star Setters
This weekend Creighton's matches will boast three of the Midwest's best setters. Korie Lebeda (CU), Abby Harsh (WSU) and Katelyn Panzau (MSU) all earned all-Valley first-team accolades last season and are likely to repeat those honors this fall.
Stat Lebeda Harsh Panzau
Assists Per Game 12.45 12.55 11.89
Digs Per Game 2.08 2.56 2.52
Blocks Per Game 0.73 0.41 0.75
Kills Per Game 1.33 0.72 1.27
Hitting Pct. .322 .316 .287
Team Hit Pct. .213 .264 .236
Playing The Best
Seven of the eight losses Creighton has this season have come to teams that are ranked or receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
The Bluejays are have lost once each to #2 Nebraska, #22 Cal Poly and #24 Wichita State, and also lost once to vote-getters Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
The only team to beat CU that isn't getting votes currently is Northern Iowa, the preseason MVC favorite who began the year getting votes.
Against Ranked Teams
Saturday night's contest against #24 Wichita State will give Creighton a chance to snap its 0-27 record against ranked opponents, including an 0-3 mark this fall. The Bluejays have never even played as much as a five-game match against a ranked opponent.
Creighton vs. Ranked Teams All-Time
Date Opponent Result
09/01/98 at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
09/04/98 vs. #19 Texas A&M (@Pacific) L 0-3
09/05/98 at #11 Pacific L 0-3
09/14/99 at #24 Kansas State L 0-3
10/16/99 #16 Northern Iowa L 0-3
09/08/00 at #6 Hawai'i L 0-3
10/03/00 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
09/08/01 at #24 Santa Clara L 1-3
09/09/01 vs. #13 UC-Santa Barbara (at Santa Clara) L 0-3
09/25/01 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
10/13/01 #16 Northern Iowa L 0-3
11/09/01 at #18 Northern Iowa L 0-3
09/06/02 vs. #13 Pacific L 0-3
09/21/02 at #7 Northern Iowa L 1-3
09/29/02 at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
10/18/02 #10 Northern Iowa L 0-3
10/04/03 at #10 Northern Iowa L 1-3
11/01/03 vs. #12 Northern Iowa L 1-3
10/10/04 vs. #5 Nebraska (North Platte, Neb.) L 0-3
09/06/05 at #24 Kansas State L 0-3
09/10/05 vs. #3 Stanford (Boulder, Colo.) L 0-3
10/11/05 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
10/29/05 at #25 Wichita State L 1-3
09/24/06 #1 Nebraska L 1-3
08/31/07 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
09/02/07 #18 Cal Poly L 0-3
09/15/07 at #13 Minnesota L 1-3
Random Trivia
Did you know that Creighton has never had a volleyball player graduate high school from the state of Missouri.
Oelke's Been Consistent
Freshman Allie Oelke has been among Creighton's most consistent players all fall, with the exception of the first meeting with Missouri State.
In that October 13 meeting with the Bears, Oelke was held to one kill on -.077 hitting and finished with just 1.5 points. That one kill and 1.5 points are season lows, while the -.077 is the worst outing since her first match in Blue and White on Aug. 24 vs. Middle Tennessee.
Oelke has had nine or more kills and hit .100 or better in all 14 of Creighton's other MVC matches to date.
Smile, You're On TV
Creighton will appear on television twice this weekend, as matches in both Springfield and Wichita will be televised in those markets (Saturday's match vs. Wichita can be seen in Omaha on Cox Channel 2).
It will mark Creighton volleyball's first televised matches since Oct. 11, 2005, when it was swept at No. 1 Nebraska.
Creighton also appeared on television under Kirsten Bernthal Booth on Sept. 23, 2003, a 3-1 win at UMKC.
A Big Win
Creighton's 30-9 game one victory over Indiana State on Oct. 26 was a record-setter that marked the Bluejays largest margin of victory in any game they've ever played.
The previous mark for fewest points allowed since the inception of rally scoring in 2001 had been a 30-11 victory over North Dakota State on Sept. 8, 2004.
Decker Returns To Starting Six
Carolyn Decker made her first two starts of the year on Oct. 26-27, and she turned in two of her best performances.
Decker had three kills and six digs against Indiana State before her breakthrough match one night later.
Against Illinois State, Decker had 10 kills and eight digs while hitting .281.
This past weekend Decker once again started twice. She had eight kills against Southern Illinois on Friday before posting a season-high 11 kills against Evansville on Sunday.
Decker had started 35-of-36 career matches prior to coming off the bench in Creighton's first 22 contests this fall.
Road To Success
Creighton has found the road a better place to be in MVC play this fall. The Bluejays have won nine straight MVC road matches, but are just 5-4 in their past nine MVC home matches.
Wichita State owns the longest MVC road winning streak, having picked up 27 straight Valley road wins. Creighton owns the second-longest streak with nine straight road victories in Valley action.
Below is a breakdown of Creighton's MVC matches in home and road matches this year.
Stat Home Road
Team Match W-L 5-3 7-0
Team Games W-L 15-11 21-5
Team Digs Per Game 22.96 19.96
Team Blocks Per Game 2.50 2.40
Team Hitting Percentage .217 .225
Opp. Hitting Percentage .158 .126
Oelke Kills Per Game 3.35 3.92
Bloemke Hit. Pct. .262 .314
Bloemke Blocks/Game 1.08 1.12
Rivera Digs 500
Junior libero Bianca Rivera owns 523 digs this season, a figure that places her second in Creighton's single-season history. At her current pace of 20.12 digs per match, Rivera would pass Janeen Piller's record-breaking 2004 total of 593 digs during Creighton's first MVC Tournament match this fall.
Rivera's current 5.94 digs per game is far ahead of Piller's 5.59 digs per game single-season record from the 2004 campaign.
Creighton Digs, Season
Name Games No. Year
1. Janeen Piller 106 593 2004
2. Bianca Rivera 88 523 2007
3. Katie Mehal 115 488 2006
4. Janeen Piller 115 448 2003
5. Abby Baumann 116 441 2006
Creighton Digs Per Game, Season (Min. 200 digs)
Name Games No. Avg. Year
1. Bianca Rivera 88 523 5.94 2007
2. Janeen Piller 106 593 5.59 2004
3. Katie Mehal 115 488 4.24 2006
Ain't Life Grand?
With her third assist on Nov. 2 against Southern Illinois, junior setter Korie Lebeda became the first player in school history to post 1,000 assists each of her first three seasons at Creighton.
The only other player in Bluejay history to have three seasons of 1,000 assists in her career had been Kailey Reyes, who did it her sophomore, junior and senior seasons (1999, 2000, ?01).
Oelke Freshman of the Week, Again
Allie Oelke has named the MVC Freshman of the Week four times this season, most recently on Nov. 5.
Oelke averaged 3.71 kills, 5.57 digs and hit .286 in wins over Southern Illinois and Evansville. Oelke had nine kills and 14 digs against Southern Illinois, then had 17 kills and 25 digs in a three-game sweep over Evansville.
Oelke was previously honored on Sept. 17, Oct. 1 and Oct. 29 and is the only freshman in the league to be honored four times this fall. Her four weekly awards is tied with Missouri State's Sara Thomas for most in the MVC this fall.
Kelly, Kelly, Kelly
Senior Kelly Goc has stepped up her game since teammate Jessica Houts was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Goc owns 10 or more kills in 18 of the last 19 matches. She has hit .206 or better in all but one match in that time frame, including a .379 or better hitting percentage 12 times.
On the season, Goc leads the Bluejays with 337 kills and a .358 attack percentage. Goc ranks third in the MVC with 4.16 kills per game and second with a .358 hitting percentage. The only two players in league history to lead the MVC in both categories were Northern Iowa's Bobbi Becker (1989) and Illinois State's Chris Rehor (1988).
Accurate, Efficient, Record-Breaker
Kelly Goc continues to chase down a couple of records that are related to her outstanding hitting percentage.
Goc's .358 hitting percentage this season easily outdistances the current standard of .310 set by Ashley Williams in 2003.
Goc's .291 career hitting percentage also would be a school-mark, just ahead of Williams' (2001-04) final tally of .283.
Goc Streak With 10+ Kills Reached 14
Kelly Goc streak of 14 straight matches of 10 or more kills was snapped on Oct. 20 against UNI. Below is the Creighton list of most consecutive matches with double-digit kills.
Consecutive Matches, 10 or More Kills
58 Leah Ratzlaff, Sept. 13, Sept. 9, 2005
19 JoDe Cieloha, Sept. 26-Nov. 21, 1997
14 Kelly Goc, Sept. 8-Oct. 19, 2007
13 JoDe Cieloha, Sept. 7-Oct. 18, 1996
12 Amanda Cvejdlik, Aug. 25-Sept. 19, 2006
Goc Near 100 Starts
Kelly Goc owns 98 career starts at Creighton and is two shy of becoming the second player in recorded school history to reach 100 starts, joining Melissa Walsh (107 from 1998-01).
The senior has started each of Creighton's last 20 matches.
Goc Still Rockin' 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.
Goc had exactly 20 kills in both meetings with ISU this year too, hitting .356 in Omaha and .385 in Normal.
In the last five matches against Illinois State, Goc has averaged 5.20 kills, 1.30 digs, 0.65 blocks and 0.30 aces per game while hitting .345.
Standings Make Sense
Creighton is currently 12-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and one-half game ahead of UNI for third place.
The Bluejays are 0-2 against the two teams ahead of them, 1-1 against UNI and are 11-0 against the other teams below them in the league standings.
New Facility on the Way
Creighton broke ground for a new athletics center on October 16, to be located just northeast of Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard.
The Ryan Athletics Center and D. J. Sokol Arena, a 46,000 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.
No Houts, No Matter
Creighton has won 14 of 18 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, three four-gamers and nine sweeps. Their only losses in that span was a four-game setback at #13 Minnesota and 3-0 losses to Valley rivals Wichita State, Missouri State and Northern Iowa.
As can be seen from the stats below, Abby Baumann, Lauren Bloemke and Allie Oelke have picked up the slack offensively, while Bianca Rivera and Sarah Schulze have raised her game on defense.
Predictably, Creighton's blocking has suffered, but the Jays have made up for it with substantially better digging since Houts went down.
Stat With Houts Without Houts
Team W-L 4-4 14-4
Team KPG 14.65 16.73
Team DPG 15.85 21.32
Team BPG 3.13 2.50
Goc KPG 3.37 4.40
Baumann KPG 0.75 1.94
Bloemke KPG 1.43 2.90
Oelke KPG 2.62 3.63
Rivera DPG 5.62 6.08
Schulze DPG 0.83 3.33
Baumann Bodacious
Senior Abby Baumann entered the Sept. 21 match with UNI 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 753 kills and 919 career digs. She is one of five players in program history to rank in the top-10 in both career kills and digs.
With 919 digs to date, Baumann needs four digs to pass Shelly Kapler for fifth on that same list.
Back From The Brink
On Sept. 21, 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 143 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 Sept. 21, 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 114-6 (.950) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 56-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 53-3 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-137 (.042) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-44 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
ESPN.com Comes Calling
Creighton's volleyball team got some national attention on Oct. 9 as ESPN.com writer Dave Reed wrote a story about the Bluejays.
Reed interviewed Korie Lebeda, Kelly Goc and Kirsten Bernthal Booth for the piece, which can be found at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3057183.
Win Streak Reached Six
Wichita State swept Creighton on Oct. 12, snapping CU's six-match win streak that was one shy of the school record set during the 2004 season.
Before Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the program's previous best had been five straight overall wins from Sept. 24-Oct. 2, 1999 and six straight league wins from Sept. 21-Oct. 12, 2001.
Most Consecutive Wins
Wins Dates Snapped By
7 Sept. 4-Sept. 17, 2004 Illinois State, 3-0
6 Sept. 21-Oct. 6, 2007 Wichita State, 3-0
5 Sept. 24-Oct. 2, 1999 at Missouri State, 3-0
5 Nov. 4-19, 2005 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
5 Aug. 25-Sept. 2, 2006 Iowa, 3-2
5 Sept. 9-16, 2006 at South Dakota State, 1-3
Rounding Second, Headed For Home
Creighton has had a winning record at the midway point of conference play on seven previous occasions, and qualified for the MVC Tournament each time. This year's 7-2 start tied the school's best midway mark in MVC play ever, equaling the record from the first half in 2001 and last season. Creighton's 7-0 start in MVC action this year was its best ever without a loss.
League Record by Year
Year 1st Half 2nd Half MVC place
2007 7-2 5-1 -
2006 7-2 5-4 4th
2005 4-5 6-3 5th
2004 5-4 5-4 5th
2003 5-4 4-5 T-5th
2002 1-8 1-8 T-9th
2001 7-2 5-4 4th
2000 5-4 5-4 T-4th
1999 5-4 4-5 5th
1998 2-7 3-6 8th
1997 6-3 4-5 T-3rd
1996 2-7 3-6 T-6th
1995 3-7 3-7 T-7th
1994 2-8 1-9 T-9th
Total 61-67 54-71 --
Creighton's Best MVC Starts
Start Year First MVC Loss
7-0 2007 Wichita State, 3-0
5-0 2006 Northern Iowa, 3-2
3-0 2003 at #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
2-0 1997 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
Top 20 Crowds
According to numbers calculated by Diane Nordstrom at the University of Wisconsin, Creighton ranks 13th nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 1,917 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-18 on her list, joining Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
2007 Volleyball Home Average Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 6,495 97,424 15
2. Wisconsin 5,591 50,323 9
3. Nebraska 5,522 71,790 13
4. Minnesota 3,218 45,050 14
5. Penn State 2,988 38,845 13
6. Florida 2,668 32,018 12
7. Wichita State 2,562 30,750 12
8. Texas 2,294 22,943 10
9. Stanford 2,166 19,493 9
10. Purdue 2,080 18,719 9
11. Washington 2,044 16,350 8
12. Missouri 2,035 22,933 11
13. Creighton 1,917 23,000 12
14. Texas A&M 1,913 21,044 11
15. Northern Iowa 1,886 16,977 9
16. New Mexico State 1,765 17,653 10
17. Indiana 1,765 17,646 10
18. Illinois State 1,634 17,973 11
19. Ohio State 1,549 15,494 10
20. BYU 1,507 13,562 9
Attendance Record Broken
With 23,000 fans in 12 home matches to date, Creighton has already broken its single-season home attendance total. Creighton still has one home match to play.
Below is a list of the top five seasons, based on total home fans. Even if no fans showed up for Creighton's final home match, the school will still set a single-season average attendance record.
Creighton Home Attendance Year-by-Year
Year Fans Dates Average
2007 23,000 12 1,917
2006 20,940 13 1,611
2005 8,113 12 676
2004 7,399 11 673
2003 4,066 10 407
Attendance Is Up Across The Board
Creighton ranks 13th nationally in average volleyball attendance with 1,917 fans per home match.
Two blocks north of the Omaha Civic Auditorium at Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium, Creighton's men's soccer team leads the country with 3,117 fans per home match.
Last year Creighton also finished 13th nationally in men's basketball average attendance, setting an all-time MVC mark with 15,909 fans per game.
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 tied for 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, as well as the longest streaks of 10 or more kills by CU freshmen.
Most Kills In A Match By A CU 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
Jays Sweep MVC Awards
Creighton became the first program in MVC history to sweep the MVC Player of the Week, Newcomer of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same week on Oct. 1st.
Kelly Goc earned her third career Player of the Week honor after averaging 4.71 kills and hitting .388 in wins over Illinois State and Indiana State.
Allie Oelke was named Newcomer of the Week for the second time in three weeks. The freshman from Chaska, Minn., averaged 3.29 kills and 4.00 digs after turning in a pair of double-doubles.
Bianca Rivera was named Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row. She averaged 7.43 digs per game while increasing her record streak to five straight matches of 20 or more digs.
Rivera Keeps On Digging
Bianca Rivera had five consecutive matches with 20 or more digs from Sept. 15-29, breaking the former CU mark of three. In those five matches, she had 123 digs in 19 games, an average of 6.47 dpg.
Consecutive Matches, 20 or More Digs
5 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 15-29, 2007
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
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. Baumann, who owns a 3.96 GPA in Organizational Communications, was also named the Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
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 at the event.
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 was named State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week on Sept. 17.
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.
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.
Oelke Over 100 & 200 Kills Already
It took just 11 matches for Allie Oelke to surpass 100 career kills, fourth-fastest in Creighton history. Oelke passed the 200-kill plateau in her 18th career match (at SIU on Oct. 6), to become CU's second-quickest player to 200 kills.
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
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
Allie Oelke 18 10/06/07 at So. Illinois
Shelly Kapler 22 11/09/96 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 5.94, good for second in the league.
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just 24 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 523 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), 300 digs (15 matches, 10 matches faster than anyone else), 400 digs (20 matches, 14 quicker than anyone else) and 500 digs (25 matches, 16 fewer than anyone else)
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
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
Creighton's Quickest Players To 300 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 15 09/28/07 Illinois State
Kailey Reyes 25 09/03/99 vs. Gonzaga
Melissa Walsh 30 09/10/99 Southern Illinois
Creighton's Quickest Players To 400 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 20 10/13/07 Missouri State
Kailey Reyes 34 09/18/99 at Bradley
Melissa Walsh 40 09/26/99 UMKC
Creighton's Quickest Players To 500 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 25 11/02/07 Southern Illinois
Kailey Reyes 41 10/22/99 at Indiana State
Melissa Walsh 48 11/05/99 Wichita State
Janeen Piller 49 09/20/03 Evansville
Mallory Lahm 52 10/29/05 at #25 Wichita St.
Korie Lebeda 52 10/27/06 Indiana State
Rivera One Of A Few
Junior Bianca Rivera has collected 13 or more digs in every match this season, the only player in the MVC that can make that claim.
In fact, only two Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, and Ellie Blankenship (UNI).
Rivera's streak of 26 straight double-digit dig is the second-longest in Bluejay history, more than halfway toward Janeen Piller's DiMaggio-esque streak of 43 in a row in 2003 and 2004. 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
26 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24, 2007-Present
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
Consec. Matches, 10 or More Digs, To Start Year
29 Janeen Piller (every match) 2004
26 Bianca Rivera 2007
7 Erin Swanson 1999
Goc & Baumann Move Up Match Played List
Seniors Abby Baumann and Kelly Goc enter this weekend having played in 112 matches in their careers, tied for second in school history. They became the 10th and 11th players in Bluejay history to play in 100 career matches on Sept. 22 at Bradley. If they play in each of Creighton's final three conference matches, they would tie Leah Ratzlaff with 115 career matches played.
Goc also ranks fourth in school history with 96 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 85-0 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 20 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 18-8
Total 33-32 178-213
Statistically Speaking
Creighton can be found throughout the latest edition of the NCAA statistics, which include matches through Nov. 4th.
As a team, Creighton ranked 70th in blocks per game, 38th in assists per game, 45th in kills per game, 9th in digs per game, 71st in winning percentage, 120th in hitting percentage and 214th in aces per game.
Individually, Creighton has six different players that rank in the top 500 of a category, as seen below:
Name Rank Stat
Bianca Rivera 15th 5.94 digs per game
Korie Lebeda 44th 12.45 assts. per game
Kelly Goc 46th .358 hitting pct.
Kelly Goc 103rd 4.16 kills per game
Allie Oelke 210th 3.33 kills per game
Lauren Bloemke 274th .276 hitting pct.
Allie Oelke 286th 0.35 aces per game
Kelly Goc 296th 0.99 blocks per game
Lauren Bloemke 343rd 0.94 blocks per game
Allie Oelke 451st 3.05 digs per game
Lauren Bloemke 456th 0.31 aces per game
Bianca Rivera 498th 0.56 assists 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 gets to 15 points in a game first are 78-8 this year and were 85-26 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 52-34 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 57-29 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 66-20 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 78-8 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 78-8 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 81-5 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
Cvejdlik Has Appendix Removed
Junior outside hitter Amanda Cvejdlik has missed the last six matches after having her appendix removed on Oct. 18th.
The Omaha native, who ranks 11th in Creighton history with 723 career kills, had never previously missed a match due to injury before the injury. She is doubtful for this weekend.
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) had their dreams shattered after just three weeks 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.
This year every MVC team has lost at least one conference home match.
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.
Crowd of 13,081 Was NCAA Record
The largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA Volleyball history at the time, 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.
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 26 aces in 328 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 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 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 now played in 15,899 of a possible 15,911 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.924 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.
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
-.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
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
Goc Moves Into Top 10 In Kills, Blocks
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 continues to crash the Creighton record books in several career categories, as seen below:
Goc on the Career Lists
Stat Rank Goc Total
Hitting Pct. 1st .291
Points 2nd 1585.5
Matches Played T-2nd 112
Points Per Game 3rd 4.22
Kills Per Game 3rd 3.56
Attack Attempts 3rd 3,219
Matches Started T-3rd 98
Kills 4th 1,337
Block Assists 4th 295
Blocks 4th 338
Block Solos 6th 43
Games Played 6th 376
Blocks Per Game T-8th 0.90
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 .358 hitting percentage, 4.91 points and 4.16 kills per game.
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 26 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.
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 161 of its last 164 matches. The opening weekend of 2006 remains the only time since Sept. 20, 2002, that Creighton opened a match without a freshman starter.
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) was 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 24-8 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 18-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 27-1 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 46-42 in her career when she hasn't. The only setback was an Oct. 13, 2007 loss to Missouri State in which Baumann had 13 kills and hit .312.
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 69 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 63-6. CU is 70-10 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 15-51 under Booth it they drop the first game.
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
Nov. 9 at Missouri State
Nov. 10 at Wichita State
Nov. 16 Drake
Nov. 23 at MVC 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 380 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 286 season tickets last year.
Third-place Creighton (18-8, 12-3 MVC) hits the road to take on the top two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference standings this weekend.
On Friday, the Bluejays visit Missouri State (23-4, 12-2 MVC) in a 7 pm match at the Hammons Student Center (8,846) in Springfield, Mo.
On Saturday, Creighton takes on league-leading Wichita State (22-4, 13-1 MVC) in another 7 pm match. The contest against the 24th-ranked Shockers will take place at Koch Arena (10,400) in Wichita, Kan.
Radio Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM), and will be streamed live for free on-line at http://ww.kvss.com and http://www.gocreighton.com. Brad Burwell, Jessica Houts and Amanda Cvejdlik will call the action.
Television Broadcast Information
Both of Creighton's matches this weekend will be televised.
Friday's match at Missouri State is being televised only in the Springfield, Mo., market by Mediacom Connection (channel 14). Don West will call the action.
Saturday's match at Wichita State is going to be televised by Cox in Wichita, with the feed also being shown in Omaha on Cox Channel 2. Mike Kennedy and Cori Meyer will announce.
Coordinates are as follows:
Transponder: G288K-02 Slot D01
Band: KU
Orbital Position: 89 degrees West
Carrier: Intelsat
Bandwith: 9MHz
Uplink Freq: 14043.375 V
Downlink Freq: 11743.375 H
Video Webcast Information
Only Saturday's match will be video webcast this weekend. Due to its designation as the “MVC Game of the Week”, fans can watch the video webcast free of charge through the MVC website at www.mvc.org.
Live Stats Information
Both matches this weekend will have live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the left-hand side of the page for links to the MSU and WSU live stats pages.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 18-8 this season and alone in third place of the Missouri Valley Conference with a 12-3 league mark. The Bluejays are a perfect 7-0 in MVC road matches this season heading into their final road trip of the season.
Senior MB Kelly Goc is having a season worthy of MVC Player of the Year consideration, ranking second in the MVC with a .358 attack percentage while ranking third with 4.16 kills per game.
Fellow 2006 first-team all-MVC selection Korie Lebeda averages 12.45 assists per game and is hitting .322.
Two other newcomers have produced big numbers. Freshman OH Allie Oelke averages 3.33 kills, 3.05 digs and 0.35 aces per game, while junior libero Bianca Rivera averages a team-leading 5.94 digs per game.
Creighton is averaging 16.11 kills, 1.47 aces, 19.70 digs and 2.69 blocks per game while hitting .213 as a club.
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State is 23-4 overall and second in the MVC with a 12-2 conference record. The Bears are 12-1 at home this year, with their only loss coming to Wichita State on October 5th. MSU is fifth among those teams also receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
Jamie Adams leads MSU with 3.91 kills per game and is one of three players averaging at least three kills. Sara Thomas averages 3.18 kills, 3.45 digs and 1.21 blocks per game while Sara Staubach averages 3.31 kills per game and hits .216.
Setter Katelyn Panzau averages 11.89 assists, 2.52 digs, 0.29 aces and 0.75 blocks per game, while Nikki Vandepopulier leads the Bears with 3.89 digs per game.
As a team, Missouri State averages 16.01 kills, 1.49 aces, 18.99 digs and 2.96 blocks per game while hitting .236 as a team.
Scouting #24 Wichita State
The nation's 24th-ranked team, Wichita State has won 15 consecutive matches and owns a 22-4 overall record. Saturday is Senior Night for WSU.
Winthrop transfer Emily Stockman leads the MVC with 4.21 kills per game while also adding 3.56 digs and 0.36 aces per game. Other offensive weapons for the Shockers include 2006 MVC Player of the Year Sara Lungren (3.19 kpg., 2.76 dpg.) and MVC hitting efficiency leader Stephanie Tokarz (2.97 kpg., .367%, 1.11 bpg.).
Kelly Broussard (5.61 dpg.) is one of the top libero's in the conference, while setter Abby Harsh is a three-time MVC Player of the Week this year and averages 12.55 assists, 2.56 digs and hits .316.
Wichita State averages 16.11 kills, 1.64 aces, 18.72 digs and 2.57 blocks per game while hitting .264 as a team.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns an 85-61 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.
Melissa Stokes is in her 12th season at Missouri State, where she owns a 268-118 record. She led MSU to the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Jeni Jones and Greg Brown are assistant coaches. Two-time MVC Coach of the Year Chris Lamb is in his eighth season with Wichita State. Lamb owns a 158-82 record, all with the Shockers, and led WSU to the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. He is assisted by his wife, Shannon Lamb, and Jeff Sanders.
Series History vs. Missouri State
Missouri State owns a 25-3 lead in the all-time series with Creighton, including 19 consecutive wins. The Bears are 12-1 in Springfield all-time against the Jays.
Creighton has not beaten the Bears since Oct. 3, 1998 in Omaha.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-9 all-time vs. MSU and Melissa Stokes, while Stokes is 21-3 in her career vs. the Bluejays. The Bears remain the only MVC team Booth has not beaten.
Series History vs. Wichita State
Wichita State owns a narrow 15-14 lead in 29 all-time meetings with Creighton. The Shockers are 8-5 at home in those contests.
Each of CU's last three wins over the Shockers have been five-game matches, including a five-gamer last year at Koch Arena that saw the Jays survive three WSU match points.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-7 vs. Wichita State and Chris Lamb, while Lamb is 9-7 vs. Creighton all-time.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton beat Southern Illinois (3-1) and Evansville (3-0) last weekend to remain third in the MVC standings.
Kelly Goc averaged 4.71 kills and 1.43 digs while hitting .431 to lead a red-hot offensive attack. Allie Oelke averaged 3.71 kills and 5.57 digs while Lauren Bloemke averaged 3.29 kills, 1.57 blocks and hit a remarkable .541. Also noteworthy was the play of Korie Lebeda, who averaged 14.14 assists, 1.57 kills, 2.29 digs and 1.43 blocks per game.
Goc Comfortable Against Bears
Junior Kelly Goc piles up the stats on a regular basis for Creighton, but it wasn't always that way. When Goc was a freshman, she had just 31 kills in her first 10 matches.
Goc broke out of that slow start in a big way during a Sept. 25, 2004 match at Missouri State. Goc had 20 kills that night despite making just her second career start.
Since that match, Goc has had 10 or more kills in 81 of the past 102 matches, including all seven meetings with Missouri State.
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).
Lebeda owns 3,981 career assists entering this weekend in 87 matches and 309 career games. That compares favorably to Arganbright's mark of 96 matches and 324 games played to reach the 4,000 mark.
Below is Creighton's quickest players to reach 3,000 and 4,000 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
Matches to
Name 4,000 asts. Opponent
Kailey Reyes 97 11/9/01 at #18 Northern Iowa
Melissa Weisensee 111 11/21/97 vs. Northern Iowa
20-Win Season Possible
With two wins this weekend, Creighton could reach the 20-win mark for a second straight 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. The Jays are currently 12-3 in MVC play and need one win to set that mark.
Bears Don't Lose Back-to-Back Often
Missouri State, which is coming off a five-game loss at Wichita State last Friday, will have another streak to protect on Friday against Creighton.
The Bears have not lost consecutive matches since going 0-3 at the Aquafina Volleyball Invitational in September of 2005, and have won the match immediately after a loss on 18 consecutive occasions.
Streak Busters?
Creighton will look to tear down a couple of extended winning streaks this weekend.
Missouri State has won 19 straight matches against Creighton dating to 1998.
Wichita State owns a 15-match win streak this year heading into Friday's home match with Drake.
According to research by Creighton Sports Information student assistant Mike Manning, that streak ranks fourth nationally, as seen below:
W's Team This Week
20 Md.-Eastern Shore @MEAC Tourney, 11/16
17 Princeton @Brown, 11/9
16 Louisville @DePaul, 11/9
15 Wichita State Drake, 11/9; Creighton, 11/10
14 Penn State @N'western, 11/9; Mich. St., 11/10
14 Texas @Kansas, 11/7; Texas A&M, 11/9
Tourney Preview?
Creighton will get its first look this fall at the Hammons Student Center on Friday, but it won't be the last match they play at the venue. The venerable facility will also play host to the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, Nov. 23-24.
Shock and Awe In Wichita A Year Ago
This will be Creighton's first trip to Wichita State since last year's five-game barn-burner won by the Bluejays.
After winning game one and two, Creighton had to survive three match points in game five to win at two-time defending league champ Wichita State. Jessica Houts had a career-high 23 kills to pace the Jays in its 30-28, 30-25, 28-30, 26-30, 17-15 win.
Some Star Setters
This weekend Creighton's matches will boast three of the Midwest's best setters. Korie Lebeda (CU), Abby Harsh (WSU) and Katelyn Panzau (MSU) all earned all-Valley first-team accolades last season and are likely to repeat those honors this fall.
Stat Lebeda Harsh Panzau
Assists Per Game 12.45 12.55 11.89
Digs Per Game 2.08 2.56 2.52
Blocks Per Game 0.73 0.41 0.75
Kills Per Game 1.33 0.72 1.27
Hitting Pct. .322 .316 .287
Team Hit Pct. .213 .264 .236
Playing The Best
Seven of the eight losses Creighton has this season have come to teams that are ranked or receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
The Bluejays are have lost once each to #2 Nebraska, #22 Cal Poly and #24 Wichita State, and also lost once to vote-getters Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
The only team to beat CU that isn't getting votes currently is Northern Iowa, the preseason MVC favorite who began the year getting votes.
Against Ranked Teams
Saturday night's contest against #24 Wichita State will give Creighton a chance to snap its 0-27 record against ranked opponents, including an 0-3 mark this fall. The Bluejays have never even played as much as a five-game match against a ranked opponent.
Creighton vs. Ranked Teams All-Time
Date Opponent Result
09/01/98 at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
09/04/98 vs. #19 Texas A&M (@Pacific) L 0-3
09/05/98 at #11 Pacific L 0-3
09/14/99 at #24 Kansas State L 0-3
10/16/99 #16 Northern Iowa L 0-3
09/08/00 at #6 Hawai'i L 0-3
10/03/00 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
09/08/01 at #24 Santa Clara L 1-3
09/09/01 vs. #13 UC-Santa Barbara (at Santa Clara) L 0-3
09/25/01 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
10/13/01 #16 Northern Iowa L 0-3
11/09/01 at #18 Northern Iowa L 0-3
09/06/02 vs. #13 Pacific L 0-3
09/21/02 at #7 Northern Iowa L 1-3
09/29/02 at #5 Nebraska L 0-3
10/18/02 #10 Northern Iowa L 0-3
10/04/03 at #10 Northern Iowa L 1-3
11/01/03 vs. #12 Northern Iowa L 1-3
10/10/04 vs. #5 Nebraska (North Platte, Neb.) L 0-3
09/06/05 at #24 Kansas State L 0-3
09/10/05 vs. #3 Stanford (Boulder, Colo.) L 0-3
10/11/05 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
10/29/05 at #25 Wichita State L 1-3
09/24/06 #1 Nebraska L 1-3
08/31/07 at #1 Nebraska L 0-3
09/02/07 #18 Cal Poly L 0-3
09/15/07 at #13 Minnesota L 1-3
Random Trivia
Did you know that Creighton has never had a volleyball player graduate high school from the state of Missouri.
Oelke's Been Consistent
Freshman Allie Oelke has been among Creighton's most consistent players all fall, with the exception of the first meeting with Missouri State.
In that October 13 meeting with the Bears, Oelke was held to one kill on -.077 hitting and finished with just 1.5 points. That one kill and 1.5 points are season lows, while the -.077 is the worst outing since her first match in Blue and White on Aug. 24 vs. Middle Tennessee.
Oelke has had nine or more kills and hit .100 or better in all 14 of Creighton's other MVC matches to date.
Smile, You're On TV
Creighton will appear on television twice this weekend, as matches in both Springfield and Wichita will be televised in those markets (Saturday's match vs. Wichita can be seen in Omaha on Cox Channel 2).
It will mark Creighton volleyball's first televised matches since Oct. 11, 2005, when it was swept at No. 1 Nebraska.
Creighton also appeared on television under Kirsten Bernthal Booth on Sept. 23, 2003, a 3-1 win at UMKC.
A Big Win
Creighton's 30-9 game one victory over Indiana State on Oct. 26 was a record-setter that marked the Bluejays largest margin of victory in any game they've ever played.
The previous mark for fewest points allowed since the inception of rally scoring in 2001 had been a 30-11 victory over North Dakota State on Sept. 8, 2004.
Decker Returns To Starting Six
Carolyn Decker made her first two starts of the year on Oct. 26-27, and she turned in two of her best performances.
Decker had three kills and six digs against Indiana State before her breakthrough match one night later.
Against Illinois State, Decker had 10 kills and eight digs while hitting .281.
This past weekend Decker once again started twice. She had eight kills against Southern Illinois on Friday before posting a season-high 11 kills against Evansville on Sunday.
Decker had started 35-of-36 career matches prior to coming off the bench in Creighton's first 22 contests this fall.
Road To Success
Creighton has found the road a better place to be in MVC play this fall. The Bluejays have won nine straight MVC road matches, but are just 5-4 in their past nine MVC home matches.
Wichita State owns the longest MVC road winning streak, having picked up 27 straight Valley road wins. Creighton owns the second-longest streak with nine straight road victories in Valley action.
Below is a breakdown of Creighton's MVC matches in home and road matches this year.
Stat Home Road
Team Match W-L 5-3 7-0
Team Games W-L 15-11 21-5
Team Digs Per Game 22.96 19.96
Team Blocks Per Game 2.50 2.40
Team Hitting Percentage .217 .225
Opp. Hitting Percentage .158 .126
Oelke Kills Per Game 3.35 3.92
Bloemke Hit. Pct. .262 .314
Bloemke Blocks/Game 1.08 1.12
Rivera Digs 500
Junior libero Bianca Rivera owns 523 digs this season, a figure that places her second in Creighton's single-season history. At her current pace of 20.12 digs per match, Rivera would pass Janeen Piller's record-breaking 2004 total of 593 digs during Creighton's first MVC Tournament match this fall.
Rivera's current 5.94 digs per game is far ahead of Piller's 5.59 digs per game single-season record from the 2004 campaign.
Creighton Digs, Season
Name Games No. Year
1. Janeen Piller 106 593 2004
2. Bianca Rivera 88 523 2007
3. Katie Mehal 115 488 2006
4. Janeen Piller 115 448 2003
5. Abby Baumann 116 441 2006
Creighton Digs Per Game, Season (Min. 200 digs)
Name Games No. Avg. Year
1. Bianca Rivera 88 523 5.94 2007
2. Janeen Piller 106 593 5.59 2004
3. Katie Mehal 115 488 4.24 2006
Ain't Life Grand?
With her third assist on Nov. 2 against Southern Illinois, junior setter Korie Lebeda became the first player in school history to post 1,000 assists each of her first three seasons at Creighton.
The only other player in Bluejay history to have three seasons of 1,000 assists in her career had been Kailey Reyes, who did it her sophomore, junior and senior seasons (1999, 2000, ?01).
Oelke Freshman of the Week, Again
Allie Oelke has named the MVC Freshman of the Week four times this season, most recently on Nov. 5.
Oelke averaged 3.71 kills, 5.57 digs and hit .286 in wins over Southern Illinois and Evansville. Oelke had nine kills and 14 digs against Southern Illinois, then had 17 kills and 25 digs in a three-game sweep over Evansville.
Oelke was previously honored on Sept. 17, Oct. 1 and Oct. 29 and is the only freshman in the league to be honored four times this fall. Her four weekly awards is tied with Missouri State's Sara Thomas for most in the MVC this fall.
Kelly, Kelly, Kelly
Senior Kelly Goc has stepped up her game since teammate Jessica Houts was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Goc owns 10 or more kills in 18 of the last 19 matches. She has hit .206 or better in all but one match in that time frame, including a .379 or better hitting percentage 12 times.
On the season, Goc leads the Bluejays with 337 kills and a .358 attack percentage. Goc ranks third in the MVC with 4.16 kills per game and second with a .358 hitting percentage. The only two players in league history to lead the MVC in both categories were Northern Iowa's Bobbi Becker (1989) and Illinois State's Chris Rehor (1988).
Accurate, Efficient, Record-Breaker
Kelly Goc continues to chase down a couple of records that are related to her outstanding hitting percentage.
Goc's .358 hitting percentage this season easily outdistances the current standard of .310 set by Ashley Williams in 2003.
Goc's .291 career hitting percentage also would be a school-mark, just ahead of Williams' (2001-04) final tally of .283.
Goc Streak With 10+ Kills Reached 14
Kelly Goc streak of 14 straight matches of 10 or more kills was snapped on Oct. 20 against UNI. Below is the Creighton list of most consecutive matches with double-digit kills.
Consecutive Matches, 10 or More Kills
58 Leah Ratzlaff, Sept. 13, Sept. 9, 2005
19 JoDe Cieloha, Sept. 26-Nov. 21, 1997
14 Kelly Goc, Sept. 8-Oct. 19, 2007
13 JoDe Cieloha, Sept. 7-Oct. 18, 1996
12 Amanda Cvejdlik, Aug. 25-Sept. 19, 2006
Goc Near 100 Starts
Kelly Goc owns 98 career starts at Creighton and is two shy of becoming the second player in recorded school history to reach 100 starts, joining Melissa Walsh (107 from 1998-01).
The senior has started each of Creighton's last 20 matches.
Goc Still Rockin' 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.
Goc had exactly 20 kills in both meetings with ISU this year too, hitting .356 in Omaha and .385 in Normal.
In the last five matches against Illinois State, Goc has averaged 5.20 kills, 1.30 digs, 0.65 blocks and 0.30 aces per game while hitting .345.
Standings Make Sense
Creighton is currently 12-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and one-half game ahead of UNI for third place.
The Bluejays are 0-2 against the two teams ahead of them, 1-1 against UNI and are 11-0 against the other teams below them in the league standings.
New Facility on the Way
Creighton broke ground for a new athletics center on October 16, to be located just northeast of Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard.
The Ryan Athletics Center and D. J. Sokol Arena, a 46,000 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.
No Houts, No Matter
Creighton has won 14 of 18 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, three four-gamers and nine sweeps. Their only losses in that span was a four-game setback at #13 Minnesota and 3-0 losses to Valley rivals Wichita State, Missouri State and Northern Iowa.
As can be seen from the stats below, Abby Baumann, Lauren Bloemke and Allie Oelke have picked up the slack offensively, while Bianca Rivera and Sarah Schulze have raised her game on defense.
Predictably, Creighton's blocking has suffered, but the Jays have made up for it with substantially better digging since Houts went down.
Stat With Houts Without Houts
Team W-L 4-4 14-4
Team KPG 14.65 16.73
Team DPG 15.85 21.32
Team BPG 3.13 2.50
Goc KPG 3.37 4.40
Baumann KPG 0.75 1.94
Bloemke KPG 1.43 2.90
Oelke KPG 2.62 3.63
Rivera DPG 5.62 6.08
Schulze DPG 0.83 3.33
Baumann Bodacious
Senior Abby Baumann entered the Sept. 21 match with UNI 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 753 kills and 919 career digs. She is one of five players in program history to rank in the top-10 in both career kills and digs.
With 919 digs to date, Baumann needs four digs to pass Shelly Kapler for fifth on that same list.
Back From The Brink
On Sept. 21, 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 143 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 Sept. 21, 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 114-6 (.950) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 56-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 53-3 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-137 (.042) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-44 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
ESPN.com Comes Calling
Creighton's volleyball team got some national attention on Oct. 9 as ESPN.com writer Dave Reed wrote a story about the Bluejays.
Reed interviewed Korie Lebeda, Kelly Goc and Kirsten Bernthal Booth for the piece, which can be found at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3057183.
Win Streak Reached Six
Wichita State swept Creighton on Oct. 12, snapping CU's six-match win streak that was one shy of the school record set during the 2004 season.
Before Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the program's previous best had been five straight overall wins from Sept. 24-Oct. 2, 1999 and six straight league wins from Sept. 21-Oct. 12, 2001.
Most Consecutive Wins
Wins Dates Snapped By
7 Sept. 4-Sept. 17, 2004 Illinois State, 3-0
6 Sept. 21-Oct. 6, 2007 Wichita State, 3-0
5 Sept. 24-Oct. 2, 1999 at Missouri State, 3-0
5 Nov. 4-19, 2005 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
5 Aug. 25-Sept. 2, 2006 Iowa, 3-2
5 Sept. 9-16, 2006 at South Dakota State, 1-3
Rounding Second, Headed For Home
Creighton has had a winning record at the midway point of conference play on seven previous occasions, and qualified for the MVC Tournament each time. This year's 7-2 start tied the school's best midway mark in MVC play ever, equaling the record from the first half in 2001 and last season. Creighton's 7-0 start in MVC action this year was its best ever without a loss.
League Record by Year
Year 1st Half 2nd Half MVC place
2007 7-2 5-1 -
2006 7-2 5-4 4th
2005 4-5 6-3 5th
2004 5-4 5-4 5th
2003 5-4 4-5 T-5th
2002 1-8 1-8 T-9th
2001 7-2 5-4 4th
2000 5-4 5-4 T-4th
1999 5-4 4-5 5th
1998 2-7 3-6 8th
1997 6-3 4-5 T-3rd
1996 2-7 3-6 T-6th
1995 3-7 3-7 T-7th
1994 2-8 1-9 T-9th
Total 61-67 54-71 --
Creighton's Best MVC Starts
Start Year First MVC Loss
7-0 2007 Wichita State, 3-0
5-0 2006 Northern Iowa, 3-2
3-0 2003 at #10 Northern Iowa, 3-1
2-0 1997 at Northern Iowa, 3-0
Top 20 Crowds
According to numbers calculated by Diane Nordstrom at the University of Wisconsin, Creighton ranks 13th nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 1,917 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-18 on her list, joining Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
2007 Volleyball Home Average Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 6,495 97,424 15
2. Wisconsin 5,591 50,323 9
3. Nebraska 5,522 71,790 13
4. Minnesota 3,218 45,050 14
5. Penn State 2,988 38,845 13
6. Florida 2,668 32,018 12
7. Wichita State 2,562 30,750 12
8. Texas 2,294 22,943 10
9. Stanford 2,166 19,493 9
10. Purdue 2,080 18,719 9
11. Washington 2,044 16,350 8
12. Missouri 2,035 22,933 11
13. Creighton 1,917 23,000 12
14. Texas A&M 1,913 21,044 11
15. Northern Iowa 1,886 16,977 9
16. New Mexico State 1,765 17,653 10
17. Indiana 1,765 17,646 10
18. Illinois State 1,634 17,973 11
19. Ohio State 1,549 15,494 10
20. BYU 1,507 13,562 9
Attendance Record Broken
With 23,000 fans in 12 home matches to date, Creighton has already broken its single-season home attendance total. Creighton still has one home match to play.
Below is a list of the top five seasons, based on total home fans. Even if no fans showed up for Creighton's final home match, the school will still set a single-season average attendance record.
Creighton Home Attendance Year-by-Year
Year Fans Dates Average
2007 23,000 12 1,917
2006 20,940 13 1,611
2005 8,113 12 676
2004 7,399 11 673
2003 4,066 10 407
Attendance Is Up Across The Board
Creighton ranks 13th nationally in average volleyball attendance with 1,917 fans per home match.
Two blocks north of the Omaha Civic Auditorium at Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium, Creighton's men's soccer team leads the country with 3,117 fans per home match.
Last year Creighton also finished 13th nationally in men's basketball average attendance, setting an all-time MVC mark with 15,909 fans per game.
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 tied for 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, as well as the longest streaks of 10 or more kills by CU freshmen.
Most Kills In A Match By A CU 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
Jays Sweep MVC Awards
Creighton became the first program in MVC history to sweep the MVC Player of the Week, Newcomer of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same week on Oct. 1st.
Kelly Goc earned her third career Player of the Week honor after averaging 4.71 kills and hitting .388 in wins over Illinois State and Indiana State.
Allie Oelke was named Newcomer of the Week for the second time in three weeks. The freshman from Chaska, Minn., averaged 3.29 kills and 4.00 digs after turning in a pair of double-doubles.
Bianca Rivera was named Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row. She averaged 7.43 digs per game while increasing her record streak to five straight matches of 20 or more digs.
Rivera Keeps On Digging
Bianca Rivera had five consecutive matches with 20 or more digs from Sept. 15-29, breaking the former CU mark of three. In those five matches, she had 123 digs in 19 games, an average of 6.47 dpg.
Consecutive Matches, 20 or More Digs
5 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 15-29, 2007
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
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. Baumann, who owns a 3.96 GPA in Organizational Communications, was also named the Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
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 at the event.
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 was named State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week on Sept. 17.
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.
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.
Oelke Over 100 & 200 Kills Already
It took just 11 matches for Allie Oelke to surpass 100 career kills, fourth-fastest in Creighton history. Oelke passed the 200-kill plateau in her 18th career match (at SIU on Oct. 6), to become CU's second-quickest player to 200 kills.
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
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
Allie Oelke 18 10/06/07 at So. Illinois
Shelly Kapler 22 11/09/96 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 5.94, good for second in the league.
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just 24 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 523 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), 300 digs (15 matches, 10 matches faster than anyone else), 400 digs (20 matches, 14 quicker than anyone else) and 500 digs (25 matches, 16 fewer than anyone else)
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
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
Creighton's Quickest Players To 300 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 15 09/28/07 Illinois State
Kailey Reyes 25 09/03/99 vs. Gonzaga
Melissa Walsh 30 09/10/99 Southern Illinois
Creighton's Quickest Players To 400 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 20 10/13/07 Missouri State
Kailey Reyes 34 09/18/99 at Bradley
Melissa Walsh 40 09/26/99 UMKC
Creighton's Quickest Players To 500 Digs (Career)
Name MP Date Opponent
Bianca Rivera 25 11/02/07 Southern Illinois
Kailey Reyes 41 10/22/99 at Indiana State
Melissa Walsh 48 11/05/99 Wichita State
Janeen Piller 49 09/20/03 Evansville
Mallory Lahm 52 10/29/05 at #25 Wichita St.
Korie Lebeda 52 10/27/06 Indiana State
Rivera One Of A Few
Junior Bianca Rivera has collected 13 or more digs in every match this season, the only player in the MVC that can make that claim.
In fact, only two Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, and Ellie Blankenship (UNI).
Rivera's streak of 26 straight double-digit dig is the second-longest in Bluejay history, more than halfway toward Janeen Piller's DiMaggio-esque streak of 43 in a row in 2003 and 2004. 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
26 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24, 2007-Present
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
Consec. Matches, 10 or More Digs, To Start Year
29 Janeen Piller (every match) 2004
26 Bianca Rivera 2007
7 Erin Swanson 1999
Goc & Baumann Move Up Match Played List
Seniors Abby Baumann and Kelly Goc enter this weekend having played in 112 matches in their careers, tied for second in school history. They became the 10th and 11th players in Bluejay history to play in 100 career matches on Sept. 22 at Bradley. If they play in each of Creighton's final three conference matches, they would tie Leah Ratzlaff with 115 career matches played.
Goc also ranks fourth in school history with 96 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 85-0 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 20 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 18-8
Total 33-32 178-213
Statistically Speaking
Creighton can be found throughout the latest edition of the NCAA statistics, which include matches through Nov. 4th.
As a team, Creighton ranked 70th in blocks per game, 38th in assists per game, 45th in kills per game, 9th in digs per game, 71st in winning percentage, 120th in hitting percentage and 214th in aces per game.
Individually, Creighton has six different players that rank in the top 500 of a category, as seen below:
Name Rank Stat
Bianca Rivera 15th 5.94 digs per game
Korie Lebeda 44th 12.45 assts. per game
Kelly Goc 46th .358 hitting pct.
Kelly Goc 103rd 4.16 kills per game
Allie Oelke 210th 3.33 kills per game
Lauren Bloemke 274th .276 hitting pct.
Allie Oelke 286th 0.35 aces per game
Kelly Goc 296th 0.99 blocks per game
Lauren Bloemke 343rd 0.94 blocks per game
Allie Oelke 451st 3.05 digs per game
Lauren Bloemke 456th 0.31 aces per game
Bianca Rivera 498th 0.56 assists 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 gets to 15 points in a game first are 78-8 this year and were 85-26 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 52-34 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 57-29 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 66-20 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 78-8 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 78-8 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 81-5 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
Cvejdlik Has Appendix Removed
Junior outside hitter Amanda Cvejdlik has missed the last six matches after having her appendix removed on Oct. 18th.
The Omaha native, who ranks 11th in Creighton history with 723 career kills, had never previously missed a match due to injury before the injury. She is doubtful for this weekend.
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) had their dreams shattered after just three weeks 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.
This year every MVC team has lost at least one conference home match.
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.
Crowd of 13,081 Was NCAA Record
The largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA Volleyball history at the time, 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.
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 26 aces in 328 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 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 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 now played in 15,899 of a possible 15,911 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.924 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.
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
-.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
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
Goc Moves Into Top 10 In Kills, Blocks
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 continues to crash the Creighton record books in several career categories, as seen below:
Goc on the Career Lists
Stat Rank Goc Total
Hitting Pct. 1st .291
Points 2nd 1585.5
Matches Played T-2nd 112
Points Per Game 3rd 4.22
Kills Per Game 3rd 3.56
Attack Attempts 3rd 3,219
Matches Started T-3rd 98
Kills 4th 1,337
Block Assists 4th 295
Blocks 4th 338
Block Solos 6th 43
Games Played 6th 376
Blocks Per Game T-8th 0.90
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 .358 hitting percentage, 4.91 points and 4.16 kills per game.
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 26 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.
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 161 of its last 164 matches. The opening weekend of 2006 remains the only time since Sept. 20, 2002, that Creighton opened a match without a freshman starter.
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) was 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 24-8 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 18-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 27-1 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 46-42 in her career when she hasn't. The only setback was an Oct. 13, 2007 loss to Missouri State in which Baumann had 13 kills and hit .312.
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 69 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 63-6. CU is 70-10 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 15-51 under Booth it they drop the first game.
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
Nov. 9 at Missouri State
Nov. 10 at Wichita State
Nov. 16 Drake
Nov. 23 at MVC 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 380 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 286 season tickets last year.
Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballCreighton Media Availability Volleyball Sept. 17
Wednesday, September 17
#18 Creighton Volleyball vs. #1 Nebraska Highlights - 9/16/25
Wednesday, September 17
Creighton Volleyball vs. Nebraska Press Conference - 9/16/25
Monday, September 15
Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. UNI - 9/14/25
Sunday, September 14
