Creighton University
Indiana State
Volleyball Takes Down Indiana State in Five Sets
9/25/2009 7:00:00 PM | Volleyball
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Creighton overcame an 8-5 fifth set deficit on the road to come from behind to beat Indiana State on Friday night before 147 fans at ISU Arena. Remarkably, it was Creighton's 13th straight win in an MVC road match to go five sets, a streak that started way back in 2000.
Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 25-21, 21-25, 26-28, 25-21, 15-12, giving the Jays their first five-set victory of 2009 in three tries.
Creighton is now 5-8 (2-1 MVC) with its second straight win, while Indiana State fell to 4-10 (0-3 MVC).
“I thought that really for the first time all season, in a pretty difficult situation we maintained our composure,” said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “I thought Megan (Bober) set the best that she has in a crunch time situation, so that was really good. I wasn't happy to be in that situation, but I was pleased with how we responded at the end of the game.”
Creighton never trailed in the opening set while winning 25-21. The Bluejays surged to a 5-1 lead early and the only tie they would face would be at 16-16. Leading 21-20 late, the Jays would score four of the final five points to secure the early 1-0 lead, thanks in part to five kills from Alicia Runge.
The second set saw Indiana State overcome an 18-15 deficit, closing the game with a 10-3 run. Creighton had fallen behind 10-7 early, only to retake a 14-11 lead it would end up wasting.
The third set contained a pair of early serving runs before some tense sideout action late in the set. Creighton fell behind 15-8 when the Sycamores put together a 5-0 run, only to give it right back when CU's Brooke Boggs embarked on a 10-0 run of her own that gave her team the 17-15 edge. Creighton would take own its final lead at 19-17. With the score knotted at 22, the teams would exchange nine straight sideouts before a pair of Jodi Stoker kills gave ISU the 28-26 lead. The loss saw the Jays hold potential set points at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25 before eventually falling.
Creighton took control of the fourth set from the outset, storming to leads of 9-4, 14-7 and 19-13. The Sycamores would get within 20-16, prompting a Bluejay timeout, before CU pulled away for a 25-21 win. The Jays had five blocks in the fourth set while hitting .237 and holding ISU to .103 efficiency.
Indiana State led the majority of the fifth and final set, including an 8-5 lead at the changeover. Creighton would plug away to deadlock the score at 8-8 and take its first lead of the set at 12-11 on an Allie Oelke kill. The teams would trade sideouts before a pair of Bluejay blocks closed out the match. The first block, by Oelke, stuffed Morgan Dall and got CU to match point. Once there, Megan Bober and Laurel Sanford turned back Ana Maira Charun's swing to close out the match after more than two hours.
Houts had a season-high 19 kills to lead Creighton. She hit .417 on the evening and added seven blocks. Also in double-figures offensively were Runge (11 kills) and Sarah Schulze, who had a season-best 10 kills. Nayka Benitez paced CU's defense with 20 digs. The Jays had 59 kills, six aces, 54 digs and 13 blocks en route to hitting .223.
Indiana State had four players with 10 or more kills, topped by Stoker's 17. Ana Maira Charun (11 kills, 11 digs), Shelbi Fouty (30 assists, 14 digs) and Whitney Fromm (22 assists, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles in a losing cause. Indiana State had 65 kills, four aces, 70 digs and seven blocks while hitting .215.
Creighton returns to action on Saturday at 2 pm with a visit to Normal, Ill., to take on Illinois State. That match can be heard on KOIL (1180 AM).
NOTES: Creighton had swept the past eight meetings in the series and is 23-9 all-time against Indiana State ...Creighton's 23 wins against ISU are its most against any opponent (one more than Southern Illinois) ...Creighton has won 14 of its past 15 MVC road matches held on a Friday ...Creighton is 21-9 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in five-set matches all-time, 1-2 this season ...Included in CU's 13-match win streak in five-set MVC road matches is at least one win over all nine other MVC foes.
