Creighton University
Drake
Volleyball Survives Pair of Match Points, Beats Drake in Five Games
9/11/2007 10:45:00 PM | Volleyball
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Freshman Allie Oelke topped off a career-night with back-to-back aces as Creighton volleyball staved off two match points to win in five games at Drake on Tuesday night. Creighton (5-4, 1-0 MVC) won by scores of 30-23, 26-30, 30-20, 20-30, 17-15 against a feisty Drake team that fell to 2-6 (0-1 MVC).
Creighton jumped to a 6-0 lead in game one, never trailing in its 30-23 win. In game two, the Jays and Bulldogs were knotted at 21-all before a four-point run by Drake gave them the lead for good, with DU holding on for a 30-26 win.
Game three saw CU break free from a 14-14 deadlock to pull away, eventually winning by a 30-20 score. Game four was the opposite, as Drake won by an identical 30-20 score.
That sent the match to a heart-stopping fifth game that included nine ties and six lead changes. Creighton scored first but fell behind 9-6 after a four-point run by Drake. CU clawed back, tying the score at 11-11 on a Drake error. Carolyn Decker served an ace to put CU up 12-11 and the Jays upped that to 13-11 on a kill from Lauren Bloemke.
Following a Drake timeout, the Bulldogs retook the lead thanks to a CU serving error, a Bulldog block and Samantha Nelson's career-high 18th kill gave Drake a match point opportunity at 14-13. Drake's Angela Bys hit the ball wide to tie it at 14-14, only to respond with a kill to give her team a second match point chance. A kill by Creighton's Kelly Goc tied the score at 15-all, and Oelke then served a pair of aces to end the contest. Believing her serve at 15-15 was too long, Drake let Oelke's serve bounce just inside the line to give CU a match point of its own at 16-15. Oelke then served one even longer that Emily Madden tried to set, only to see it slip through her fingers and backwards for the match-clinching ace. Oelke would finish game five with three aces, three kills and five digs.
It was a night of milestones for Creighton, which nearly were stunned for a second straight season by Drake at Knapp Center. Oelke's 17 kills, 13 digs and four aces were all career-highs and helped the Chaska, Minn., native to her first career double-double. Also turning in her first double-double of 2007 was Sarah Schulze, who returned to the starting line-up with 10 kills and 10 digs each. Libero Bianca Rivera had 38 digs, tying a school-record held by Melissa Weisensee that was set in 1997. Creighton finished with 63 digs, eight aces, 82 digs and 10 blocks while hitting .122.
Drake was paced by a 18 kills from Ceresco, Neb., native Nelson, while freshman Bys also had 18 kills and 11 digs on her 18th birthday. Drake finished with 59 kills, three aces, 73 digs and nine blocks while hitting .141.
Creighton returns to non-conference play this weekend with a trip to
NOTES: Creighton now has four wins in five years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when facing a match-point, but is 72-0 under Booth when they have a match point themself ...Creighton played without the services of second-team all-MVC MB Jessica Houts, who was injured during warm-ups. Her status will be evaluated later this week ...Creighton's win snapped a 61-match streak in which the team with a higher hitting percentage won the match, as Drake out-hit CU, .141 to .122 ...Carolyn Decker, who entered the night with one ace all season, had four aces for the Jays ...Drake fell to 0-3 in five-game matches this season ...Creighton improved to 1-0 this year in five-game matches and 17-4 in five years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in five-gamers ...Creighton is now 32-32 all-time in five-game matches, the first time in program history the squad has been at .500 or better in such contests ...Creighton improved to 7-7 all-time in MVC openers, including a 4-1 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ...No team has ever won the MVC regular-season title after starting 0-1 in league play.
