Creighton University
Florida International
Florida International Takes Close Match Over Volleyball at Jayhawk Invite
9/4/2009 12:15:00 PM | Volleyball
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The Creighton Volleyball dropped three closely contested sets, falling 25-23, 25-23, 27-25 to Florida International in the opening match of the Jayhawk Invitational on Friday morning in Lawrence, Kan.
Florida International, the defending Sun Belt Conference East Division champions after going 28-7 last fall, improved to 3-1. Creighton dropped to 1-3 while losing its third consecutive match against an NCAA Tournament qualifier from a year ago.
After seven early ties before either team reached 10 points, the Bluejays put together a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead midway through the first set. The Golden Panthers fought right back though, using a 12-2 run of their own to take the lead for good at 22-18. Creighton would draw within one at 23-22 and 24-23 before a kill from Sabrina Gonzalez closed the set in FIU's favor, 25-23.
The second set also ended with FIU claiming a 25-23 decision. With the score tied at 12, FIU unleashed another 9-1 run to go ahead 21-13. However, Creighton's Megan Bober served consecutive aces to cap an 8-0 run that tied the score at 21-all. The teams traded sideouts before FIU's Isadora Rangel had kills on three of the final four points as the Panthers' took a 2-0 intermission lead.
The evenly-matched clubs staged another barn-burner in the third set. Down 17-13, Creighton would fight back to go ahead 21-19. A kill by Alicia Runge and an FIU attack error gave the Jays a pair of set points up 24-22, but a Panther kill and CU ball handling error evened the score at 24. CU had a third set point up 25-24, but a service error and consecutive kills by Rangel ended the match.
Rangel had five kills in each set to pace FIU with 15 kills on the morning, with Olga Vergun (13 kills) and Andrea Lakovic (10 kills) not far behind. Natalia Valentin set 42 assists while Chanel Araujo led all players with 20 digs. FIU finished with 48 kills, two aces, 49 digs and two blocks while hitting .268.
Jessica Houts topped the Bluejay attack with 15 kills, five blocks and four digs. Allie Oelke had 11 kills and nine digs while hitting .417 and Runge finished with seven kills and four blocks. Nayka Benitez topped Creighton's defense with 13 digs. CU had 43 kills, four aces, 36 digs and seven blocks while hitting .257 as a team.
Creighton continues play at 5 pm this evening when it takes on Lipscomb. That match can be heard on KKAR (1290 AM) with live stats available through http://www.gocreighton.com.
NOTES: Florida International was without the services of three-time All-American Yarimar Rosa, who did not make the trip to Lawrence due to a pulled quad. Rosa led the nation last season with 5.21 kills per set and is a three-time Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year ...Creighton had won 60 straight matches when hitting .250 or better, dating to an Oct. 17, 2003 loss at Indiana State ...Karisa Almgren tied career-highs with two kills and one block.
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