Volleyball Opens MVC Play Tuesday at Drake
9/10/2007 5:00:00 PM | Volleyball
This Weekend
Creighton (4-4, 0-0 MVC) opens Missouri Valley Conference play on Tuesday with a 7 pm match at Drake (2-5, 0-0 MVC).
Drake Knapp Center (7,002) in Des Moines, Iowa, will host the action.
Radio Broadcast Information
Tuesday's match at Drake can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM) and will be streamed live on-line at www.kvss.com. Brad Burwell and Rob Anderson will call the action.
Video Broadcast Information
Tuesday's match will not be video webcast.
Live Stats Information
There are no plans for live stats on Tuesday.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 4-4 through eight matches this season, with half of those setbacks coming against teams currently in the top-25. Six of Creighton's first eight opponents reached the NCAA Tournament last year.
Senior MB Kelly Goc, a preseason all-MVC selection, leads the team with 3.37 kills per game as well as a .327 hitting percentage.
Not far behind is Jessica Houts, who averages 3.35 kills per game and paces the club with 1.65 blocks per game.
Running the offense is junior setter Korie Lebeda, who averages 11.35 assists per game.
Through eight matches, Creighton is averaging 14.65 kills, 1.58 aces, 15.85 digs and 3.13 blocks per game while hitting .200 as a club.
Scouting Drake
Drake brings a 2-5 record into Tuesday, including 3-0 wins over Green Bay and Florida Atlantic. The Bulldogs have also lost 3-2 to UMKC and Furman, 3-1 to Iowa and 3-0 to #21 LSU and Iowa State.
Freshman Angela Bys leads the Bulldogs with 3.46 kills per game, including 30 in a four-game match last weekend versus Iowa. Fellow freshman Mikayla Sims also contributes 2.85 kills per game.
Setter Sarah Schuster averages a team-best 10.56 assists per game but did not play in last weekend's Hampton Inn State of Iowa Collegiate Volleyball Challenge.
As a team, Drake averages 13.54 kills, 1.50 aces, 13.81 digs and 1.42 blocks per game while hitting.160.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 71-57 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.
Drake is coached by Amy Farber Knowles, who owns a 14-53 record in her third season with the Bulldogs. Before coming to Drake, Farber Knowles was head coach at Oral Roberts and associate head coach at Iowa State. She owns a career mark of 163-140 in nine years overall. She is assisted by Erin Hirsch and Tony Sunga.
Series History vs. Drake
Creighton and Drake have split 26 all-time meetings, with the Jays owning a slight 7-6 edge in Des Moines. Creighton had won seven straight meetings before an upset loss to Drake on Oct. 21, 2006.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 7-1 against Drake and 3-1 against Amy Farber Knowles.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton split a pair of matches at the State Farm Illini Classic, beating Tennessee 3-0 before falling to host Illinois, 3-1. Creighton juniors Jessica Houts (3.29 kpg., 2.14 dpg., 2.00 bpg.) and Bianca Rivera (5.71 dpg.) were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
MVC Opener Histories
Creighton owns a 6-7 record all-time in Missouri Valley Conference openers, including a 3-1 record under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. In the six 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.
Tuesday's Creighton/Drake match will be the first league contest in the MVC this year.
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, six teams will have already had their dreams shattered when this weekend ends.
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 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.
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 is the second All-Tournament Team honor this year for both women.
13,081 Is New NCAA Record
The largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA Volleyball history, 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.
Rivera One Of A Few
Junior Bianca Rivera has collected 14 or more digs in every match this season, the only player in the MVC that can make that claim.
In fact, only four Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, Ellie Blankenship (UNI), Kristy Elswick (SIU) and Kelly Broussard (WSU).
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just eight matches into her Division I career. The junior college transfer had a career-high 23 digs on September 2 against Cal Poly, including 16 in the second game alone.
Rivera now owns 146 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.
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
Sarah Schulze 11 09/16/06 Southern Illinois
Recent Matches at Drake
Each of Creighton's last two trips to Des Moines have seen the Jays start slowly before picking things up as the match went on.
Last year Creighton's quest for the MVC title came to an abrupt end with a four-game loss in Des Moines. The Jays were unable to hold a five-point lead in game one and a 20-12 lead in game four. Additionally, Creighton was unable to convert on six game points opportunities in game two of a 37-35 setback and one game point chance in the fourth game.
In the 2005 meeting in Des Moines, Creighton fell behind 9-0 and 14-1 in game one. Though they lost that first game 30-26, CU would win the final three games to beat Drake.
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.
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 got to five points in a game first are 18-8 this year and were 66-45 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 19-7 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 18-8 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 20-6 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 25-1 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 24-2 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 23-3 98-13
Game 5's Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 0-0 4-2
When getting to 3 pts first 0-0 3-3
When getting to 5 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 8 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 10 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 13 pts first 0-0 5-1
Top Five Crowds
According to numbers calculated by Diane Nordstrom at the University of Wisconsin, Creighton ranks third nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 3,890 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-10 on her list, joining Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
2007 Volleyball Home Average Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 6,435 51,483 8
2. Nebraska 5,930 29,652 5
3. Creighton 3,890 15,560 4
4. Minnesota 3,656 10,967 3
5. Wisconsin 3,609 10,827 3
6. Wichita State 3,254 9,762 3
7. Penn State 2,552 12,760 5
8. Northern Iowa 2,424 9,698 4
9. Texas 2,098 4,197 2
10. Illinois State 1,934 5,802 3
Common Opponents
Creighton and Drake share one common opponent, Iowa State. Below is a comparison between the teams in their matches against the Cyclones:
Stat Creighton Drake
Match Date Aug. 28 Sept. 8
Match Result W 3-1 L 0-3
Points Scored Per Game 29.25 15.67
Kills vs. ISU 59 33
Hitting Pct. vs. ISU .218 .030
Digs vs. ISU 54 25
Aces vs. ISU 10 2
Blocks vs. ISU 15.0 1.0
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 11 aces in only 79 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. The Chaska, Minn., native leads all MVC players with 0.54 aces per game and with 14 aces.
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).
Houts On The Double
Junior MB Jessica Houts had the first double-double of her career on Aug. 28, finishing with 14 kills and 10 blocks at Iowa State.
It was the 37th career match that Houts has had 10 or more kills, but first with 10 or more blocks. She's also had two matches with 10 digs or more, but never in the same match as one of her top offensive or blocking performances.
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).
Below is Creighton's quickest players to reach 3,000 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
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 has now played in 12,903 of a possible 12,906 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.977 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 and Tennessee this year from that group.
Other NCAA qualifiers from 2006 include Middle Tennessee, Cal Poly, Minnesota, Northern Iowa (2) 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.
Creighton will get five more chances to beat NCAA winners from a year ago, including Minnesota, Northern Iowa (twice) and Missouri State (twice).
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 3.37 kills per game, a .327 hitting percentage and is second with 4.26 points per game.
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
-.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
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 eight 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.
20-Win 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.
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.
Game Five Frenzy
Creighton is 16-4 in five-game matches over the past four 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 0-0 4-4
Total 31-32 164-209
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.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 104-6 (.945) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 46-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 50-3 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 5-134 (.036) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-41 mark in those home matches. Those five 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
Freshman Get To Start
Creighton has started at least one freshman in 143 of its last 146 matches. The opening weekend of 2006 remains the only time since Sept. 20, 2002, that Creighton opened a match without a freshman starter.
Goc Moves Into Top 10 In Kills, Blocks
Junior 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's just the third player to reach that milestone as a junior, joining Melissa Walsh and Leah Ratzlaff.
Goc continues to crash the Creighton record books in several career categories, as seen below:
Goc on the Career Lists
Stat Rank Goc Total
Points 2nd 1,269.0
Points Per Game 3rd 4.04
Hitting Pct. 4th .274
Kills Per Game 4th 3.39
Kills 4th 1,064
Block Assists 6th 246
Attack Attempts 6th 2,632
Blocks 7th 278
Block Solos 7th 32
Blocks Per Game 8th 0.89
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) is 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 22-7 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 16-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 24-0 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 35-39 in her career when she hasn't.
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 57 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 51-6.
CU is 58-10 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 13-47 under Booth it they drop the first game.
Regular-Season Tournament History
Creighton is 39-47 in the 29 regular-season tournaments it has participated in all-time, including an 8-1 mark last year. Kirsten Bernthal Booth's teams are 23-16 in 14 regular-season tournaments.
After winning just one of its first 18 regular-season tournaments all-time (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic), the Jays have won five of its last 11 regular-season tournaments.
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
Sept. 11 at Drake
Sept. 21 at Northern Iowa
Sept. 28 Illinois State
Sept. 29 Indiana State
Oct. 12 Wichita State
Oct. 13 Missouri State
Oct. 19 Bradley
Oct. 20 Northern Iowa
Nov. 2 Southern Illinois
Nov. 4 Evansville
Nov. 9 at Missouri State
Nov. 10 at Wichita State
Nov. 16 Drake
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.
Creighton (4-4, 0-0 MVC) opens Missouri Valley Conference play on Tuesday with a 7 pm match at Drake (2-5, 0-0 MVC).
Drake Knapp Center (7,002) in Des Moines, Iowa, will host the action.
Radio Broadcast Information
Tuesday's match at Drake can be heard on KVSS (88.9 FM) and will be streamed live on-line at www.kvss.com. Brad Burwell and Rob Anderson will call the action.
Video Broadcast Information
Tuesday's match will not be video webcast.
Live Stats Information
There are no plans for live stats on Tuesday.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 4-4 through eight matches this season, with half of those setbacks coming against teams currently in the top-25. Six of Creighton's first eight opponents reached the NCAA Tournament last year.
Senior MB Kelly Goc, a preseason all-MVC selection, leads the team with 3.37 kills per game as well as a .327 hitting percentage.
Not far behind is Jessica Houts, who averages 3.35 kills per game and paces the club with 1.65 blocks per game.
Running the offense is junior setter Korie Lebeda, who averages 11.35 assists per game.
Through eight matches, Creighton is averaging 14.65 kills, 1.58 aces, 15.85 digs and 3.13 blocks per game while hitting .200 as a club.
Scouting Drake
Drake brings a 2-5 record into Tuesday, including 3-0 wins over Green Bay and Florida Atlantic. The Bulldogs have also lost 3-2 to UMKC and Furman, 3-1 to Iowa and 3-0 to #21 LSU and Iowa State.
Freshman Angela Bys leads the Bulldogs with 3.46 kills per game, including 30 in a four-game match last weekend versus Iowa. Fellow freshman Mikayla Sims also contributes 2.85 kills per game.
Setter Sarah Schuster averages a team-best 10.56 assists per game but did not play in last weekend's Hampton Inn State of Iowa Collegiate Volleyball Challenge.
As a team, Drake averages 13.54 kills, 1.50 aces, 13.81 digs and 1.42 blocks per game while hitting.160.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 71-57 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.
Drake is coached by Amy Farber Knowles, who owns a 14-53 record in her third season with the Bulldogs. Before coming to Drake, Farber Knowles was head coach at Oral Roberts and associate head coach at Iowa State. She owns a career mark of 163-140 in nine years overall. She is assisted by Erin Hirsch and Tony Sunga.
Series History vs. Drake
Creighton and Drake have split 26 all-time meetings, with the Jays owning a slight 7-6 edge in Des Moines. Creighton had won seven straight meetings before an upset loss to Drake on Oct. 21, 2006.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 7-1 against Drake and 3-1 against Amy Farber Knowles.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton split a pair of matches at the State Farm Illini Classic, beating Tennessee 3-0 before falling to host Illinois, 3-1. Creighton juniors Jessica Houts (3.29 kpg., 2.14 dpg., 2.00 bpg.) and Bianca Rivera (5.71 dpg.) were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
MVC Opener Histories
Creighton owns a 6-7 record all-time in Missouri Valley Conference openers, including a 3-1 record under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. In the six 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.
Tuesday's Creighton/Drake match will be the first league contest in the MVC this year.
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, six teams will have already had their dreams shattered when this weekend ends.
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 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.
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 is the second All-Tournament Team honor this year for both women.
13,081 Is New NCAA Record
The largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA Volleyball history, 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.
Rivera One Of A Few
Junior Bianca Rivera has collected 14 or more digs in every match this season, the only player in the MVC that can make that claim.
In fact, only four Valley players have had 10 digs or more in every match this season, Rivera, Ellie Blankenship (UNI), Kristy Elswick (SIU) and Kelly Broussard (WSU).
Rivera Digging It
Bianca Rivera has proven to be a difference-maker on the defensive end just eight matches into her Division I career. The junior college transfer had a career-high 23 digs on September 2 against Cal Poly, including 16 in the second game alone.
Rivera now owns 146 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.
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
Sarah Schulze 11 09/16/06 Southern Illinois
Recent Matches at Drake
Each of Creighton's last two trips to Des Moines have seen the Jays start slowly before picking things up as the match went on.
Last year Creighton's quest for the MVC title came to an abrupt end with a four-game loss in Des Moines. The Jays were unable to hold a five-point lead in game one and a 20-12 lead in game four. Additionally, Creighton was unable to convert on six game points opportunities in game two of a 37-35 setback and one game point chance in the fourth game.
In the 2005 meeting in Des Moines, Creighton fell behind 9-0 and 14-1 in game one. Though they lost that first game 30-26, CU would win the final three games to beat Drake.
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.
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 got to five points in a game first are 18-8 this year and were 66-45 last year.
Games 1-4 Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 19-7 55-56
When getting to 5 pts first 18-8 66-45
When getting to 10 pts first 20-6 76-35
When getting to 15 pts first 25-1 85-26
When getting to 20 pts first 24-2 91-20
When getting to 25 pts first 23-3 98-13
Game 5's Only
Milestone 2007 W-L 2006 W-L
When scoring 1st point 0-0 4-2
When getting to 3 pts first 0-0 3-3
When getting to 5 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 8 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 10 pts first 0-0 4-2
When getting to 13 pts first 0-0 5-1
Top Five Crowds
According to numbers calculated by Diane Nordstrom at the University of Wisconsin, Creighton ranks third nationally thus far with an average home attendance of 3,890 fans per game. Creighton is one of four MVC schools in the top-10 on her list, joining Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
2007 Volleyball Home Average Attendance Leaders
Rk. School Ave. Total Dates
1. Hawaii 6,435 51,483 8
2. Nebraska 5,930 29,652 5
3. Creighton 3,890 15,560 4
4. Minnesota 3,656 10,967 3
5. Wisconsin 3,609 10,827 3
6. Wichita State 3,254 9,762 3
7. Penn State 2,552 12,760 5
8. Northern Iowa 2,424 9,698 4
9. Texas 2,098 4,197 2
10. Illinois State 1,934 5,802 3
Common Opponents
Creighton and Drake share one common opponent, Iowa State. Below is a comparison between the teams in their matches against the Cyclones:
Stat Creighton Drake
Match Date Aug. 28 Sept. 8
Match Result W 3-1 L 0-3
Points Scored Per Game 29.25 15.67
Kills vs. ISU 59 33
Hitting Pct. vs. ISU .218 .030
Digs vs. ISU 54 25
Aces vs. ISU 10 2
Blocks vs. ISU 15.0 1.0
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 11 aces in only 79 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. The Chaska, Minn., native leads all MVC players with 0.54 aces per game and with 14 aces.
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).
Houts On The Double
Junior MB Jessica Houts had the first double-double of her career on Aug. 28, finishing with 14 kills and 10 blocks at Iowa State.
It was the 37th career match that Houts has had 10 or more kills, but first with 10 or more blocks. She's also had two matches with 10 digs or more, but never in the same match as one of her top offensive or blocking performances.
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).
Below is Creighton's quickest players to reach 3,000 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
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 has now played in 12,903 of a possible 12,906 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.977 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 and Tennessee this year from that group.
Other NCAA qualifiers from 2006 include Middle Tennessee, Cal Poly, Minnesota, Northern Iowa (2) 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.
Creighton will get five more chances to beat NCAA winners from a year ago, including Minnesota, Northern Iowa (twice) and Missouri State (twice).
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 3.37 kills per game, a .327 hitting percentage and is second with 4.26 points per game.
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
-.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
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 eight 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.
20-Win 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.
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.
Game Five Frenzy
Creighton is 16-4 in five-game matches over the past four 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 0-0 4-4
Total 31-32 164-209
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.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 104-6 (.945) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 46-0 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 50-3 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 5-134 (.036) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-41 mark in those home matches. Those five 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
Freshman Get To Start
Creighton has started at least one freshman in 143 of its last 146 matches. The opening weekend of 2006 remains the only time since Sept. 20, 2002, that Creighton opened a match without a freshman starter.
Goc Moves Into Top 10 In Kills, Blocks
Junior 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's just the third player to reach that milestone as a junior, joining Melissa Walsh and Leah Ratzlaff.
Goc continues to crash the Creighton record books in several career categories, as seen below:
Goc on the Career Lists
Stat Rank Goc Total
Points 2nd 1,269.0
Points Per Game 3rd 4.04
Hitting Pct. 4th .274
Kills Per Game 4th 3.39
Kills 4th 1,064
Block Assists 6th 246
Attack Attempts 6th 2,632
Blocks 7th 278
Block Solos 7th 32
Blocks Per Game 8th 0.89
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) is 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 22-7 all-time when Abby Baumann reaches double-digit kills. Creighton is also 16-5 all-time when Baumann finishes with a double-double.
A more telling statistic revolves around Baumann's hitting percentage. CU is 24-0 in her career when she has 10 attacks or more and hits .208 or better, but just 35-39 in her career when she hasn't.
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 57 matches in which it wins game one, Creighton is 51-6.
CU is 58-10 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win game one. In that same time span, CU is just 13-47 under Booth it they drop the first game.
Regular-Season Tournament History
Creighton is 39-47 in the 29 regular-season tournaments it has participated in all-time, including an 8-1 mark last year. Kirsten Bernthal Booth's teams are 23-16 in 14 regular-season tournaments.
After winning just one of its first 18 regular-season tournaments all-time (the 2000 Iowa State Heritage Classic), the Jays have won five of its last 11 regular-season tournaments.
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
Sept. 11 at Drake
Sept. 21 at Northern Iowa
Sept. 28 Illinois State
Sept. 29 Indiana State
Oct. 12 Wichita State
Oct. 13 Missouri State
Oct. 19 Bradley
Oct. 20 Northern Iowa
Nov. 2 Southern Illinois
Nov. 4 Evansville
Nov. 9 at Missouri State
Nov. 10 at Wichita State
Nov. 16 Drake
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 vs. Kentucky Volleyball Press Conference - 12/13/25
Sunday, December 14
Creighton Volleyball NCAA Tournament Highlights vs. Kentucky, 12/13/25
Saturday, December 13
Kentucky Volleyball Media Availability - 12/12/25
Friday, December 12
Arizona State Volleyball Press Conference After Creighton Match - 12/11/25
Thursday, December 11
