Creighton University
Missouri State
Volleyball Moves Into Second With 3-1 Win at Missouri State
11/9/2007 9:30:00 PM | Volleyball
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Kelly Goc had 19 kills and hit .415 to lead Creighton to a 3-1 road win at Missouri State. The win was Creighton's 19th and vaulted CU (19-8, 13-3 MVC) into second place in the MVC past the Bears (25-5, 12-3 MVC) in the league standings. It also snapped Creighton's 19-match losing streak against MSU.
Scores of the match were 30-22, 26-30, 30-28, 30-25.
Creighton never trailed in game one while rolling to a 30-22 win. Two aces by Lauren Bloemke helped the Jays to a 4-0 lead early, and Allie Oelke had six kills and three digs as well. Bloemke finished the first game with three kills, three aces and three solo blocks in the opening set, in which CU hit .286.
Creighton controlled the second game only to get stuck in a rotation and fall in shocking fashion. The Bluejays seemed in control with a 25-18 lead, only to watch MSU close the second game with a 12-1 run. Sara Thomas served a 10-0 run for MSU to help even the match heading to intermission. Jamie Adams had eight kills in the second game for the Bears.
"I think the turning point was the start of the third game," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I thought we came out driven in game three but anytime you lose a game the way we did in game two if things don't go right early you start to question yourself."
"We told Korie (Lebeda) to get the ball to Kelly (Goc) and ride her. We didn't use her much in the first two games and then we pulled out our big gun. Goc had a good night, I thought (Carolyn) Decker did phenomenal blocking-wise, and Lauren (Bloemke) had a good night blocking as well. Allie (Oelke) did a lot of good things in the first two games as far as taking control for us.
Creighton turned the momentum of the match in the third game. The Jays took an early 6-2 lead, but MSU fought back to take a 24-21 lead late. This time Goc got going, with three kills in a four-point span to tie it at 27-all. Goc got a block to give CU a 28-27 lead, then served game point. Goc had eight kills and hit .571 in the third game, as CU hit .333 witih 21 kills.
Both teams had 14 kills in the fourth and final game, but Creighton got the win to take the match in four games. Goc had six kills in the fourth game to further cement her MVC Player of the Year qualifications. The Jays added 29 digs, including nine from Oelke and eight from Bianca Rivera in the finale.
Creighton got 19 kills from Goc, who added four blocks. Oelke had 12 kills and 18 digs while Bloemke added 12 kills, nine blocks, six digs and four aces for Creighton in the win. Rivera had 15 digs while Korie Lebeda had 49 assists, six digs, five kills and four blocks for the Jays. CU hit .193 and finished withi 61 kills, six aces, 73 digs and 15.5 blocks.
MSU finished with 63 kills, three aces, 87 digs and 10.5 blocks while hitting .138. Jamie Adams had 18 kills while Sara Staubach had 17 kills for MSU. Katelyn Panzau had 54 assists and 16 digs in a losing cause.
Creighton will head to #24 Wichita State (23-4, 14-1 MVC) on Saturday night for a 7 pm match at Koch Arena. The contest can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM) and will be televised in the Omaha market on Cox Channel 2. The Shockers can clinch no worse than a regular-season title with a win over CU.
"I think we've approached this weekend as one of opportunities," said Booth. "This is what it's all about. This is fun. Let's go out and play as hard as we can and play to win and this is what college athletics is all about...big games."
NOTES: Korie Lebeda surpassed 4,000 assists early in game one and moved into second in CU history with 4,030 career assists ...Creighton has won five straight matches ...Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth has now beaten every MVC opponent ...Creighton's 13 MVC wins are a school record.
