Creighton University
Bradley
Volleyball Alone in Second Place After Sweep at Bradley
10/22/2010 9:26:00 PM | Volleyball
PEORIA, Ill. -- Creighton hit .389 and needed just 69 minutes to complete a 3-0 sweep at Bradley on Friday night at Renaissance Coliseum. Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 25-12, 25-19, 25-11.
Creighton improved to 13-7 on the season and coupled with Missouri State's 3-0 loss at Illinois State, the Bluejays are alone in second place of the Missouri Valley Conference with an 8-2 league mark. Bradley (4-18, 0-10 MVC) hasn't won since Sept. 4, dropping its 15th straight match this year and 30th straight in league play dating to 2008.
Creghton never trailed in the first set, serving up six aces while rolling to a 25-12 win. Bradley scored consecutive points just twice in the set, and couldn't handle a Bluejay attack that hit .524, led by five kills from Alicia Runge. Of the six aces by CU, three came from Allie Oelke, two from Megan Bober and one by Laurel Sanford.
Bradley got off to a quicker start in the second set, but could not sustain it. A 4-0 surge by Creighton gave the Jays a 9-5 lead, and it wouldn't trail again. Bradley did later close within 15-14, but CU answered with three straight points. A kill from Bober into the heart of the Braves' defense ended the set.
Creighton would not trail in the thrid set, controlling a 25-11 win while hitting .407 and holding the Braves to -.065 hitting.
Runge led Creighton with seven kills, while Bober, Karisa Almgren and Heather Thorson finished six kills each. Julianne Mandolfo had nine digs and her second career kill. Creighton had 35 kills, eight aces, 29 digs and seven blocks while hitting .389.
Bradley was paced by seven kills from Annie Cave, who hit a team-best .278. Bradley hit just .012 on the evening and finished with 24 kills, two aces, 26 digs and three blocks.
"I was pleased that we had six aces in the first set," said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "We had some kids I thought we could pick on, and did that. Bradley is a very balanced team, so we had to defend their whole line-up. We're excited with the the win and I'm really excited to play a really good team in Northern Iowa tomorrow."
Creighton continues on the road tomorrow with a match against No. 14 Northern Iowa (19-2, 10-0 MVC). That match can be heard on KOIL (1180 AM) and will begin at 7:30 pm.
NOTES: Creighton has now won eight straight meeting vs. Bradley in Peoria, 11 straight overall in the series, and improved to 15-1 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth vs. the Braves ... The team to win the first set has won each of the last 13 matches in this series ... Creighton has played Bradley at a different Peoria-area facility in each of the last four years ... This was the first match held at Renaissance Coliseum since last Friday's arena dedication ... A moment of silence was held prior to the match in honor of Bradley baseball player Phil Kaiser, who passed away last Monday. His funeral will be held on Saturday, and Bradley has moved its volleyball match vs. Drake from Saturday to Sunday so that the team can attend ... Bradley wore pink uniforms as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month ... Creighton improved to 7-1 in true road matches with the win.
