Second-Seeded Volleyball Heads To State Farm MVC Tournament
11/24/2008 10:45:00 AM | Volleyball
This Weekend
The 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament is the place to be as six teams converge upon Wichita, Kan., to fight for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Creighton (18-8, 15-3 MVC) finished in second place in the regular-season race, which earned it a bye into the semifinal round.
CU won't take the floor until Friday at 5 pm, when it faces the winner of Thursday night's 6 pm quarterfinal match-up between third-seeded Northern Iowa (23-7, 13-5 MVC) and sixth-seeded Evansville (14-17, 8-10 MVC).
Should Creighton win on Friday, the Bluejays would compete in tournament final for the first time in program history on Saturday at 7 pm.
Charles Koch Arena (10,170) in Wichita, Kan., will host the action.
Radio Broadcast Information
Both of Creighton's matches this weekend will be broadcast on KVSS (88.9 FM), as well as on http://www.kvss.com. Brad Burwell and Rob Anderson will announce on Friday, while Burwell will work alone on Saturday, if necessary.
Video Webcast Information
The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds (but not the finals) of the MVC Tournament will be streamed live through a link on www.mvc.org. There will be a fee to view the video webcast.
Live Stats Information
All 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 the exact links to the Wichita State page.
Television Information
On Saturday, Nov. 29, Valley TV cameras will showcase Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan., for the 7 p.m. Central telecast. The title match will be shown live at 7 p.m. on Cox 2 (Omaha), Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Metro Sports – the league's production company which is based in Kansas City, Mo.
If, and only if, Creighton makes the championship match, the title match will air in Omaha on Cox Cable channel 2. However, the volleyball match will NOT air on Fox Sports Midwest in the state of Nebraska due to the men's college basketball game between Creighton and Nebraska that is being contested at the same time from the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Coordinates are below:
What: 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament Title Match
When: Saturday, November 29 -- 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Where: Charles Koch Arena -- Wichita, Kan.
Clearances: Live at 7 p.m. Central on Nov. 29 on Cox 2 (Omaha), Fox Sports Midwest outside of Nebraska (2.9 million homes); Fox Sports Indiana (1.2 million homes); Fox Sports Kansas City (1.6 million homes); Fox College Sports (52 million digital homes); Comcast SportsNet Chicago (4.759 million homes); Metro Sports in Kansas City, Mo. (500,000 homes); DirecTV Channel 671 and Dish Network Channel 418.
Test Time: 6:30 p.m. Central
On Air: 7:00 p.m. Central
Satellite Coordinates: AMC 15K, Transponder 4 – Digital Slot B
Band: Digital KU
Bandwidth: 9 Megahertz
Parameters: FEC <
Symbol Rate: 6.1113
Downlink Frequency: 11775.50 Megahertz Horizontal
On-Air Talent: Greg Halbleib, Linda Dollar
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 18-8 this season while playing the nation's fourth-toughest non-conference schedule. The team's 15-3 record in MVC play is its most league wins ever, and its second-place standing in league play is also the best league finish in program history.
The Bluejays have won a school-record eight consecutive matches and are 13-2 since October 1st, falling only to No. 3 Nebraska (26-2) and No. 11 Wichita State (29-0) in that span.
Junior MB Jessica Houts leads the team in kills per set (3.18) and blocks per set (1.33) while also hitting at a .289 mark. She is the only MVC player to rank in the top seven of each category.
Senior S Korie Lebeda (10.62 aps.) ranks fifth in MVC history with a Creighton-record 5,231 assists. She posted a double-double in 14 of 18 Valley matches and is a two-time all-MVC first-team selection.
Two other seniors playing a key role offensively are Amanda Cvejdlik (3.05 kps., .243%) and Carolyn Decker (2.70 kps., 2.82 dps.). Decker owns six double-doubles in her last 11 matches.
Defensively, senior libero Bianca Rivera (4.95 dps.) set school records for single-season digs and digs per set last fall and is a four-time MVC Defensive Player of the Week in her career. She owns 10 or more digs in 52 of 57 career matches at Creighton, reaching 20 or more digs on 26 occasions.
Coming off back-to-back 21-10 seasons, Creighton had been picked third in the preseason MVC poll.
Creighton hits .231 as a team and averages 13.43 kills, 0.94 aces, 17.15 digs and 2.67 blocks per set.
Scouting Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa is 23-7 overall and finished third in the MVC with a 13-5 mark.
Four of UNI's losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top-25 of the AVCA poll.
Amy Sampson (3.26 kps.) leads the team in kills by 10 over Shannon Aschoff (3.16 kps., 2.39 dps.). Another force for UNI in the middle is Ashten Stelken (3.01 kps.), who ranks fourth nationally with 1.48 blocks per set.
Ellie Blankenship ranks in the top-10 nationally with 5.56 digs per set, while freshman Bre Payton (9.86 aps.) handles most of the setting duties.
UNI hits .236 as a team and averages 13.50 kills, 1.32 aces, 16.67 digs and 2.66 blocks per set.
The Panthers have won eight of the past 10 MVC Tournaments, including the last two, and own 13 titles all-time.
Scouting Evansville
Evansville returns to the MVC Tournament for the second time in three years as the sixth seed. The Purple Aces punched their ticket on the penultimate night of the regular-season with a road win at Indiana State, snapping a four-match losing skid in the process.
The Aces will have to open up with Northern Iowa, but that's fine with them. UE erased an 0-30 all-time history with UNI by defeating the Panthers, 3-1, when the teams last met on November 1st at Carson Center.
Brooke Maher averages 2.48 kills per set and is one of four UE players averaging multiple kills.
Julie Sylvester averages 4.81 digs per set to lead the defense.
Evansville averages 12.51 kills, 0.95 aces, 16.42 digs and 1.64 blocks per set while hitting .173 as a team.
Series History vs. Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa owns a commanding 31-3 record all-time against Creighton, including a 4-0 record in Valley Tournament play. The Panthers have ended Creighton's season at the MVC Tournament each of the last three years.
Creighton has won regular-season meetings against UNI in 2005 (3-2 in Cedar Falls), 2007 (3-2 in Cedar Falls) and last Friday (3-0 in Omaha).
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-12 vs. Northern Iowa and 3-12 vs. Bobbi Petersen. Petersen is 19-3 overall against Creighton.
Series History vs. Evansville
Creighton is 21-10 all-time against Evansville, though the Purple Aces won the lone Valley Tournament meeting way back in 2000 (3-1 in Terre Haute). Ten of the 31 meetings have gone the maximum five sets.
The Jays have won the last 12 meetings in the series, and 15 of the past 16.
Creighton has won the first set in the last 10 meetings with UE and taken the third set in the past 12 encounters.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 12-0 against Evansville and Mike Swan.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 106-71 record in her sixth season with the Bluejays. She became the program's all-time winningest coach on Aug. 25, 2007 with a 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin and joined the 100-win club with an Oct. 31, 2008 win at Drake.
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, assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens and volunteer assistant Adam Ybarra. UNI is coached by Bobbi Petersen (Northern Iowa, 1990), who owns a 226-68 record in her ninth year with the Panthers. Petersen was named 2002 AVCA National Coach of the Year and also earned MVC Coach of the Year honors in 2006. Generally regarded as one of the best players in MVC history, Petersen ranked 10th nationally among active coaches in winning percentage entering 2008. Petersen is assisted by Kalani Mahi, Kim Davis, Shaun Juan and Michelle Coulter.
Evansville is coached by Mike Swan, who owns a 70-113 record in his sixth year with the Purple Aces. He owns a career record of 447-343 in 23 seasons overall. He is assisted by Manolo Concepcion and Evelia Yajaira Cadet.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton swept a pair of home matches to close out its six-year run at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, defeating Northern Iowa and Bradley. Carolyn Decker led the way with 33 kills, 19 digs and eight blocks on the weekend, while Lauren Bloemke had as many blocks (11) as both UNI and Bradley combined.
Past MVC Tournament History
Creighton is 3-9 in nine previous appearances at the MVC Tournament, with wins coming in 1997 vs. Indiana State, in 2006 against Illinois State and last year against Southern Illinois.
Creighton is 0-1 in tournament action in Wichita, Kan., falling in three sets during the 2004 quarterfinals against Illinois State.
Creighton has never reached the final.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 2-5 all-time in league tournament action.
Series Info Against The MVC Tournament
Below is Creighton's all-time records against the five teams it could meet in this weekend's MVC Tournament:
Opponent All-Time Streak This Year
Evansville 21-10 Won 12 2-0
Illinois State 10-23 Won 7 2-0
Missouri State 6-25 Won 3 2-0
Northern Iowa 3-31 Won 1 1-1
Wichita State 14-18 Lost 5 0-2
TOTAL 54-107 -- 7-3
The Case For Creighton...
Should they not win the automatic bid, why should Creighton be considered for an at-large bid? Let's take a closer look (all win-loss numbers as of Nov. 23...all of Rich Kern's RPI figures are through Nov. 16th).
-Creighton has 18 wins, but did not compete in the Ladyjack Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas, the weekend of Sept. 12-13 due to Hurricane Ike. Creighton would have played Rice, Oklahoma and Stephen F. Austin in that event.
-Creighton's non-conference strength of schedule stands at No. 4 nationally. Six of Creighton's eight non-conference opponents own an RPI of 61 or better, while the two that weren't have been Mississippi (an NCAA qualifier last year that went from 25-8 last year to 13-15 this year) and Jacksonville State (the defending OVC co-champ who went from 18-10 last year to 10-19 this fall).
-Creighton finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 15-3 record, the nation's ninth-best conference, two games ahead of third-place Northern Iowa.
-Creighton went 6-7 in 13 matches this fall against teams that participated in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
-Creighton is just 60 miles from Lincoln, Neb., home of the defending national champions and a program that sells out every home match. CU is also within driving distance to potential hosts Minnesota, Wichita State and Kansas State.
-Creighton has played at least one match at Qwest Center Omaha -- home to this year's Volleyball Championship -- in each of the past three years, drawing more than 8,000 fans each time.
-Creighton isn't too shabby when it comes to attendance either, ranking in the top 16 nationally each of the past two years.
-Creighton owns a 9-3 mark in matches away from home this year, including an 8-2 mark in the true road contests.
-Creighton's RKPI was 43rd as of Nov. 17.
-Since the last official RPI from the NCAA on Nov. 9, Creighton has gone 4-0, including a 3-0 win over No. 38 Northern Iowa.
-The eight teams to beat Creighton have a combined record of 190-42 (.819) this year.
-All eight of Creighton's losses have come to teams in the top 51 of the RKPI.
-Creighton's road loss at Northern Iowa on Sept. 20th came without Carolyn Decker (family reasons), which moved the starting middle blocker to the right side and moved a true freshman into the starting middle blocker role.
-Creighton's five-set loss to UAB (14-16 in the fifth) came without starting OH Allie Oelke playing in the front row due to an abdominal injury.
-Creighton is 12-1 in its last 13 matches, including a current eight-match win streak.
-Creighton is 13-2 since the start of October, falling only to #3 Nebraska (26-2) and #11 Wichita State (29-0).
Revenge On The Mind
Should Northern Iowa reach Friday night's semifinal, you can be sure revenge will on the mind of the Bluejay upperclassmen.
Northern Iowa, CU's potential opponent in that 5 pm match, has ended the Jays season in the semifinals each of the past three years.
In league history two schools have met in four straight MVC Tournaments on two previous occasions.
Northern Iowa and Illinois State met in five straight years from 1997-2001. ISU won the 1997 meeting before the Panthers won the next four.
Likewise, from 1986-1990, Missouri State and UNI met five straight years. However, that series saw UNI win three and MSU two.
Looking For 200 Wins
Creighton Volleyball owns 199 wins since restarting its program in 1994. A win in the semifinals against either UNI or Evansville would mark the 200th in the modern era. Kirsten Bernthal Booth has won more than half (106) of those matches.
Not The Top Seed...Not A Problem
Including the men's soccer team earlier this month, Creighton has now won 26 MVC Tournament titles since Bruce Rasmussen took over as Director of Athletics in 1994.
Interestingly, only seven of those 26 teams were actually the No. 1 seed entering that tournament.
In fact, 13 of the last 15 times Creighton has won an MVC Tournament, they've done it without the benefit of being the top seed.
Below is the list of Creighton's last 15 MVC Tournament titles, as well as their seed entering the tournament:
Sport Year Seed
Men's Soccer 2008 1st
Women's Soccer 2007 3rd
Baseball 2007 2nd
Softball 2007 1st
Men's Basketball 2007 2nd
Men's Soccer 2006 2nd
Men's Soccer 2005 2nd
Women's Soccer 2005 2nd
Softball 2005 3rd
Men's Basketball 2005 3rd
Women's Soccer 2004 2nd
Softball 2004 2nd
Men's Basketball 2003 2nd
Softball 2003 4th
Men's Soccer 2002 2nd
History Of Second Seed
The second seed has won the MVC Tournament in three of the past five years (2003, 2005, 2007) and is 13-10 overall since the tournament went to a six-team format in 1995.
Three teams seeded second have lost in the MVC Tournament semifinals (2002, 2004, 2006).
However, since 2002, every second seed to reach the final has won in the championship match.
Defensive Minded Bluejays
In the most recent edition of the NCAA Volleyball statistics (through Nov. 16), Creighton ranked 18th nationally with 2.62 blocks per set and 21st nationally with 17.02 digs per set. Those numbers should only climb on the national leaderboard since CU upped its averages to 17.15 digs per set and 2.67 blocks per set during a strong final weekend.
Creighton is the school in the country to rank in the top-21 of both categories.
The categories are typically are opposites, since blocks, by definition, end points and eliminate dig opportunities.
Another defensive category not tracked by the NCAA is fewest aces allowed. Creighton has allowed just 0.66 aces per set, which amounts to 2.42 aces per match allowed. During the team's current eight-match win streak, CU has allowed a grand total of 10 aces in 29 sets played (0.34).
Against Ranked Teams
A potential championship match contest against #11 Wichita State would give Creighton a chance to snap its 0-33 record against ranked opponents, including an 0-5 mark this fall.
Creighton vs. Ranked Teams All-Time (0-33)
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
11/10/07 at #24 Wichita State L 0-3
08/29/08 #16 Minnesota L 0-3
08/30/08 #21 LSU L 2-3
09/27/08 #14 Wichita State L 1-3
10/05/08 #2 Nebraska L 0-3
10/24/08 at #12 Wichita State L 0-3
New Facility on the Way
Creighton broke ground on a new athletics facility on October 16, 2007, to be located just northwest of Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard.
The Ryan Center and D.J. Sokol Arena, a 75,000 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, hosting the MVC Tournament that November.
Last Call at the Civic?
Last Saturday's contest against Bradley figures to be the last match for Creighton Volleyball at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, as the team is slated to move into the on-campus Ryan Center next fall.
Creighton began playing volleyball at the Civic in the fall of 2003 and is 44-26 overall and 35-19 in MVC play in the venerable facility.
With two wins last weekend, the Bluejays set a school record for home wins in a season (at any venue) with nine.
Creighton's current seven-match win streak at the Civic is also the longest victory string in the building by the Bluejay volleyball program.
Win Streak Reaches Eight
Creighton has won eight straight matches, its longest streak in school history.
The Jays have had at least one streak of four straight wins in all six seasons under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, who took over after the 2002 team went 3-23.
Traditional power Northern Iowa probably isn't too impressed with that stat. The Panthers own at least one streak of eight straight wins in all but one (2005) season since 1994 and 16 such different streaks of eight straight wins in those 15 years.
Most Consecutive Wins, Creighton History
Wins Dates Snapped By
8 Oct. 25, 2008-Present ? ? ?
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, 3-1
5 Oct. 26-Nov. 9, 2007 at #24 Wichita State, 3-1
Hot, Hot, Hot
Creighton has won 12 of its past 13 matches, just the first time in school history its been able to claim that.
First Sets Not Close
Creighton has not had a first set played closer than 25-21 in any of its last 17 matches, dating all the way to a 27-25 loss at UNI on Sept. 20th.
In fact, Creighton has allowed only one team to score more than 17 points in the first set of its current eight-match winning streak.
Additionally in the current eight-match win streak, Creighton has not won any set in which it has allowed more than 21 points.
She's A Winner
Korie Lebeda has played in more wins than anyone else in Creighton's modern (since 1994) volleyball history with 76. Creighton is 76-42 since Lebeda's arrival on campus after going 47-65 in the four seasons prior.
The previous mark was 73 matches played in as a winner, held by Kelly Goc and Abby Baumann.
Seniors Honored Before Final Home Match
Last Saturday marked Senior Night for Creighton seniors Amanda Cvejdlik, Carolyn Decker, Korie Lebeda and Bianca Rivera. In the last four years the quartet owns a record of 76-42, including a pair of 21-10 seasons, and reached the MVC Tournament semifinals three times.
All four rank among the top-10 in at least two career categories at Creighton.
Cvejdlik ranks fifth in points (1186.0), sixth in kills (1,018), kills per set (3.01) and point per set (3.51) and seventh in attack attempts (2,623).
Decker ranks fifth in aces (86), third in aces per set (.292), eighth in points (802.0) and 10th in points per set (2.72).
Lebeda owns Creighton career records for assists (5,231), assists per set (12.37), sets played (423) and matches played (116), fifth in digs (1,113), seventh in block solos (42) and eighth in attack percentage (.239), total blocks (273) and block assists (231).
Rivera is first in digs per set (5.39) and sixth in digs (1,088).
And Who Will Replace Them?
Though it'll be tough to replace Creighton's four outgoing seniors, coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth signed three high school seniors to letters-of-intent to join the program next fall.
Below is a look at the newest members of the Bluejay program:
Name Ht. Pos. Hometown
Brooke Boggs 5-8 OH Wildwood, Mo.
Caitlin Templeton 6-1 OH Rapid City, S.D.
Heather Thorson 6-3 MB Mead, Neb.
Stats Don't Equal Win
Creighton lost in four sets at Northern Iowa on Sept. 20th despite winning nearly every statistical category. The Bluejays scored three more points (94-91), had a better hitting percentage (.244 to .219) and also had more kills (61-56), digs (80-61) and blocks (9-8) than the Panthers. Creighton had won 80 consecutive matches when owning a better hitting percentage than its opponent.
Creighton also played the match without starting OH Carolyn Decker.
A Sign For Optimism
Creighton needs to only look back 12 months to find the last MVC team to start 6-7 and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Last fall, Northern Iowa started 6-7 and were at the .500 mark (9-9) as late as October 8th. The Panthers got hot after a crushing five-set loss at Illinois State (losing 35-33 in set four and 21-19 in set five...blowing eight match points overall). That heartbreaking loss dropped UNI to 0-5 in five-set matches in 2007. Northern Iowa would win 10 of its final 11 regular-season MVC matches, win the MVC Tournament, and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Like UNI last year, this year's Creighton team has come agonizingly close to big wins early in the season and struggled to close out five-set matches. However, this year's Bluejay squad also boasts the talent, drive and experience that helped turn around last fall's Panther team.
Stelken vs. Houts
Two of the Midwest's top middle blockers could square off on Friday if Creighton's Jessica Houts locks horns with UNI's Ashten Stelken.
Stelken leads the MVC and ranks fourth nationally with 1.48 blocks per set, with Houts ranking second in the MVC and 18th nationally with 1.33 blocks per set.
Houts owns a decided difference when it comes to digs, averaging 1.76 digs per set compared to Stelken's 0.69 dps.
In their first head-to-head match-up, Houts had 17 kills, nine digs and three blocks while hitting .448 in 29 swings, compared to Stelken's eight kills, six digs and six blocks while hitting .130 in 23 swings. Stelken's team earned the 3-1 win though.
Last Friday Stelken finished with seven kills and four blocks while hitting .040, while Houts had five kills, seven digs and four blocks while hitting .333 in a 3-0 sweep.
Ranked vs. Unranked
While Creighton continues its quest for a first-ever win over a ranked team, the Jays have been beating unranked competition on a regular-basis this fall.
The only teams to beat the Jays since the start of October has been No. 3 Nebraska (26-2) and No. 11 Wichita State (29-0).
Creighton has won 14 straight matches vs. unranked teams this fall. Even better, both potential semifinal opponents, Northern Iowa and Evansville, are not ranked.
Digger's Hotline
Senior libero Bianca Rivera owns 11 or more digs in each of Creighton's last 18 matches, including 10 performances of 20 digs or more in that time. She is averaging 5.85 digs per set in the last 18 matches.
Rivera is Creighton's only player ever with two seasons of 450 or more digs.
Rivera owns 26 career matches of 20 or more digs, most in Bluejay history, including a record-tying 38 digs last season at Drake.
Rivera had a season-high 34 digs on Nov. 8 in a win over Illinois State. That gives her three different career matches of 30 or more digs, one away from Piller's school record.
Rivera's 27 digs at Southern Illinois on Nov. 14 tied the most in Bluejay history for a three-set match and helped her earn MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 17.
Matches With 20+ Digs, Career
20+D Name Years
26 Bianca Rivera 2007-Pres.
20 Janeen Piller 2001-04
11 Katie Mehal 2004-07
Consecutive Matches, 10 or More Digs
43 Janeen Piller, Oct. 10, 2003-Nov. 26, 2004
27 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24-Nov. 9, 2007
18 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 20, 2008-Present
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
Rivera Serving Team In All Roles
Bianca Rivera had just six aces in the first 19 matches of the year, but has taken her serving to another level recently. Rivera owns nine aces in her last seven matches alone.
Defensive Display
Creighton had a season-high 106 digs in the Nov. 8 win over Illinois State, easily a season-high.
Creighton owns just six home matches in the last four years in which it has 97 digs or more, but four of those have come against Illinois State.
In that span, Creighton has averaged 25.18 digs in those 17 sets played in Omaha against Illinois State.
Rivera Reaches 1,000 Digs
Defensively, Bianca Rivera owns 1,088 career digs, surpassing the 1,000 mark on Nov. 8 vs. Illinois State as part of a season-high 34 digs.
Earlier this year Korie Lebeda became the fifth player in CU history to reach 1,000 career digs. Rivera and Lebeda entered into the 1,000-dig club this year, joining Melissa Walsh and Kailey Reyes as teammates to pass 1,000 digs in the same season. Walsh and Reyes did so in 2001.
Rivera needed 53 matches to reach 1,000 career digs. Previously, the fewest matches in CU history to reach 1,000 digs has been Reyes, who needed 77 contests.
Most MVC Wins Ever
Creighton has won a school-record 15 MVC matches this year, one more than last year's previous best of 14.
Since the MVC returned to an 18-match Valley slate in 1996, teams with 15 or more league wins have made the NCAA Tournament on 14 of 20 occasions (70 percent), but just four of 90 times (4.4 percent) when winning 14 or less league matches.
Duo Reaches 1,000 Kills
Junior Jessica Houts became the sixth player in Creighton history with at least 1,000 kills when she hammered one home against Illinois State on Nov. 8th.
One week later senior Amanda Cvejdlik became the seventh member of that club. Cvejdlik owns 1,005 kills and ranks sixth in CU history in that category.
Creighton had never previously had two players reach 1,000 kills in the same season.
Career Kills
Name Games No. Years
1. Leah Ratzlaff 409 1,622 2002-05
2. Melissa Walsh 394 1,596 1998-01
3. Kelly Goc 394 1,414 2004-07
4. JoDe Cieloha 398 1,375 1994-97
5. Jessica Houts 331 1,042 2005-Pr.
6. Amanda Cvejdlik 338 1,018 2005-Pr.
7. Shelly Kapler 388 1,000 1996-99
8. Erin Swanson 319 955 1998-01
9. Ashley Williams 359 941 2001-04
10. Michelle Prorock 299 815 1994-96
One of Eight
Korie Lebeda surpassed the 5,000-assist milestone on Oct. 31 in a win at Drake, becoming just the eighth player in Missouri Valley Conference history to reach that plateau on a pass to Jessica Houts.
Lebeda, who owns 5,231 career helpers, faced current No. 3 on that list, Illinois State's Erin Lindsey (5,461), on Nov. 8. It was just the third time in MVC history that two players with 5,000 or more assists faced each other.
Jill Arganbright (UNI) faced Chenille Bayless (MSU) on both Nov. 14 and Nov. 29, 2003, after both had more than 5,000 career assists under their belt.
Korie, Korie, Korie
Korie Lebeda has started all 118 matches since coming to campus, passing Melissa Walsh's (1998-01) former record of 107 career starts.
Lebeda's 118 matches played are a school-record, two more than the previous mark of 117.
With 423 career sets played, Lebeda has broken the school record of 411 sets played by Melissa Weisensee (1994-97).
Lebeda has also become the first Bluejay ever to record 1,000 or more assists in four straight seasons.
Lebeda has already joined Weisensee and Kailey Reyes as the third player in Creighton history with more than 1,000 assists and digs.
She enters this weekend with 5,231 career assists (fifth in MVC history) and 1,113 career digs.
Lebeda has done her work in 423 sets, averaging 12.37 aps., while No. 4 on the list, Illinois State's Erin Lindsey, has averaged 12.08 aps., but has played in significantly more (455) sets.
Lebeda's Creighton teams have won seven of the nine head-to-head meetings versus ISU since the two enrolled in college in the fall of 2005.
Most Assists, MVC History
Rk. Assists Name, School Years
1. 6,064 Jill Arganbright, UNI 2000-03
2. 5,614 Marisa Brickley, ILS 1995-98
3. 5,498 Erin Lindsey, ILS 2005-Pres.
4. 5,431 Chenille Bayless, MSU 2000-03
5. 5,231 Korie Lebeda, CU 2005-Pres.
6. 5,137 Megan Mirs, INS 1998-01
Leave it to Lebeda
Korie Lebeda enters this weekend with 5,231 career assists, 1,113 digs, 406 kills and 273 blocks.
She is one of three players in MVC history with at least 5,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 350 kills and 260 blocks. The other two were Jill Arganbright (UNI, 2000-03) and Chenille Bayless (MSU, 2000-03).
She is the MVC's only player with at least 5,200 assists, 1,100 digs and 273 blocks in a career.
Name, School Ast. K D B
Jill Arganbright, UNI 6,064 605 1,025 300
Chenille Bayless, MSU 5,431 469 1,213 271
Korie Lebeda, CU 5,231 406 1,113 273
Booth Reaches 100 Wins
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth became the first Bluejay volleyball coach to 100 wins with this year's Halloween Night victory at Drake. Now in her sixth year, Booth is 106-71 with the Bluejays.
By comparison, highly successful Creighton men's basketball coach Dana Altman needed 178 games to reach 100 wins with the Bluejays.
Below is a list of games/matches needed by some of Creighton's most prominent active coaches to reach 100 wins.
Coach Sport Games to 100 Wins
Bob Warming Men's Soccer 141
Ed Servais Baseball 146
Kirsten Booth Volleyball 171
Jim Flanery Women's Basketball 175
Dana Altman Men's Basketball 178
Bruce Erickson Women's Soccer 197
Brent Vigness Softball 200
Initiation Ritual
Creighton has won 14 straight matches against first-year coaches dating to an Aug. 27, 2005 setback to Iowa State's Christy Johnson, a streak it will could potentially extend if it faced Illinois State's Melissa Myers in the MVC Tournament championship match.
Creighton has faced eight coaches in their first year a school this season, and beaten all them (Bradley's Sean Burdette, Indiana State's Traci Dahl, Drake's Phil McDaniel and Myers twice). Last year CU beat the only first-year coach it faced, Charlotte's Chris Redding.
In 2006, Creighton beat the only first-year coach it faced, North Dakota State's Erich Hinterstocker.
In 2005, Creighton went 5-1 against first-year coaches, winning its final four matches after losing to Johnson. However, CU did beat Drake's Amy Farber Knowles and Southern Illinois' Brenda Winkeler twice each, in addition to a season-opening win over Northern Colorado coach Lyndsey Benson.
Computer Math
The volleyball-specific site at richkern.com has published its 11th computer rankings of the fall.
Through matches of Nov. 16th, Creighton was ranked No. 34 in the “Pablo” rankings, second-best in the MVC behind Wichita State (20) and one of six MVC schools to crack the top-111.
Creighton's strength of schedule, based on the average of an opponents RPI, is rated 49th-toughest nationally and fourth-best when only non-conference matches are factored in.
Creighton is 9-0 against teams with a Pablo computer ranking of 112 or worse, and 9-8 against teams in the top-111 nationally.
If you include Wichita State twice (since WSU beat CU twice), the teams to beat Creighton this year own a combined record of 190-42 (.819).
More Computer Rankings
The NCAA has come out with its official RPI, and it also recognizes the performance of Creighton to date. The NCAA's RPI, which included matches through Nov. 9th in its most recent release, ranked Creighton 48th nationally.
Last year, when the NCAA Tournament selected four MVC teams, Creighton finished the year with an RPI of 56. Ironically, the team that finished the year with an RPI of 52 was Illinois State, a club that some believe was granted the final at-large bid over Creighton.
Below is a data compiled from RichKern.com that shows the RPI of the worst-ranked at-large team to reach the NCAA, as well as the best RPI to be omitted, in NCAA Tournaments since 2001.
Year Worst At-Large RPI Best RPI Omitted
2007 52, Illinois State 37, Tulane
2006 65, Alabama 36, Illinois
2005 67, Nevada 37, Wichita State
2004 92, Idaho 38, Duke
2003 86, Idaho 41, Wis.-Milwaukee
2002 65, Indiana 18, Arkansas
2001 81, San Diego State 33, South Florida
According to the official RPI, Creighton is 9-8 against the top-105 teams and 9-0 versus teams 106 and higher.
Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 20-6 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-set matches on a yearly basis:
Year Set 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 21-10
2008 2-2 18-8
Total 35-34 199-223
.500 in MVC Play Guaranteed
Creighton's win at Drake on Oct. 31 gave Creighton nine wins in MVC action, ensuring a sixth straight season of a .500 record or better in league play.
Prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, Creighton had gone .500 or better in only four of nine seasons all-time.
Holding The Aces
Creighton did not allow an ace in the Oct. 25 five-set win over Missouri State, successfully handling all 93 service attempts from the Bears. It was the first time in CU history that it had played a five-set match in which it did not allow an ace.
In school history, Creighton is 13-0 in matches in which it does not allow an ace. All but one of those contests have taken place since Kirsten Bernthal Booth took over in 2003.
TGIF
Creighton continued its Friday road success streak on Nov. 14 when it visited Southern Illinois.
The Jays have won 13 of their past 14 Friday road matches in MVC play. The only setback in the less three years was the Oct. 24 loss at undefeated Wichita State.
Creighton is 18-7 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in MVC road matches played on Friday and 16-11 in MVC road matches played on Saturday. The Jays are also 0-1 in MVC Sunday road matches and 1-0 in MVC Tuesday road matches under Booth.
Road Warriors
It's difficult to pinpoint the reason, but Creighton has traditionally played better volleyball when on the road in recent seasons.
In six years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Creighton owns a 44-29 record at home (.603), but are a remarkably similar 62-42 (.596) in matches played on the road or at neutral sites.
This surprising record of success even holds up in league play, where the Jays play each opponent once each at home and on the road every fall. Under Booth, CU is 35-19 at home but 35-19 on the road in league action. Last year Creighton went 8-1 on the road in MVC play.
Each of the previous two years, CU has been 8-5 at home in all matches but 9-4 in true road contests. This year's club is 8-2 in true road matches, 9-5 at home and 1-1 at neutral sites.
Creighton is 15-3 in the past two years in road MVC matches.
Aces Away
Creighton served up a season-high seven aces in a four-set win over Southern Illinois on Oct. 18th. The Bluejays are 14-0 this year and 81-17 under coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth when serving up more aces than their opponent in a match.
Random Facts
Here's a collection of random facts about Creighton Volleyball.
Creighton is 22-1 all-time when sophomore Allie Oelke hits .168 or better, including 19 straight wins.
Creighton is 12-2 this year and 17-2 in the past four years when Carolyn Decker has 10 kills or more.
Creighton is 0-6 this season in sets in which it makes nine or more attack errors.
Creighton finished October with a 7-2 record, matching the 2004 team for most October wins in school history.
Houts & Rivera Honored By MVC
Jessica Houts and Bianca Rivera were honored on Oct. 13 by the Missouri Valley Conference as its Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. Houts also earned Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors two days later for her accomplishments.
A junior middle blocker from Bloomington, Minn., Houts led Creighton in hitting percentage (.407), points (4.38), kills (3.62), blocks (0.88) and aces (0.25) per set as the Bluejays picked up road wins at Illinois State (3-2) and Indiana State (3-0). The wins completed CU's first undefeated weekend of the fall and moved the team over .500 (8-7) for the first time this season. Houts owns a 3.417 GPA in Exercise Science.
Rivera is a senior libero from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She averaged 4.62 digs and added seven assists in Creighton's two victories. She had a match-high 21 digs in the win at Illinois State, her school-record-tying 20th career match with 20 or more digs.
Full Houts
Jessica Houts had at least seven kills, seven blocks and seven digs in the same match during six of Creighton's 18 MVC matches this year.
By comparison, the rest of the MVC put up just one such match of 7-7-7 in league play, the 11-kill, 18-dig, eight-block outing by Bradley's Kaitlyn Comiskey on Oct. 3, 2008 vs. Southern Illinois.
7+ Kills, 7+Digs, 7+Blocks in an MVC Match, 2008
Name, School SETS K D B Date
Jessica Houts, CU 4 17 8 7 9/26
Jessica Houts, CU 4 15 8 7 9/27
Kaitlyn Comiskey, BU 5 11 18 8 10/3
Jessica Houts, CU 5 17 7 7 10/10
Jessica Houts, CU 3 7 10 9 10/17
Jessica Houts, CU 3 7 8 9 11/7
Jessica Houts, CU 4 14 9 8 11/8
Houts Breaks Career Block Assist Record
Creighton junior Jessica Houts broke Creighton's all-time block assist record on Nov. 7 against Indiana State.
She has flown past Ashley Williams (2001-04) old mark of 347 and Houts now has 374 block assists in her career.
Oelke Gets Untracked
Sophomore OH Allie Oelke has posted 10 or more kills in six of the last 13 matches after doing so just twice in the team's first 13 contests.
Oelke had 10 kills or more in 22 of 31 matches as a freshman, including a streak of nine straight from Sept. 8 to Sept. 29 last season.
Rounding Second, Headed For Home
Creighton went 7-2 in the first half of the MVC season for the third straight fall, matching their best record at the Valley midway point ever. The Jays 8-1 finish in the second half of the MVC slate this fall is its best ever finish for a round-robin trip through the league.
Creighton has had a winning record at the midway point of conference play on eight previous occasions, and qualified for the MVC Tournament each time.
League Record by Year
Year 1st Half 2nd Half MVC Finish
2008 7-2 8-1 2nd
2007 7-2 7-2 T-2nd
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 68-69 64-73 --
Record Watches
Carolyn Decker served up an ace against Bradley last Saturday to move her team-high total to 20 this fall. Decker now owns 86 career aces, fifth-most in Creighton history.
Additionally, Jessica Houts has 434 career blocks and has moved into third on the school's all-time total blocks list, 13 away from tying Ashley Williams (2001-04) career mark of 447.
Top Crowds of 2008
Creighton hosted 8,037 fans at Qwest Center Omaha for its Oct. 5 match against No. 2 Nebraska. The crowd is the fifth-largest volleyball-only crowd in the country this fall, the third largest home crowd in Creighton history, and also the third-largest crowd in MVC history. Below is a list of the nation's top crowds of 2008, as compiled by Diane Nordstrom in the Wisconsin's Sports Information Office:
Largest Crowds of 2008, Nationally
Rank Att. Match, Date
1. 13,412 LSU at Nebraska, 9/12
2. 10,570 Wisconsin at Purdue, 10/17
3. 10,126 Penn State at Minnesota, 10/11
4. 8,399 Runza/AVCA Showcase, 8/31
5. 8,037 Nebraska at Creighton, 10/5
Creighton's Largest Home Crowds, All-Time
Rank Att. Opponent Date
1. 13,081 #18 Cal Poly 09/02/07
2. 12,112 #1 Nebraska 09/24/06
3. 8,037 #2 Nebraska 10/05/08
Largest Home Crowds, MVC History
Rank Att. Match Date
1. 13,081 #18 Cal Poly at Creighton 09/02/07
2. 12,112 #1 Nebraska at Creighton 09/24/06
3. 8,037 #2 Nebraska at Creighton 10/05/08
4. 6,122 Missouri State at Wichita St. 11/02/07
5. 6,024 Kansas State at Wichita St. 08/25/07
Attendance Rankings
Creighton averaged 1,403 fans per home match, good enough to rank 24th in this week's edition of the national leaders in volleyball attendance.
Last year Creighton finished 14th nationally in attendance and in 2006 the Jays were tied for 16th. Below is a look at the national leaders, through matches of November 16:
Top Average Home Attendance, 2008 (thru 11/16)
Rk. School Avg.
1. Hawaii 6,138
2. Nebraska 4,913
3. Wisconsin 4,419
4. Minnesota 3,924
5. Wichita State 3,097
6. Penn State 2,986
7. Michigan State 2,856
8. Purdue 2,837
9. Florida 2,464
10. Colorado State 2,387
11. Texas 2,369
12. Stanford 2,243
13. North Carolina 2,070
14. Washington 1,899
15. Missouri 1,742
16. Iowa State 1,736
17. New Mexico State 1,679
18. Southern California 1,632
19. Georgia Tech 1,611
20. Texas A&M 1,576
21. New Mexico 1,547
22. Kansas State 1,487
23. Illinois State 1,427
24. Creighton 1,410
25. Northern Iowa 1,405
Lebeda Keeps Doubling Up
Senior setter Korie Lebeda's streak of six consecutive double-doubles was snapped when she had 24 assists and eight digs against Nebraska on Oct. 5.
Lebeda's streak was tied for fourth-longest in school history, and just two behind Melissa Walsh's school mark of eight in a row set in 2000.
Lebeda's 55 career double-doubles is fourth-most in Bluejay history, 10 behind Melissa Weisensee's record of 65 from 1994-97.
Matches With A Double-Double, Career
D-D Name Years
65 Melissa Weisensee 1994-97
64 Kailey Reyes 1998-01
60 Melissa Walsh 1998-01
55 Korie Lebeda 2005-Pres.
35 Erin Swanson 1998-01
Hot Hitting Night
Creighton's .414 hitting on October 3rd against Drake was a season-high and tied for the fourth-best performance in school history, as seen below:
Attack Percentage
Three Games
.536 vs. Tulsa (41-4-69) (3 sets) 10-27-95
.495 vs. Liberty (57-8-99) (3 sets) 9-2-05
.418 vs. Evansville (98-21-184) (4 sets) 11-2-96
.414 vs. UC-Riverside (57-11-111) (3 sets) 9-2-05
.414 vs. Drake (49-8-99) (3 sets) 10-3-08
Houts Keeps It Going
Jessica Houts continued her strong play with 13 kills and seven blocks against Drake on October 3rd. That gave her three straight contests with seven blocks or more.
She became the first Bluejay with three straight matches of seven or more blocks since Houts herself accomplished the identical feat on Oct. 15-22, 2005 of her freshman campaign.
The only other player in CU history with three straight matches of seven or more blocks is JoDe Cieloha, who had three straight matches from Sept. 13-15, 1996.
NCAA Tourney Gauntlet is Over
Creighton's October 10th match at Illinois State closed a stretch that saw Creighton face five NCAA Tournament teams in a six-match span. In addition to UNI, Creighton also played qualifiers Missouri State, Wichita State, Nebraska and Illinois State in those three weeks. Drake was the only exception during this span.
The First 1,500 Sets Are The Toughest
Creighton has played 1,545 sets since bringing back volleyball in 1994, winning 737 of those.
Below is a look at Creighton's record by sets, in increments of 500.
Set #'s Dates W-L
1-500 9/2/94 to 11/14/98 (S2) 199-301
501-1000 11/14/98 (S3) to 11/15/03 (S1) 216-284
1001-1500 11/15/03 (S2) to 10/10/08 (S2) 287-213
1501-Pres. 10/10/08 (S3) to Present 35-10
All We Need Is One
Did you know that the team that scores the first point of a set has won 57 of Creighton's 95 sets played this season (.600), including 40 of the last 65.
Ike 1, Creighton 0
Creighton was idle on Sept. 12-13 after the Ladyjack Invitational, scheduled for Nacogdoches, Texas, was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
It marked the first time since Creighton brought back volleyball in 1994 that the Jays had more than 10 days off in between matches while in-season.
Creighton missed a chance for three solid wins, as it would have faced current RPI foes Rice (25), Oklahoma (65) and Stephen F. Austin (146).
Houts Playing Strong, One Year Later
September 11th marked the one-year anniversary of Jessica Houts' tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, which was suffered prior to a 2007 match at Drake. Houts had surgery 10 days later and returned to the court in the spring.
This fall, Houts has been nothing short of spectacular. She's been named to the All-Tournament Team at both events CU has played in, and leads the squad in kills per set (3.18) and blocks per set (1.33) while also hitting .289.
Lebeda Still Going Strong
Senior setter Korie Lebeda has made 118 consecutive starts. Creighton is 76-42 with Lebeda as a starter after going 47-65 in the four years before she arrived on campus.
Decking The Competition
Fifth-year senior Carolyn Decker owns 14 different matches with 10 or more kills this season, including all three contests at the Gamecock Invitational. Decker owned just five total matches with 10 or more kills from 2005-07 while battling through a pair of season-ending injuries.
Dominant Defense
Creighton's 25-12, 25-15, 25-12 win over Jacksonville State on Sept. 5th ranked among the most impressive victories in school history. Creighton held JSU to a -.112 attack percentage, the lowest mark ever by a Bluejay opponent.
Additionally, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State team did not record an ace and were outblocked 15-0.
Below is the lowest hitting percentages ever by a Creighton opponent:
Lowest Opp. Hitting Pct. vs. Creighton, Match
Pct. Team K E TA Date
-.112 Jacksonville St. 18 27 80 9/5/08
-.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
-.0096 Bradley 26 27 104 11/22/08
-.0095 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
Difficult Schedule Continues
Nine of Creighton's first 14 matches this season were against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, and three other opponents in that time won 20 or more matches or their regular-season title last year.
Opponent '07 W-L '07 Postseason
Minnesota 18-13 NCAA
LSU* 25-8 NCAA
Texas A&M 21-10 --
Iowa State 19-14 NCAA
Jacksonville State* 18-10 --
UAB 24-10 --
Mississippi 25-8 --
Bradley 3-28
Northern Iowa* 22-11 NCAA
Missouri State 25-8 NCAA
Wichita State* 27-6 NCAA
Drake 7-23 --
Nebraska* 30-2 NCAA
Illinois State 21-12 NCAA
*Won regular-season or conference tournament title
Houts Named To All-Tourney Team
Making her return from a torn ACL that cost her most of last season, Jessica Houts averaged 3.55 kills and 0.91 blocks per set to earn all-Tournament Team honors at the Bluejay Invitational on Aug. 29-30.
Houts led CU with 13 kills, eight digs and .346 in the season-opener against No. 16 Minnesota. She followed that up with a team-best 18 kills and six digs in a five-set loss against No. 21 LSU. She also added eight kills and four blocks in a sweep of Texas A&M, a team picked for fourth in the preseason Big 12 Conference poll.
Minnesota's Brook Dieter was named MVP, and was joined on the all-Tournament team by Rachel Hartmann (Minnesota), Brittnee Cooper (LSU), Elena Martinez (LSU), Mary Batis (Texas A&M) and Houts.
Double-Double Decker
Fifth year senior Carolyn Decker had a match-high 15 digs to go with 13 kills as Creighton became the only team to sweep Texas A&M at the Bluejay Invitational.
Decker's double-double against the Aggies was the senior's first since Nov. 20, 2004 and her 15 digs were her most in a match since a 17-dig performance in the 2005 season opener against Northern Colorado.
Decker, who also hit .429 in the sweep over Texas A&M, was the first CU player to post a double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Allie Oelke had 17 kills and 25 digs while hitting .433 against Evansville on Nov. 4, 2007.
Decker, however, became the first CU senior to have a kill-dig double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Melissa Walsh had 23 kills and 10 digs while hitting .526 against Southern Illinois on Nov. 2, 2001.
Eliminate The Errors
It's true for all programs, but one of the item the Bluejay coaching staff continues to focus on is the elimination of unforced errors.
Creighton has combined for 793 errors (kill errors + set errors + serving errors + ball handling errors + block errors + receiving errors) in 91 sets played to 25.
Creighton has had 10 or more errors in 22 of the 32 sets it has lost, averaging 11.31 miscues in those lost sets.
On the other hand, in the 59 sets that Creighton won, it has made nine errors or less 47 times and averaged just 7.31 errors per set.
Creighton is 36-2 when making eight errors or less in a set to 25 points, but 23-30 when it makes nine or more errors.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 129-7 (.949) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 71-1 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 61-4 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-143 (.040) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-46 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
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won four matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point. On the other hand, Creighton is 106-0 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
Game 1 Result = Match Result
In its last 89 matches in which it wins set one, Creighton is 81-8. CU is 88-12 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win set one. In that same time span, CU is just 18-59 under Booth when it drops the first game.
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 with CU owning a 26-10 lead over Montana State on Aug. 25, 2007. 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 played every point of the 2008 season thus far as well.
Lebeda has played in 20,926 of a possible 20,938 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.943 percent.
Statistics Expected To Decline
With the move from 30-point sets to 25-point sets, don't be surprised to see statistics plummet nearly 20 percent as well.
To help anticipate what the rule change would do this fall, Creighton Volleyball SID Rob Anderson went through all of Creighton's matches last season and eliminated each point and statistic in sets 1-4 that occurred after a team reached 25 points and led by two or more.
Creighton ended up playing 20.46 percent fewer points (form 5,500 to 4,566 points) and numbers dropped across the board with the exception of hitting percentage, which rose by a scant .001.
Listed below is how stats would have been affected had the new rules been in effect last season in regards to stats for the entire team, category leaders, and some single-match superlatives.
Team Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Diff.
Kills Per Set 16.04 13.35 -20%
Hitting Pct. .211 .212 +.001
Assists Per Set 14.82 12.33 -20%
Aces Per Set 1.41 1.21 -17%
Digs Per Set 19.78 16.59 -19%
Blocks Per Set 2.65 2.15 -17%
Indiv. Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Player
Kills Per Set 4.18 3.46 Goc
Hitting Pct. .368 .369 Goc
Assists Per Set 12.50 10.41 Lebeda
Aces Per Set 0.36 0.33 Oelke
Digs Per Set 5.78 5.03 Rivera
Blocks Per Set 0.99 0.78 Bloemke
Indiv. Superlatives 30-Pt. Matches 25-Pt. Matches
20+ Kills 8 times 3 times
24+ Kills 2 times 0 times
20+ Digs 15 times 9 times
25+ Digs 6 times 3 times
50+ Assists 7 times 1 time
40+ Assists 21 times 8 times
50+ Attempts 5 times 0 times
Double-Doubles 24 times 12 times
Amazing Amanda
After posting just 88 kills during her junior season, senior OH Amanda Cvejdlik appears to have regained the form that saw her post 415 kills as a sophomore. Cvejdlik owns 290 kills this season and has had five or more kills in every match.
Her 17 kills against Missouri State on Sept. 26 were her most in a match since Oct. 7, 2006, when she had 20 putaways versus Bradley. She also had 17 kills at Southern Illinois at Nov. 14.
Cvejdlik hammered 15 kills in 21 errorless swings on October 3rd against Drake, good for a .714 hitting percentage. The .714 hitting percentage was best in school history for a single match by a player with 15 or more kills.
Production Returning
Creighton returns 9-of-14 letterwinners from last season. Below is a breakdown of the production that returns:
Stat Returners Departures
Assists 1506 (95.0%) 80 (5.0%)
Aces 127 (84.1%) 24 (15.9%)
Digs 1704 (80.5%) 412 (19.5%)
Matches Started 138 (74.2%) 48 (25.8%)
Points 1477.5 (68.7%) 673.0 (31.3%)
Kills 1139 (66.3%) 577 (33.7%)
Blocks 159.5 (56.3%) 124 (43.7%)
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked third in the 2008 MVC preseason coaches poll. Wichita State (91 points, four first-place votes) was favored to win its second straight title, just ahead of Northern Iowa (84, two) and Creighton (81, three). Rounding out the rest of the league was Missouri State (73, one), Illinois State (67), Southern Illinois (52), Evansville (34), Drake (31), Bradley (25) and Indiana State (12).
Each of the past six years (including 2008) Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of them or better 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 T-2nd #1
2008 3rd 2nd #1
Preseason Poll
Creighton has been picked third in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Conference coaches. Defending regular-season champion Wichita State was picked to win the league, while defending tournament champion Northern Iowa was second. Following Creighton, Missouri State and Illinois State rounded out the top half.
Eight players were also named preseason all-MVC, including Bluejay senior Korie Lebeda.
AVCA Honors CU Volleyball For Academics
The Creighton volleyball program was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2008 AVCA Team Academic Award. Creighton previously won the award in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and are one of 10 Division I schools nationwide to win the award in five consecutive campaigns.
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 3.31.
Radio Broadcast Information
Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will broadcast at least 22 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 2008 Volleyball Broadcast Schedule
Nov. 27-29 at MVC Tournament
Dec. 4-20 at NCAA 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 490 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 380 season tickets last year.
Fall 2007 Summary
Creighton's 2007 season featured the squad's second consecutive 21-10 record. Despite a tie for second-place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-4 league mark, the Jays were not one of four league teams selected to the NCAA's.
Kelly Goc wrapped up an outstanding career by earning honorable-mention All-American honors, while setter Korie Lebeda was named first-team all-MVC. Other key contributors included MVC Freshman of the Year Allie Oelke and record-setting libero Bianca Rivera.
The 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament is the place to be as six teams converge upon Wichita, Kan., to fight for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Creighton (18-8, 15-3 MVC) finished in second place in the regular-season race, which earned it a bye into the semifinal round.
CU won't take the floor until Friday at 5 pm, when it faces the winner of Thursday night's 6 pm quarterfinal match-up between third-seeded Northern Iowa (23-7, 13-5 MVC) and sixth-seeded Evansville (14-17, 8-10 MVC).
Should Creighton win on Friday, the Bluejays would compete in tournament final for the first time in program history on Saturday at 7 pm.
Charles Koch Arena (10,170) in Wichita, Kan., will host the action.
Radio Broadcast Information
Both of Creighton's matches this weekend will be broadcast on KVSS (88.9 FM), as well as on http://www.kvss.com. Brad Burwell and Rob Anderson will announce on Friday, while Burwell will work alone on Saturday, if necessary.
Video Webcast Information
The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds (but not the finals) of the MVC Tournament will be streamed live through a link on www.mvc.org. There will be a fee to view the video webcast.
Live Stats Information
All 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 the exact links to the Wichita State page.
Television Information
On Saturday, Nov. 29, Valley TV cameras will showcase Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan., for the 7 p.m. Central telecast. The title match will be shown live at 7 p.m. on Cox 2 (Omaha), Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox College Sports, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and Metro Sports – the league's production company which is based in Kansas City, Mo.
If, and only if, Creighton makes the championship match, the title match will air in Omaha on Cox Cable channel 2. However, the volleyball match will NOT air on Fox Sports Midwest in the state of Nebraska due to the men's college basketball game between Creighton and Nebraska that is being contested at the same time from the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Coordinates are below:
What: 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament Title Match
When: Saturday, November 29 -- 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Where: Charles Koch Arena -- Wichita, Kan.
Clearances: Live at 7 p.m. Central on Nov. 29 on Cox 2 (Omaha), Fox Sports Midwest outside of Nebraska (2.9 million homes); Fox Sports Indiana (1.2 million homes); Fox Sports Kansas City (1.6 million homes); Fox College Sports (52 million digital homes); Comcast SportsNet Chicago (4.759 million homes); Metro Sports in Kansas City, Mo. (500,000 homes); DirecTV Channel 671 and Dish Network Channel 418.
Test Time: 6:30 p.m. Central
On Air: 7:00 p.m. Central
Satellite Coordinates: AMC 15K, Transponder 4 – Digital Slot B
Band: Digital KU
Bandwidth: 9 Megahertz
Parameters: FEC <
Symbol Rate: 6.1113
Downlink Frequency: 11775.50 Megahertz Horizontal
On-Air Talent: Greg Halbleib, Linda Dollar
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 18-8 this season while playing the nation's fourth-toughest non-conference schedule. The team's 15-3 record in MVC play is its most league wins ever, and its second-place standing in league play is also the best league finish in program history.
The Bluejays have won a school-record eight consecutive matches and are 13-2 since October 1st, falling only to No. 3 Nebraska (26-2) and No. 11 Wichita State (29-0) in that span.
Junior MB Jessica Houts leads the team in kills per set (3.18) and blocks per set (1.33) while also hitting at a .289 mark. She is the only MVC player to rank in the top seven of each category.
Senior S Korie Lebeda (10.62 aps.) ranks fifth in MVC history with a Creighton-record 5,231 assists. She posted a double-double in 14 of 18 Valley matches and is a two-time all-MVC first-team selection.
Two other seniors playing a key role offensively are Amanda Cvejdlik (3.05 kps., .243%) and Carolyn Decker (2.70 kps., 2.82 dps.). Decker owns six double-doubles in her last 11 matches.
Defensively, senior libero Bianca Rivera (4.95 dps.) set school records for single-season digs and digs per set last fall and is a four-time MVC Defensive Player of the Week in her career. She owns 10 or more digs in 52 of 57 career matches at Creighton, reaching 20 or more digs on 26 occasions.
Coming off back-to-back 21-10 seasons, Creighton had been picked third in the preseason MVC poll.
Creighton hits .231 as a team and averages 13.43 kills, 0.94 aces, 17.15 digs and 2.67 blocks per set.
Scouting Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa is 23-7 overall and finished third in the MVC with a 13-5 mark.
Four of UNI's losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top-25 of the AVCA poll.
Amy Sampson (3.26 kps.) leads the team in kills by 10 over Shannon Aschoff (3.16 kps., 2.39 dps.). Another force for UNI in the middle is Ashten Stelken (3.01 kps.), who ranks fourth nationally with 1.48 blocks per set.
Ellie Blankenship ranks in the top-10 nationally with 5.56 digs per set, while freshman Bre Payton (9.86 aps.) handles most of the setting duties.
UNI hits .236 as a team and averages 13.50 kills, 1.32 aces, 16.67 digs and 2.66 blocks per set.
The Panthers have won eight of the past 10 MVC Tournaments, including the last two, and own 13 titles all-time.
Scouting Evansville
Evansville returns to the MVC Tournament for the second time in three years as the sixth seed. The Purple Aces punched their ticket on the penultimate night of the regular-season with a road win at Indiana State, snapping a four-match losing skid in the process.
The Aces will have to open up with Northern Iowa, but that's fine with them. UE erased an 0-30 all-time history with UNI by defeating the Panthers, 3-1, when the teams last met on November 1st at Carson Center.
Brooke Maher averages 2.48 kills per set and is one of four UE players averaging multiple kills.
Julie Sylvester averages 4.81 digs per set to lead the defense.
Evansville averages 12.51 kills, 0.95 aces, 16.42 digs and 1.64 blocks per set while hitting .173 as a team.
Series History vs. Northern Iowa
Northern Iowa owns a commanding 31-3 record all-time against Creighton, including a 4-0 record in Valley Tournament play. The Panthers have ended Creighton's season at the MVC Tournament each of the last three years.
Creighton has won regular-season meetings against UNI in 2005 (3-2 in Cedar Falls), 2007 (3-2 in Cedar Falls) and last Friday (3-0 in Omaha).
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 3-12 vs. Northern Iowa and 3-12 vs. Bobbi Petersen. Petersen is 19-3 overall against Creighton.
Series History vs. Evansville
Creighton is 21-10 all-time against Evansville, though the Purple Aces won the lone Valley Tournament meeting way back in 2000 (3-1 in Terre Haute). Ten of the 31 meetings have gone the maximum five sets.
The Jays have won the last 12 meetings in the series, and 15 of the past 16.
Creighton has won the first set in the last 10 meetings with UE and taken the third set in the past 12 encounters.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 12-0 against Evansville and Mike Swan.
The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 106-71 record in her sixth season with the Bluejays. She became the program's all-time winningest coach on Aug. 25, 2007 with a 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin and joined the 100-win club with an Oct. 31, 2008 win at Drake.
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, assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens and volunteer assistant Adam Ybarra. UNI is coached by Bobbi Petersen (Northern Iowa, 1990), who owns a 226-68 record in her ninth year with the Panthers. Petersen was named 2002 AVCA National Coach of the Year and also earned MVC Coach of the Year honors in 2006. Generally regarded as one of the best players in MVC history, Petersen ranked 10th nationally among active coaches in winning percentage entering 2008. Petersen is assisted by Kalani Mahi, Kim Davis, Shaun Juan and Michelle Coulter.
Evansville is coached by Mike Swan, who owns a 70-113 record in his sixth year with the Purple Aces. He owns a career record of 447-343 in 23 seasons overall. He is assisted by Manolo Concepcion and Evelia Yajaira Cadet.
Last Weekend Summary
Creighton swept a pair of home matches to close out its six-year run at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, defeating Northern Iowa and Bradley. Carolyn Decker led the way with 33 kills, 19 digs and eight blocks on the weekend, while Lauren Bloemke had as many blocks (11) as both UNI and Bradley combined.
Past MVC Tournament History
Creighton is 3-9 in nine previous appearances at the MVC Tournament, with wins coming in 1997 vs. Indiana State, in 2006 against Illinois State and last year against Southern Illinois.
Creighton is 0-1 in tournament action in Wichita, Kan., falling in three sets during the 2004 quarterfinals against Illinois State.
Creighton has never reached the final.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 2-5 all-time in league tournament action.
Series Info Against The MVC Tournament
Below is Creighton's all-time records against the five teams it could meet in this weekend's MVC Tournament:
Opponent All-Time Streak This Year
Evansville 21-10 Won 12 2-0
Illinois State 10-23 Won 7 2-0
Missouri State 6-25 Won 3 2-0
Northern Iowa 3-31 Won 1 1-1
Wichita State 14-18 Lost 5 0-2
TOTAL 54-107 -- 7-3
The Case For Creighton...
Should they not win the automatic bid, why should Creighton be considered for an at-large bid? Let's take a closer look (all win-loss numbers as of Nov. 23...all of Rich Kern's RPI figures are through Nov. 16th).
-Creighton has 18 wins, but did not compete in the Ladyjack Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas, the weekend of Sept. 12-13 due to Hurricane Ike. Creighton would have played Rice, Oklahoma and Stephen F. Austin in that event.
-Creighton's non-conference strength of schedule stands at No. 4 nationally. Six of Creighton's eight non-conference opponents own an RPI of 61 or better, while the two that weren't have been Mississippi (an NCAA qualifier last year that went from 25-8 last year to 13-15 this year) and Jacksonville State (the defending OVC co-champ who went from 18-10 last year to 10-19 this fall).
-Creighton finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 15-3 record, the nation's ninth-best conference, two games ahead of third-place Northern Iowa.
-Creighton went 6-7 in 13 matches this fall against teams that participated in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
-Creighton is just 60 miles from Lincoln, Neb., home of the defending national champions and a program that sells out every home match. CU is also within driving distance to potential hosts Minnesota, Wichita State and Kansas State.
-Creighton has played at least one match at Qwest Center Omaha -- home to this year's Volleyball Championship -- in each of the past three years, drawing more than 8,000 fans each time.
-Creighton isn't too shabby when it comes to attendance either, ranking in the top 16 nationally each of the past two years.
-Creighton owns a 9-3 mark in matches away from home this year, including an 8-2 mark in the true road contests.
-Creighton's RKPI was 43rd as of Nov. 17.
-Since the last official RPI from the NCAA on Nov. 9, Creighton has gone 4-0, including a 3-0 win over No. 38 Northern Iowa.
-The eight teams to beat Creighton have a combined record of 190-42 (.819) this year.
-All eight of Creighton's losses have come to teams in the top 51 of the RKPI.
-Creighton's road loss at Northern Iowa on Sept. 20th came without Carolyn Decker (family reasons), which moved the starting middle blocker to the right side and moved a true freshman into the starting middle blocker role.
-Creighton's five-set loss to UAB (14-16 in the fifth) came without starting OH Allie Oelke playing in the front row due to an abdominal injury.
-Creighton is 12-1 in its last 13 matches, including a current eight-match win streak.
-Creighton is 13-2 since the start of October, falling only to #3 Nebraska (26-2) and #11 Wichita State (29-0).
Revenge On The Mind
Should Northern Iowa reach Friday night's semifinal, you can be sure revenge will on the mind of the Bluejay upperclassmen.
Northern Iowa, CU's potential opponent in that 5 pm match, has ended the Jays season in the semifinals each of the past three years.
In league history two schools have met in four straight MVC Tournaments on two previous occasions.
Northern Iowa and Illinois State met in five straight years from 1997-2001. ISU won the 1997 meeting before the Panthers won the next four.
Likewise, from 1986-1990, Missouri State and UNI met five straight years. However, that series saw UNI win three and MSU two.
Looking For 200 Wins
Creighton Volleyball owns 199 wins since restarting its program in 1994. A win in the semifinals against either UNI or Evansville would mark the 200th in the modern era. Kirsten Bernthal Booth has won more than half (106) of those matches.
Not The Top Seed...Not A Problem
Including the men's soccer team earlier this month, Creighton has now won 26 MVC Tournament titles since Bruce Rasmussen took over as Director of Athletics in 1994.
Interestingly, only seven of those 26 teams were actually the No. 1 seed entering that tournament.
In fact, 13 of the last 15 times Creighton has won an MVC Tournament, they've done it without the benefit of being the top seed.
Below is the list of Creighton's last 15 MVC Tournament titles, as well as their seed entering the tournament:
Sport Year Seed
Men's Soccer 2008 1st
Women's Soccer 2007 3rd
Baseball 2007 2nd
Softball 2007 1st
Men's Basketball 2007 2nd
Men's Soccer 2006 2nd
Men's Soccer 2005 2nd
Women's Soccer 2005 2nd
Softball 2005 3rd
Men's Basketball 2005 3rd
Women's Soccer 2004 2nd
Softball 2004 2nd
Men's Basketball 2003 2nd
Softball 2003 4th
Men's Soccer 2002 2nd
History Of Second Seed
The second seed has won the MVC Tournament in three of the past five years (2003, 2005, 2007) and is 13-10 overall since the tournament went to a six-team format in 1995.
Three teams seeded second have lost in the MVC Tournament semifinals (2002, 2004, 2006).
However, since 2002, every second seed to reach the final has won in the championship match.
Defensive Minded Bluejays
In the most recent edition of the NCAA Volleyball statistics (through Nov. 16), Creighton ranked 18th nationally with 2.62 blocks per set and 21st nationally with 17.02 digs per set. Those numbers should only climb on the national leaderboard since CU upped its averages to 17.15 digs per set and 2.67 blocks per set during a strong final weekend.
Creighton is the school in the country to rank in the top-21 of both categories.
The categories are typically are opposites, since blocks, by definition, end points and eliminate dig opportunities.
Another defensive category not tracked by the NCAA is fewest aces allowed. Creighton has allowed just 0.66 aces per set, which amounts to 2.42 aces per match allowed. During the team's current eight-match win streak, CU has allowed a grand total of 10 aces in 29 sets played (0.34).
Against Ranked Teams
A potential championship match contest against #11 Wichita State would give Creighton a chance to snap its 0-33 record against ranked opponents, including an 0-5 mark this fall.
Creighton vs. Ranked Teams All-Time (0-33)
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
11/10/07 at #24 Wichita State L 0-3
08/29/08 #16 Minnesota L 0-3
08/30/08 #21 LSU L 2-3
09/27/08 #14 Wichita State L 1-3
10/05/08 #2 Nebraska L 0-3
10/24/08 at #12 Wichita State L 0-3
New Facility on the Way
Creighton broke ground on a new athletics facility on October 16, 2007, to be located just northwest of Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium on the northeast corner of Webster Street and Florence Boulevard.
The Ryan Center and D.J. Sokol Arena, a 75,000 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, hosting the MVC Tournament that November.
Last Call at the Civic?
Last Saturday's contest against Bradley figures to be the last match for Creighton Volleyball at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, as the team is slated to move into the on-campus Ryan Center next fall.
Creighton began playing volleyball at the Civic in the fall of 2003 and is 44-26 overall and 35-19 in MVC play in the venerable facility.
With two wins last weekend, the Bluejays set a school record for home wins in a season (at any venue) with nine.
Creighton's current seven-match win streak at the Civic is also the longest victory string in the building by the Bluejay volleyball program.
Win Streak Reaches Eight
Creighton has won eight straight matches, its longest streak in school history.
The Jays have had at least one streak of four straight wins in all six seasons under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, who took over after the 2002 team went 3-23.
Traditional power Northern Iowa probably isn't too impressed with that stat. The Panthers own at least one streak of eight straight wins in all but one (2005) season since 1994 and 16 such different streaks of eight straight wins in those 15 years.
Most Consecutive Wins, Creighton History
Wins Dates Snapped By
8 Oct. 25, 2008-Present ? ? ?
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, 3-1
5 Oct. 26-Nov. 9, 2007 at #24 Wichita State, 3-1
Hot, Hot, Hot
Creighton has won 12 of its past 13 matches, just the first time in school history its been able to claim that.
First Sets Not Close
Creighton has not had a first set played closer than 25-21 in any of its last 17 matches, dating all the way to a 27-25 loss at UNI on Sept. 20th.
In fact, Creighton has allowed only one team to score more than 17 points in the first set of its current eight-match winning streak.
Additionally in the current eight-match win streak, Creighton has not won any set in which it has allowed more than 21 points.
She's A Winner
Korie Lebeda has played in more wins than anyone else in Creighton's modern (since 1994) volleyball history with 76. Creighton is 76-42 since Lebeda's arrival on campus after going 47-65 in the four seasons prior.
The previous mark was 73 matches played in as a winner, held by Kelly Goc and Abby Baumann.
Seniors Honored Before Final Home Match
Last Saturday marked Senior Night for Creighton seniors Amanda Cvejdlik, Carolyn Decker, Korie Lebeda and Bianca Rivera. In the last four years the quartet owns a record of 76-42, including a pair of 21-10 seasons, and reached the MVC Tournament semifinals three times.
All four rank among the top-10 in at least two career categories at Creighton.
Cvejdlik ranks fifth in points (1186.0), sixth in kills (1,018), kills per set (3.01) and point per set (3.51) and seventh in attack attempts (2,623).
Decker ranks fifth in aces (86), third in aces per set (.292), eighth in points (802.0) and 10th in points per set (2.72).
Lebeda owns Creighton career records for assists (5,231), assists per set (12.37), sets played (423) and matches played (116), fifth in digs (1,113), seventh in block solos (42) and eighth in attack percentage (.239), total blocks (273) and block assists (231).
Rivera is first in digs per set (5.39) and sixth in digs (1,088).
And Who Will Replace Them?
Though it'll be tough to replace Creighton's four outgoing seniors, coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth signed three high school seniors to letters-of-intent to join the program next fall.
Below is a look at the newest members of the Bluejay program:
Name Ht. Pos. Hometown
Brooke Boggs 5-8 OH Wildwood, Mo.
Caitlin Templeton 6-1 OH Rapid City, S.D.
Heather Thorson 6-3 MB Mead, Neb.
Stats Don't Equal Win
Creighton lost in four sets at Northern Iowa on Sept. 20th despite winning nearly every statistical category. The Bluejays scored three more points (94-91), had a better hitting percentage (.244 to .219) and also had more kills (61-56), digs (80-61) and blocks (9-8) than the Panthers. Creighton had won 80 consecutive matches when owning a better hitting percentage than its opponent.
Creighton also played the match without starting OH Carolyn Decker.
A Sign For Optimism
Creighton needs to only look back 12 months to find the last MVC team to start 6-7 and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Last fall, Northern Iowa started 6-7 and were at the .500 mark (9-9) as late as October 8th. The Panthers got hot after a crushing five-set loss at Illinois State (losing 35-33 in set four and 21-19 in set five...blowing eight match points overall). That heartbreaking loss dropped UNI to 0-5 in five-set matches in 2007. Northern Iowa would win 10 of its final 11 regular-season MVC matches, win the MVC Tournament, and reach the NCAA Tournament.
Like UNI last year, this year's Creighton team has come agonizingly close to big wins early in the season and struggled to close out five-set matches. However, this year's Bluejay squad also boasts the talent, drive and experience that helped turn around last fall's Panther team.
Stelken vs. Houts
Two of the Midwest's top middle blockers could square off on Friday if Creighton's Jessica Houts locks horns with UNI's Ashten Stelken.
Stelken leads the MVC and ranks fourth nationally with 1.48 blocks per set, with Houts ranking second in the MVC and 18th nationally with 1.33 blocks per set.
Houts owns a decided difference when it comes to digs, averaging 1.76 digs per set compared to Stelken's 0.69 dps.
In their first head-to-head match-up, Houts had 17 kills, nine digs and three blocks while hitting .448 in 29 swings, compared to Stelken's eight kills, six digs and six blocks while hitting .130 in 23 swings. Stelken's team earned the 3-1 win though.
Last Friday Stelken finished with seven kills and four blocks while hitting .040, while Houts had five kills, seven digs and four blocks while hitting .333 in a 3-0 sweep.
Ranked vs. Unranked
While Creighton continues its quest for a first-ever win over a ranked team, the Jays have been beating unranked competition on a regular-basis this fall.
The only teams to beat the Jays since the start of October has been No. 3 Nebraska (26-2) and No. 11 Wichita State (29-0).
Creighton has won 14 straight matches vs. unranked teams this fall. Even better, both potential semifinal opponents, Northern Iowa and Evansville, are not ranked.
Digger's Hotline
Senior libero Bianca Rivera owns 11 or more digs in each of Creighton's last 18 matches, including 10 performances of 20 digs or more in that time. She is averaging 5.85 digs per set in the last 18 matches.
Rivera is Creighton's only player ever with two seasons of 450 or more digs.
Rivera owns 26 career matches of 20 or more digs, most in Bluejay history, including a record-tying 38 digs last season at Drake.
Rivera had a season-high 34 digs on Nov. 8 in a win over Illinois State. That gives her three different career matches of 30 or more digs, one away from Piller's school record.
Rivera's 27 digs at Southern Illinois on Nov. 14 tied the most in Bluejay history for a three-set match and helped her earn MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 17.
Matches With 20+ Digs, Career
20+D Name Years
26 Bianca Rivera 2007-Pres.
20 Janeen Piller 2001-04
11 Katie Mehal 2004-07
Consecutive Matches, 10 or More Digs
43 Janeen Piller, Oct. 10, 2003-Nov. 26, 2004
27 Bianca Rivera, Aug. 24-Nov. 9, 2007
18 Bianca Rivera, Sept. 20, 2008-Present
15 Abby Baumann, Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 2006
15 Katie Mehal, Oct. 6-Nov. 24, 2006
Rivera Serving Team In All Roles
Bianca Rivera had just six aces in the first 19 matches of the year, but has taken her serving to another level recently. Rivera owns nine aces in her last seven matches alone.
Defensive Display
Creighton had a season-high 106 digs in the Nov. 8 win over Illinois State, easily a season-high.
Creighton owns just six home matches in the last four years in which it has 97 digs or more, but four of those have come against Illinois State.
In that span, Creighton has averaged 25.18 digs in those 17 sets played in Omaha against Illinois State.
Rivera Reaches 1,000 Digs
Defensively, Bianca Rivera owns 1,088 career digs, surpassing the 1,000 mark on Nov. 8 vs. Illinois State as part of a season-high 34 digs.
Earlier this year Korie Lebeda became the fifth player in CU history to reach 1,000 career digs. Rivera and Lebeda entered into the 1,000-dig club this year, joining Melissa Walsh and Kailey Reyes as teammates to pass 1,000 digs in the same season. Walsh and Reyes did so in 2001.
Rivera needed 53 matches to reach 1,000 career digs. Previously, the fewest matches in CU history to reach 1,000 digs has been Reyes, who needed 77 contests.
Most MVC Wins Ever
Creighton has won a school-record 15 MVC matches this year, one more than last year's previous best of 14.
Since the MVC returned to an 18-match Valley slate in 1996, teams with 15 or more league wins have made the NCAA Tournament on 14 of 20 occasions (70 percent), but just four of 90 times (4.4 percent) when winning 14 or less league matches.
Duo Reaches 1,000 Kills
Junior Jessica Houts became the sixth player in Creighton history with at least 1,000 kills when she hammered one home against Illinois State on Nov. 8th.
One week later senior Amanda Cvejdlik became the seventh member of that club. Cvejdlik owns 1,005 kills and ranks sixth in CU history in that category.
Creighton had never previously had two players reach 1,000 kills in the same season.
Career Kills
Name Games No. Years
1. Leah Ratzlaff 409 1,622 2002-05
2. Melissa Walsh 394 1,596 1998-01
3. Kelly Goc 394 1,414 2004-07
4. JoDe Cieloha 398 1,375 1994-97
5. Jessica Houts 331 1,042 2005-Pr.
6. Amanda Cvejdlik 338 1,018 2005-Pr.
7. Shelly Kapler 388 1,000 1996-99
8. Erin Swanson 319 955 1998-01
9. Ashley Williams 359 941 2001-04
10. Michelle Prorock 299 815 1994-96
One of Eight
Korie Lebeda surpassed the 5,000-assist milestone on Oct. 31 in a win at Drake, becoming just the eighth player in Missouri Valley Conference history to reach that plateau on a pass to Jessica Houts.
Lebeda, who owns 5,231 career helpers, faced current No. 3 on that list, Illinois State's Erin Lindsey (5,461), on Nov. 8. It was just the third time in MVC history that two players with 5,000 or more assists faced each other.
Jill Arganbright (UNI) faced Chenille Bayless (MSU) on both Nov. 14 and Nov. 29, 2003, after both had more than 5,000 career assists under their belt.
Korie, Korie, Korie
Korie Lebeda has started all 118 matches since coming to campus, passing Melissa Walsh's (1998-01) former record of 107 career starts.
Lebeda's 118 matches played are a school-record, two more than the previous mark of 117.
With 423 career sets played, Lebeda has broken the school record of 411 sets played by Melissa Weisensee (1994-97).
Lebeda has also become the first Bluejay ever to record 1,000 or more assists in four straight seasons.
Lebeda has already joined Weisensee and Kailey Reyes as the third player in Creighton history with more than 1,000 assists and digs.
She enters this weekend with 5,231 career assists (fifth in MVC history) and 1,113 career digs.
Lebeda has done her work in 423 sets, averaging 12.37 aps., while No. 4 on the list, Illinois State's Erin Lindsey, has averaged 12.08 aps., but has played in significantly more (455) sets.
Lebeda's Creighton teams have won seven of the nine head-to-head meetings versus ISU since the two enrolled in college in the fall of 2005.
Most Assists, MVC History
Rk. Assists Name, School Years
1. 6,064 Jill Arganbright, UNI 2000-03
2. 5,614 Marisa Brickley, ILS 1995-98
3. 5,498 Erin Lindsey, ILS 2005-Pres.
4. 5,431 Chenille Bayless, MSU 2000-03
5. 5,231 Korie Lebeda, CU 2005-Pres.
6. 5,137 Megan Mirs, INS 1998-01
Leave it to Lebeda
Korie Lebeda enters this weekend with 5,231 career assists, 1,113 digs, 406 kills and 273 blocks.
She is one of three players in MVC history with at least 5,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 350 kills and 260 blocks. The other two were Jill Arganbright (UNI, 2000-03) and Chenille Bayless (MSU, 2000-03).
She is the MVC's only player with at least 5,200 assists, 1,100 digs and 273 blocks in a career.
Name, School Ast. K D B
Jill Arganbright, UNI 6,064 605 1,025 300
Chenille Bayless, MSU 5,431 469 1,213 271
Korie Lebeda, CU 5,231 406 1,113 273
Booth Reaches 100 Wins
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth became the first Bluejay volleyball coach to 100 wins with this year's Halloween Night victory at Drake. Now in her sixth year, Booth is 106-71 with the Bluejays.
By comparison, highly successful Creighton men's basketball coach Dana Altman needed 178 games to reach 100 wins with the Bluejays.
Below is a list of games/matches needed by some of Creighton's most prominent active coaches to reach 100 wins.
Coach Sport Games to 100 Wins
Bob Warming Men's Soccer 141
Ed Servais Baseball 146
Kirsten Booth Volleyball 171
Jim Flanery Women's Basketball 175
Dana Altman Men's Basketball 178
Bruce Erickson Women's Soccer 197
Brent Vigness Softball 200
Initiation Ritual
Creighton has won 14 straight matches against first-year coaches dating to an Aug. 27, 2005 setback to Iowa State's Christy Johnson, a streak it will could potentially extend if it faced Illinois State's Melissa Myers in the MVC Tournament championship match.
Creighton has faced eight coaches in their first year a school this season, and beaten all them (Bradley's Sean Burdette, Indiana State's Traci Dahl, Drake's Phil McDaniel and Myers twice). Last year CU beat the only first-year coach it faced, Charlotte's Chris Redding.
In 2006, Creighton beat the only first-year coach it faced, North Dakota State's Erich Hinterstocker.
In 2005, Creighton went 5-1 against first-year coaches, winning its final four matches after losing to Johnson. However, CU did beat Drake's Amy Farber Knowles and Southern Illinois' Brenda Winkeler twice each, in addition to a season-opening win over Northern Colorado coach Lyndsey Benson.
Computer Math
The volleyball-specific site at richkern.com has published its 11th computer rankings of the fall.
Through matches of Nov. 16th, Creighton was ranked No. 34 in the “Pablo” rankings, second-best in the MVC behind Wichita State (20) and one of six MVC schools to crack the top-111.
Creighton's strength of schedule, based on the average of an opponents RPI, is rated 49th-toughest nationally and fourth-best when only non-conference matches are factored in.
Creighton is 9-0 against teams with a Pablo computer ranking of 112 or worse, and 9-8 against teams in the top-111 nationally.
If you include Wichita State twice (since WSU beat CU twice), the teams to beat Creighton this year own a combined record of 190-42 (.819).
More Computer Rankings
The NCAA has come out with its official RPI, and it also recognizes the performance of Creighton to date. The NCAA's RPI, which included matches through Nov. 9th in its most recent release, ranked Creighton 48th nationally.
Last year, when the NCAA Tournament selected four MVC teams, Creighton finished the year with an RPI of 56. Ironically, the team that finished the year with an RPI of 52 was Illinois State, a club that some believe was granted the final at-large bid over Creighton.
Below is a data compiled from RichKern.com that shows the RPI of the worst-ranked at-large team to reach the NCAA, as well as the best RPI to be omitted, in NCAA Tournaments since 2001.
Year Worst At-Large RPI Best RPI Omitted
2007 52, Illinois State 37, Tulane
2006 65, Alabama 36, Illinois
2005 67, Nevada 37, Wichita State
2004 92, Idaho 38, Duke
2003 86, Idaho 41, Wis.-Milwaukee
2002 65, Indiana 18, Arkansas
2001 81, San Diego State 33, South Florida
According to the official RPI, Creighton is 9-8 against the top-105 teams and 9-0 versus teams 106 and higher.
Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 20-6 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-set matches on a yearly basis:
Year Set 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 21-10
2008 2-2 18-8
Total 35-34 199-223
.500 in MVC Play Guaranteed
Creighton's win at Drake on Oct. 31 gave Creighton nine wins in MVC action, ensuring a sixth straight season of a .500 record or better in league play.
Prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, Creighton had gone .500 or better in only four of nine seasons all-time.
Holding The Aces
Creighton did not allow an ace in the Oct. 25 five-set win over Missouri State, successfully handling all 93 service attempts from the Bears. It was the first time in CU history that it had played a five-set match in which it did not allow an ace.
In school history, Creighton is 13-0 in matches in which it does not allow an ace. All but one of those contests have taken place since Kirsten Bernthal Booth took over in 2003.
TGIF
Creighton continued its Friday road success streak on Nov. 14 when it visited Southern Illinois.
The Jays have won 13 of their past 14 Friday road matches in MVC play. The only setback in the less three years was the Oct. 24 loss at undefeated Wichita State.
Creighton is 18-7 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in MVC road matches played on Friday and 16-11 in MVC road matches played on Saturday. The Jays are also 0-1 in MVC Sunday road matches and 1-0 in MVC Tuesday road matches under Booth.
Road Warriors
It's difficult to pinpoint the reason, but Creighton has traditionally played better volleyball when on the road in recent seasons.
In six years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Creighton owns a 44-29 record at home (.603), but are a remarkably similar 62-42 (.596) in matches played on the road or at neutral sites.
This surprising record of success even holds up in league play, where the Jays play each opponent once each at home and on the road every fall. Under Booth, CU is 35-19 at home but 35-19 on the road in league action. Last year Creighton went 8-1 on the road in MVC play.
Each of the previous two years, CU has been 8-5 at home in all matches but 9-4 in true road contests. This year's club is 8-2 in true road matches, 9-5 at home and 1-1 at neutral sites.
Creighton is 15-3 in the past two years in road MVC matches.
Aces Away
Creighton served up a season-high seven aces in a four-set win over Southern Illinois on Oct. 18th. The Bluejays are 14-0 this year and 81-17 under coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth when serving up more aces than their opponent in a match.
Random Facts
Here's a collection of random facts about Creighton Volleyball.
Creighton is 22-1 all-time when sophomore Allie Oelke hits .168 or better, including 19 straight wins.
Creighton is 12-2 this year and 17-2 in the past four years when Carolyn Decker has 10 kills or more.
Creighton is 0-6 this season in sets in which it makes nine or more attack errors.
Creighton finished October with a 7-2 record, matching the 2004 team for most October wins in school history.
Houts & Rivera Honored By MVC
Jessica Houts and Bianca Rivera were honored on Oct. 13 by the Missouri Valley Conference as its Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively. Houts also earned Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week honors two days later for her accomplishments.
A junior middle blocker from Bloomington, Minn., Houts led Creighton in hitting percentage (.407), points (4.38), kills (3.62), blocks (0.88) and aces (0.25) per set as the Bluejays picked up road wins at Illinois State (3-2) and Indiana State (3-0). The wins completed CU's first undefeated weekend of the fall and moved the team over .500 (8-7) for the first time this season. Houts owns a 3.417 GPA in Exercise Science.
Rivera is a senior libero from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She averaged 4.62 digs and added seven assists in Creighton's two victories. She had a match-high 21 digs in the win at Illinois State, her school-record-tying 20th career match with 20 or more digs.
Full Houts
Jessica Houts had at least seven kills, seven blocks and seven digs in the same match during six of Creighton's 18 MVC matches this year.
By comparison, the rest of the MVC put up just one such match of 7-7-7 in league play, the 11-kill, 18-dig, eight-block outing by Bradley's Kaitlyn Comiskey on Oct. 3, 2008 vs. Southern Illinois.
7+ Kills, 7+Digs, 7+Blocks in an MVC Match, 2008
Name, School SETS K D B Date
Jessica Houts, CU 4 17 8 7 9/26
Jessica Houts, CU 4 15 8 7 9/27
Kaitlyn Comiskey, BU 5 11 18 8 10/3
Jessica Houts, CU 5 17 7 7 10/10
Jessica Houts, CU 3 7 10 9 10/17
Jessica Houts, CU 3 7 8 9 11/7
Jessica Houts, CU 4 14 9 8 11/8
Houts Breaks Career Block Assist Record
Creighton junior Jessica Houts broke Creighton's all-time block assist record on Nov. 7 against Indiana State.
She has flown past Ashley Williams (2001-04) old mark of 347 and Houts now has 374 block assists in her career.
Oelke Gets Untracked
Sophomore OH Allie Oelke has posted 10 or more kills in six of the last 13 matches after doing so just twice in the team's first 13 contests.
Oelke had 10 kills or more in 22 of 31 matches as a freshman, including a streak of nine straight from Sept. 8 to Sept. 29 last season.
Rounding Second, Headed For Home
Creighton went 7-2 in the first half of the MVC season for the third straight fall, matching their best record at the Valley midway point ever. The Jays 8-1 finish in the second half of the MVC slate this fall is its best ever finish for a round-robin trip through the league.
Creighton has had a winning record at the midway point of conference play on eight previous occasions, and qualified for the MVC Tournament each time.
League Record by Year
Year 1st Half 2nd Half MVC Finish
2008 7-2 8-1 2nd
2007 7-2 7-2 T-2nd
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 68-69 64-73 --
Record Watches
Carolyn Decker served up an ace against Bradley last Saturday to move her team-high total to 20 this fall. Decker now owns 86 career aces, fifth-most in Creighton history.
Additionally, Jessica Houts has 434 career blocks and has moved into third on the school's all-time total blocks list, 13 away from tying Ashley Williams (2001-04) career mark of 447.
Top Crowds of 2008
Creighton hosted 8,037 fans at Qwest Center Omaha for its Oct. 5 match against No. 2 Nebraska. The crowd is the fifth-largest volleyball-only crowd in the country this fall, the third largest home crowd in Creighton history, and also the third-largest crowd in MVC history. Below is a list of the nation's top crowds of 2008, as compiled by Diane Nordstrom in the Wisconsin's Sports Information Office:
Largest Crowds of 2008, Nationally
Rank Att. Match, Date
1. 13,412 LSU at Nebraska, 9/12
2. 10,570 Wisconsin at Purdue, 10/17
3. 10,126 Penn State at Minnesota, 10/11
4. 8,399 Runza/AVCA Showcase, 8/31
5. 8,037 Nebraska at Creighton, 10/5
Creighton's Largest Home Crowds, All-Time
Rank Att. Opponent Date
1. 13,081 #18 Cal Poly 09/02/07
2. 12,112 #1 Nebraska 09/24/06
3. 8,037 #2 Nebraska 10/05/08
Largest Home Crowds, MVC History
Rank Att. Match Date
1. 13,081 #18 Cal Poly at Creighton 09/02/07
2. 12,112 #1 Nebraska at Creighton 09/24/06
3. 8,037 #2 Nebraska at Creighton 10/05/08
4. 6,122 Missouri State at Wichita St. 11/02/07
5. 6,024 Kansas State at Wichita St. 08/25/07
Attendance Rankings
Creighton averaged 1,403 fans per home match, good enough to rank 24th in this week's edition of the national leaders in volleyball attendance.
Last year Creighton finished 14th nationally in attendance and in 2006 the Jays were tied for 16th. Below is a look at the national leaders, through matches of November 16:
Top Average Home Attendance, 2008 (thru 11/16)
Rk. School Avg.
1. Hawaii 6,138
2. Nebraska 4,913
3. Wisconsin 4,419
4. Minnesota 3,924
5. Wichita State 3,097
6. Penn State 2,986
7. Michigan State 2,856
8. Purdue 2,837
9. Florida 2,464
10. Colorado State 2,387
11. Texas 2,369
12. Stanford 2,243
13. North Carolina 2,070
14. Washington 1,899
15. Missouri 1,742
16. Iowa State 1,736
17. New Mexico State 1,679
18. Southern California 1,632
19. Georgia Tech 1,611
20. Texas A&M 1,576
21. New Mexico 1,547
22. Kansas State 1,487
23. Illinois State 1,427
24. Creighton 1,410
25. Northern Iowa 1,405
Lebeda Keeps Doubling Up
Senior setter Korie Lebeda's streak of six consecutive double-doubles was snapped when she had 24 assists and eight digs against Nebraska on Oct. 5.
Lebeda's streak was tied for fourth-longest in school history, and just two behind Melissa Walsh's school mark of eight in a row set in 2000.
Lebeda's 55 career double-doubles is fourth-most in Bluejay history, 10 behind Melissa Weisensee's record of 65 from 1994-97.
Matches With A Double-Double, Career
D-D Name Years
65 Melissa Weisensee 1994-97
64 Kailey Reyes 1998-01
60 Melissa Walsh 1998-01
55 Korie Lebeda 2005-Pres.
35 Erin Swanson 1998-01
Hot Hitting Night
Creighton's .414 hitting on October 3rd against Drake was a season-high and tied for the fourth-best performance in school history, as seen below:
Attack Percentage
Three Games
.536 vs. Tulsa (41-4-69) (3 sets) 10-27-95
.495 vs. Liberty (57-8-99) (3 sets) 9-2-05
.418 vs. Evansville (98-21-184) (4 sets) 11-2-96
.414 vs. UC-Riverside (57-11-111) (3 sets) 9-2-05
.414 vs. Drake (49-8-99) (3 sets) 10-3-08
Houts Keeps It Going
Jessica Houts continued her strong play with 13 kills and seven blocks against Drake on October 3rd. That gave her three straight contests with seven blocks or more.
She became the first Bluejay with three straight matches of seven or more blocks since Houts herself accomplished the identical feat on Oct. 15-22, 2005 of her freshman campaign.
The only other player in CU history with three straight matches of seven or more blocks is JoDe Cieloha, who had three straight matches from Sept. 13-15, 1996.
NCAA Tourney Gauntlet is Over
Creighton's October 10th match at Illinois State closed a stretch that saw Creighton face five NCAA Tournament teams in a six-match span. In addition to UNI, Creighton also played qualifiers Missouri State, Wichita State, Nebraska and Illinois State in those three weeks. Drake was the only exception during this span.
The First 1,500 Sets Are The Toughest
Creighton has played 1,545 sets since bringing back volleyball in 1994, winning 737 of those.
Below is a look at Creighton's record by sets, in increments of 500.
Set #'s Dates W-L
1-500 9/2/94 to 11/14/98 (S2) 199-301
501-1000 11/14/98 (S3) to 11/15/03 (S1) 216-284
1001-1500 11/15/03 (S2) to 10/10/08 (S2) 287-213
1501-Pres. 10/10/08 (S3) to Present 35-10
All We Need Is One
Did you know that the team that scores the first point of a set has won 57 of Creighton's 95 sets played this season (.600), including 40 of the last 65.
Ike 1, Creighton 0
Creighton was idle on Sept. 12-13 after the Ladyjack Invitational, scheduled for Nacogdoches, Texas, was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
It marked the first time since Creighton brought back volleyball in 1994 that the Jays had more than 10 days off in between matches while in-season.
Creighton missed a chance for three solid wins, as it would have faced current RPI foes Rice (25), Oklahoma (65) and Stephen F. Austin (146).
Houts Playing Strong, One Year Later
September 11th marked the one-year anniversary of Jessica Houts' tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, which was suffered prior to a 2007 match at Drake. Houts had surgery 10 days later and returned to the court in the spring.
This fall, Houts has been nothing short of spectacular. She's been named to the All-Tournament Team at both events CU has played in, and leads the squad in kills per set (3.18) and blocks per set (1.33) while also hitting .289.
Lebeda Still Going Strong
Senior setter Korie Lebeda has made 118 consecutive starts. Creighton is 76-42 with Lebeda as a starter after going 47-65 in the four years before she arrived on campus.
Decking The Competition
Fifth-year senior Carolyn Decker owns 14 different matches with 10 or more kills this season, including all three contests at the Gamecock Invitational. Decker owned just five total matches with 10 or more kills from 2005-07 while battling through a pair of season-ending injuries.
Dominant Defense
Creighton's 25-12, 25-15, 25-12 win over Jacksonville State on Sept. 5th ranked among the most impressive victories in school history. Creighton held JSU to a -.112 attack percentage, the lowest mark ever by a Bluejay opponent.
Additionally, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State team did not record an ace and were outblocked 15-0.
Below is the lowest hitting percentages ever by a Creighton opponent:
Lowest Opp. Hitting Pct. vs. Creighton, Match
Pct. Team K E TA Date
-.112 Jacksonville St. 18 27 80 9/5/08
-.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
-.0096 Bradley 26 27 104 11/22/08
-.0095 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
Difficult Schedule Continues
Nine of Creighton's first 14 matches this season were against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, and three other opponents in that time won 20 or more matches or their regular-season title last year.
Opponent '07 W-L '07 Postseason
Minnesota 18-13 NCAA
LSU* 25-8 NCAA
Texas A&M 21-10 --
Iowa State 19-14 NCAA
Jacksonville State* 18-10 --
UAB 24-10 --
Mississippi 25-8 --
Bradley 3-28
Northern Iowa* 22-11 NCAA
Missouri State 25-8 NCAA
Wichita State* 27-6 NCAA
Drake 7-23 --
Nebraska* 30-2 NCAA
Illinois State 21-12 NCAA
*Won regular-season or conference tournament title
Houts Named To All-Tourney Team
Making her return from a torn ACL that cost her most of last season, Jessica Houts averaged 3.55 kills and 0.91 blocks per set to earn all-Tournament Team honors at the Bluejay Invitational on Aug. 29-30.
Houts led CU with 13 kills, eight digs and .346 in the season-opener against No. 16 Minnesota. She followed that up with a team-best 18 kills and six digs in a five-set loss against No. 21 LSU. She also added eight kills and four blocks in a sweep of Texas A&M, a team picked for fourth in the preseason Big 12 Conference poll.
Minnesota's Brook Dieter was named MVP, and was joined on the all-Tournament team by Rachel Hartmann (Minnesota), Brittnee Cooper (LSU), Elena Martinez (LSU), Mary Batis (Texas A&M) and Houts.
Double-Double Decker
Fifth year senior Carolyn Decker had a match-high 15 digs to go with 13 kills as Creighton became the only team to sweep Texas A&M at the Bluejay Invitational.
Decker's double-double against the Aggies was the senior's first since Nov. 20, 2004 and her 15 digs were her most in a match since a 17-dig performance in the 2005 season opener against Northern Colorado.
Decker, who also hit .429 in the sweep over Texas A&M, was the first CU player to post a double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Allie Oelke had 17 kills and 25 digs while hitting .433 against Evansville on Nov. 4, 2007.
Decker, however, became the first CU senior to have a kill-dig double-double and hit .400 in the same match since Melissa Walsh had 23 kills and 10 digs while hitting .526 against Southern Illinois on Nov. 2, 2001.
Eliminate The Errors
It's true for all programs, but one of the item the Bluejay coaching staff continues to focus on is the elimination of unforced errors.
Creighton has combined for 793 errors (kill errors + set errors + serving errors + ball handling errors + block errors + receiving errors) in 91 sets played to 25.
Creighton has had 10 or more errors in 22 of the 32 sets it has lost, averaging 11.31 miscues in those lost sets.
On the other hand, in the 59 sets that Creighton won, it has made nine errors or less 47 times and averaged just 7.31 errors per set.
Creighton is 36-2 when making eight errors or less in a set to 25 points, but 23-30 when it makes nine or more errors.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 129-7 (.949) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 71-1 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. They own a 61-4 all-time mark in home matches they lead 2-0 in.
Conversely, the Jays are 6-143 (.040) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, including an 0-46 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
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won four matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point. On the other hand, Creighton is 106-0 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
Game 1 Result = Match Result
In its last 89 matches in which it wins set one, Creighton is 81-8. CU is 88-12 overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when they win set one. In that same time span, CU is just 18-59 under Booth when it drops the first game.
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 with CU owning a 26-10 lead over Montana State on Aug. 25, 2007. 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 played every point of the 2008 season thus far as well.
Lebeda has played in 20,926 of a possible 20,938 points since coming to Creighton, good for an astounding 99.943 percent.
Statistics Expected To Decline
With the move from 30-point sets to 25-point sets, don't be surprised to see statistics plummet nearly 20 percent as well.
To help anticipate what the rule change would do this fall, Creighton Volleyball SID Rob Anderson went through all of Creighton's matches last season and eliminated each point and statistic in sets 1-4 that occurred after a team reached 25 points and led by two or more.
Creighton ended up playing 20.46 percent fewer points (form 5,500 to 4,566 points) and numbers dropped across the board with the exception of hitting percentage, which rose by a scant .001.
Listed below is how stats would have been affected had the new rules been in effect last season in regards to stats for the entire team, category leaders, and some single-match superlatives.
Team Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Diff.
Kills Per Set 16.04 13.35 -20%
Hitting Pct. .211 .212 +.001
Assists Per Set 14.82 12.33 -20%
Aces Per Set 1.41 1.21 -17%
Digs Per Set 19.78 16.59 -19%
Blocks Per Set 2.65 2.15 -17%
Indiv. Category To 30 Pts. To 25 Pts. Player
Kills Per Set 4.18 3.46 Goc
Hitting Pct. .368 .369 Goc
Assists Per Set 12.50 10.41 Lebeda
Aces Per Set 0.36 0.33 Oelke
Digs Per Set 5.78 5.03 Rivera
Blocks Per Set 0.99 0.78 Bloemke
Indiv. Superlatives 30-Pt. Matches 25-Pt. Matches
20+ Kills 8 times 3 times
24+ Kills 2 times 0 times
20+ Digs 15 times 9 times
25+ Digs 6 times 3 times
50+ Assists 7 times 1 time
40+ Assists 21 times 8 times
50+ Attempts 5 times 0 times
Double-Doubles 24 times 12 times
Amazing Amanda
After posting just 88 kills during her junior season, senior OH Amanda Cvejdlik appears to have regained the form that saw her post 415 kills as a sophomore. Cvejdlik owns 290 kills this season and has had five or more kills in every match.
Her 17 kills against Missouri State on Sept. 26 were her most in a match since Oct. 7, 2006, when she had 20 putaways versus Bradley. She also had 17 kills at Southern Illinois at Nov. 14.
Cvejdlik hammered 15 kills in 21 errorless swings on October 3rd against Drake, good for a .714 hitting percentage. The .714 hitting percentage was best in school history for a single match by a player with 15 or more kills.
Production Returning
Creighton returns 9-of-14 letterwinners from last season. Below is a breakdown of the production that returns:
Stat Returners Departures
Assists 1506 (95.0%) 80 (5.0%)
Aces 127 (84.1%) 24 (15.9%)
Digs 1704 (80.5%) 412 (19.5%)
Matches Started 138 (74.2%) 48 (25.8%)
Points 1477.5 (68.7%) 673.0 (31.3%)
Kills 1139 (66.3%) 577 (33.7%)
Blocks 159.5 (56.3%) 124 (43.7%)
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked third in the 2008 MVC preseason coaches poll. Wichita State (91 points, four first-place votes) was favored to win its second straight title, just ahead of Northern Iowa (84, two) and Creighton (81, three). Rounding out the rest of the league was Missouri State (73, one), Illinois State (67), Southern Illinois (52), Evansville (34), Drake (31), Bradley (25) and Indiana State (12).
Each of the past six years (including 2008) Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of them or better 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 T-2nd #1
2008 3rd 2nd #1
Preseason Poll
Creighton has been picked third in a preseason poll of Missouri Valley Conference coaches. Defending regular-season champion Wichita State was picked to win the league, while defending tournament champion Northern Iowa was second. Following Creighton, Missouri State and Illinois State rounded out the top half.
Eight players were also named preseason all-MVC, including Bluejay senior Korie Lebeda.
AVCA Honors CU Volleyball For Academics
The Creighton volleyball program was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2008 AVCA Team Academic Award. Creighton previously won the award in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and are one of 10 Division I schools nationwide to win the award in five consecutive campaigns.
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 3.31.
Radio Broadcast Information
Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson will broadcast at least 22 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 2008 Volleyball Broadcast Schedule
Nov. 27-29 at MVC Tournament
Dec. 4-20 at NCAA 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 490 season tickets for volleyball this year after selling 380 season tickets last year.
Fall 2007 Summary
Creighton's 2007 season featured the squad's second consecutive 21-10 record. Despite a tie for second-place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-4 league mark, the Jays were not one of four league teams selected to the NCAA's.
Kelly Goc wrapped up an outstanding career by earning honorable-mention All-American honors, while setter Korie Lebeda was named first-team all-MVC. Other key contributors included MVC Freshman of the Year Allie Oelke and record-setting libero Bianca Rivera.
Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballCreighton Volleyball "Amazing Race: Omaha Edition"
Tuesday, September 30
Creighton VB Media Availability 9/30/25
Tuesday, September 30
Creighton VB Postgame Press Conference vs Butler 9/27/25
Sunday, September 28
Butler at #16 Creighton Volleyball Highlights - 9/27/25
Sunday, September 28
