Nationally-Ranked Volleyball Opens Six-Match Homestand

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This Weekend
Nov. 4   6 pm   Butler at No. 25 Creighton   Omaha, Neb. (D.J. Sokol Arena)
Nov. 6   1 pm    Xavier at No. 25 Creighton (KZOT 1180 AM)   Omaha, Neb. (D.J. Sokol Arena)

Up Next
No. 25 Creighton (18-6, 12-0 BIG EAST) opens a six-match homestand this weekend when it hosts a pair of matches at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb.
   Creighton starts the home run with a 6 pm match on Friday against Butler (16-12, 5-7 BIG EAST).
   On Sunday at 1 pm, Creighton takes on Xavier (14-11, 8-4 BIG EAST).

Radio/Video Broadcast Information
Both matches this weekend will have a free video webcast at GoCreighton.com/watch.
   Friday's match will not be on radio.
   Sunday's match will air on KZOT (1180 AM) in Omaha, with Brad Burwell and Erin Swanson Russell on the call. That audio will also be streamed at http://v6.player.abacast.net/2760.

Live Stats Information
Both matches this week will have live stats, with links at http://creighton.statbroadcast.com.

Scouting Creighton
Two-time defending BIG EAST Conference champion Creighton is currently 18-6 overall, dropping just three sets while starting 12-0 in league play. The Bluejays own a three-game lead in the loss column of the league standings over second-place Marquette, plus the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Golden Eagles, with six matches (all at home) to play.
   Creighton's 12-match win streak has helped the Bluejays return to the national rankings for the first time in two months, coming in at No. 25 this week.
   Purdue transfer Lydia Dimke (11.37 aps., 2.65 dps., 1.27 kps., .336%) is playing as well as anyone in the league right now and has posted 10 double-doubles in 24 starts as CU's setter.
   Middle blockers Marysa Wilkinson (2.56 kps., 1.02 bps., .328%) and Lauren Smith (2.17 kps., 0.94 bps., .344%) rank among the best in the BIG EAST at what they do, and have hit a combined .375 with 111 blocks in CU's last 15 matches.
   Others to keep an eye are Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Jaali Winters (3.32 kps., 2.89 dps.) as well as fellow outside hitter Taryn Kloth (3.14 kps., .275%), while Megan Ballenger (1.78 kps.,.271%, 0.38 saps.) is a three-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week.
   Creighton was a unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST, the fourth straight year it's been the favorite in the league.
   Creighton averages 14.71 kills, 1.31 aces, 16.14 digs and 2.30 blocks per set while hitting .266 as a team.
   Last year Creighton went 27-9, winning BIG EAST regular-season and tournament titles, before advancing to the program's first Sweet 16.

Scouting Butler
Butler is 16-12 this season, including a 5-7 conference mark that leaves it in must-win mode to reach that four-team BIG EAST Championships that it will host later this month.
   The Bulldogs are a sparkling 15-4 in matches to end in three or four sets, but just 1-8 in the fifth set this fall.
   Anna Logan (4.45 kps., 2.61 dps., .253%) ranks fourth nationally with 485 kills, far surpassing the 366 she had last year as a freshman.
   Whitney Beck (2.65 kps.) also averages multiple kills per set and had 18 kills and 20 digs at Xavier last Thursday.
   Makayla Ferguson (9.80 aps.) and Maddie Freiwald (4.12 aps.) handle setting duties, while Taylor Takeda (4.06 dps.) is the libero.
   Butler averages 13.67 kills, 1.13 aces, 14.60 digs and 2.28 blocks per set on .237 hitting.

Scouting Xavier
Xavier is 14-11 this fall, including an 8-4 mark in BIG EAST play to stand in third place. The Musketeers are 3-7 in true road matches this fall, and will be playing away from Cintas Center for the first time since October 12 this weekend.
   Reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Abbey Bessler (3.74 kps., 2.35 dps., .238%) leads the Bulldogs in kills, with Sofia Peterson (2.81 kps., .367%) and Kristen Massa (2.47 kps.) also providing support.
   Mackenzi Humm (6.01 aps.) and McKena Estes (5.23 aps.) share setting duties, while Meredith Klare (3.99 dps.) handles the libero role.
   The Musketeers average 13.91 kills, 1.08 aces, 14.04 digs and 2.24 blocks per set on .243 hitting and were picked to finish third in the BIG EAST's preseason poll.

The Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 280-152 record in her 14th season with the Bluejays. She's led Creighton to back-to-back BIG EAST titles, and three league crowns in the last four years. Last year, she also led the Bluejays to their first Sweet 16 in program history after winning the Chapel Hill sub-Regional and was named 2015 BIG EAST Coach of the Year and 2015 AVCA East Region Coach of the Year.
   She was also named the 2010 CVU.com National Coach of the Year after leading Creighton to the second round during its first NCAA Tournament appearance, and named the CaptainU College Coach of the Year, as well as the MVC Coach of the Year, in 2012 following another run to the second round of the NCAA's and a school-record 29 victories.
   The winningest coach in school history, Booth has led Creighton to its only five NCAA Tournament bids in the program's modern history. She's also led the Jays into the top-25 each of the last five years, another program first.
   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 assisted by Ryan Meek, Angie Oxley Behrens and Micah Rhodes.
   Sharon Clark (Sacramento State, 1989) is 282-229 in her 17th year at Butler, which moves her career mark to 384-339 in 24 seasons overall when you factor in one year at Humboldt State (1993) and six seasons at UC Davis (1994-99). The winningest volleyball coach in program history, she is assisted by Andrea Baylin and Sofia Sanchez.
   Christy Pfeffenberger (Dayton 2004) is in her second year as Xavier head coach and owns a 32-23 record, which doubles as her career mark. She was named head coach on January 29, 2015, replacing Mike Johnson after he took an assistant's job at Notre Dame. Pfeffenberger was previously an assistant at Xavier, Notre Dame, Dayton and Youngstown State after being an All-American player at Dayton. She is assisted by Ed Tolentino and Amber Hildebrandt.

Series History vs. Butler
Creighton is 6-1 all-time against Butler, with a 3-0 record in Omaha.
   Butler ruined Creighton's BIG EAST opener on Oct. 4, 2013 in Indianapolis, handing the Bluejays a four-set loss, but Creighton has won all six meetings since then.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 6-1 vs. Butler and head coach Sharon Clark.

Series History vs. Xavier
Creighton is 9-0 all-time against Xavier, with all the matches having occurred since 2013. Of the nine victories, three were sweeps, five came in four sets, and one was a five-set match. Creighton has more wins against the Musketeers than any other team since joining the BIG EAST.
   Creighton's win on Oct. 5, 2013 in Cincinnati was the program's first BIG EAST win in history.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 9-0 vs. Xavier, and she is 3-0 against Christy Pfeffenberger.

Last Weekend Summary
Creighton swept Seton Hall and St. John's for the second time in three weekends, hitting .353 while holding the opposition to .065 hitting. Taryn Kloth led CU with 23 kills, while Marysa Wilkinson had 21 kills and hit .452.

Creighton Returns To Top 25
The Creighton Volleyball team returned to the Top 25 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll on Monday, earning enough votes to rank tied for 25th.
   The Bluejays had been among those "also receiving votes" each of the previous eight weeks since last landing in the top-25 on August 29th with a No. 22 ranking. That came after Creighton was ranked a program-best No. 18 in the preseason AVCA poll.
   Creighton has been ranked No. 25 twice previously, going 2-0 the week of Nov. 5, 2012 as well as the opening weekend in 2013 after appearing 25th in the preseason AVCA poll released on August 12, 2013. The Bluejays are 21-9 all-time when ranked, including a 20-4 mark against unranked competition, with this being the 15th different time it has been in the top-25.
   The 2016 season is the fifth straight season that Creighton has been ranked, after never earning a top-25 nod between 1994-2011.
   The volleyball team was one of three Creighton teams ranked in a top-25 on Monday, joining the men's basketball team (No. 22) and the men's soccer team (No. 18).
   This week's AVCA poll is headed by defending national champion Nebraska, which garnered all 64 first-place votes. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas and Texas round out the top-five. Dayton moved into the poll at No. 24 with 134 points, while Creighton tied USC for 25th place with 120 points in the poll. Creighton and USC battled to five sets on September 3rd in Los Angeles in CU's last match as a ranked program.
   Though the most prominent, the AVCA poll is not the only rankings that have Creighton among its top teams. The PrepVolleyball.com poll has Creighton up to a season-high 17th, while the official NCAA RPI has Creighton 20th.

Ballenger Earns Third Weekly Frosh Award
Megan Ballenger was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week for the third time this season on October 31st.
   The Ankeny, Iowa, product previously earned the award on September 12th and September 19th. She is one of four players in the BIG EAST to win multiple Freshman of the Week honors this fall, but the only player with three such honors.
   Ballenger powered Creighton to an undefeated weekend by averaging 3.33 points, 2.17 kills, 1.67 blocks and 1.17 digs per set while hitting .500.
   Ballenger's week started with four kills, three blocks, two digs and an ace in a 3-0 win at Seton Hall. She then hit .727 with nine kills in 11 swings, five digs and a career-high seven blocks in a 3-0 win over St. John's.
   The redshirt freshman leads BIG EAST play with 0.47 service aces per set and is 10th with a .302 hitting percentage.

Tournament Bid Clinched
Creighton has clinched a spot in the four-team BIG EAST Volleyball Championships, which will be hosted by Butler on Nov. 25-26 in Indianapolis, Ind.
   The Bluejays are back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament champions, the first repeat champs since Louisville won three straight from 2008-2010.
   Creighton is 5-1 all-time in three previous appearances at the BIG EAST Championships, reaching the final all three times.
   Dating back to its Missouri Valley Conference days, this will be Creighton's 14th straight appearance in a league tournament after appearing in just 4-of-9 tournaments prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival.

Regular-Season Race
Creighton owns a commanding three-game lead in the loss column of the BIG EAST standings with six matches to play.
   Creighton can clinch at least a share of its third straight BIG EAST regular-season title with a pair of wins this weekend if Marquette also loses to DePaul on Saturday.
   No team has won three straight BIG EAST regular-season titles since St. John's from 2006-08.

Offensive Showdown?
Butler enters this weekend leading the nation in both kills (1,490) and assists (1,398).
   Creighton is third in the nation in kills per set (14.71) and ninth nationally in assists per set (13.49).
   Last year Creighton finished the year ranked second in the nation in assists (1,774) and was third in kills (1,878) while hitting .248 to rank 47th nationally.

Sweep City
Creighton has swept 9-of-12 BIG EAST matches, and broken out the brooms in 14 contests overall this fall.
   The 14 sweeps are the most in one season in Creighton history, one more than the 13 sweeps a year ago.
   With a six-match homestand looming, it's possible that more sweeps could be on the way. Creighton has swept eight of its last nine regular-season BIG EAST home matches, and won 30 of its last 31 home sets during conference play.
   Creighton has played 64 regular-season BIG EAST matches in its four-year history in the league, and swept 32 of them, including 19 of its last 30.

What's Better Than 12-0?
One year after setting a BIG EAST record with 17 conference victories, Creighton is challenging the BIG EAST record for the best start in league history.
   This year's Creighton team is the fifth squad in league history to start 12-0, and first since the 2009 Notre Dame team.
   Only three previous teams have started 13-0, and only two of those have started 14-0. No team in league history has ever started 15-0 or better.
   Here's a look at the most consecutive wins to start league play in BIG EAST history:
Consecutive Wins To Start BIG EAST Play
   Wins   School   Year   Final W-L
   14   St. John's   2006   14-0
   14   Notre Dame   2009   14-0
   13   Louisville   2007   13-1
   12   Notre Dame   2001   12-0
   12 so far   Creighton   2016   ? ? ?

12 Straight Wins
Creighton enters this weekend with 12 straight victories, a streak that's tied for the second-longest stretch in program history.
   That's five shy of the program record of 17 straight, set in 2012.
   Each of the 10 longest win streaks in program history have come under the direction on Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
Most Consecutive Wins, Creighton History
       Wins   Dates   Snapped By
       17   Sept. 29-Nov. 30, 2012   at #11 Minnesota, 3-1
       12   Sept. 20-Oct. 25, 2015   at Villanova, 3-2
       12   Sept. 23, 2016 - Present   ? ? ?
       11   Oct. 11-Nov. 21, 2014   Seton Hall, 3-0
       10   Oct. 31-Dec. 5, 2015   vs. #2 USC, 3-1

Longest Win Streaks, Nationally
Creighton is one of six schools with an active win streak of 12 or longer, through matches of October 30th. Here's that list:
   Wins   Team   Next Match
   19   Miami (Ohio)   11/4
   16   Fairfield   11/5
   15   Western Kentucky   11/4
   14   American   11/4
   14   Dayton   11/4
   12   Creighton   11/4

Dimke Approaches 1,000 Assists
Lydia Dimke enters this weekend with 955 assists through 24 matches and 84 sets played at Creighton. Should she dish 45 more assists, she'd become of the fastest players in school history to 1,000 career assists.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 1,000 Assists (Career)
Name   SP   MP   Date   Opponent
Korie Lebeda   77   23   10/29/05   Missouri St.
Brittany Coleman   86   23   11/01/03   Northern Iowa
Kailey Reyes   97   27   09/04/99   Boise State
Maggie Baumert   103   32   11/29/14   vs. Seton Hall
Megan Bober   106   28   11/20/09   at #21 UNI
Melissa Weisensee   119   35   09/20/95   Wichita State
Michelle Sicner   267   72   10/04/13   at Butler

Blue October (And November)
Last weekend marked Creighton's final two of nine contests in the month of October.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, Creighton has been a solid 39-21 in September, only to take it up a notch in October. CU is 39-4 in October in that same span, and a nearly-identical 31-4 in the month of November.
   Creighton has won 21 straight home matches in the month of October dating to a Oct. 15, 2011 loss to No. 12 Northern Iowa.
   Creighton has won nine straight November matches, with seven of those wins coming in 2015.
   With two wins last weekend, Creighton wrapped up a 9-0 month, its second unbeaten October in history (7-0 in 2012). The only time that Creighton had played nine or more matches and gone unbeaten in any month came in November of 2012, when CU went 9-0.
   The only other October in which CU had won nine or more matches came in 2015, when CU went 10-1.

The Search For 20 Wins
Creighton is 18-6 this year and enters the weekend two wins shy of 20 victories on the season. In program history, Creighton has reached 20 wins seven previous times, including each of the last four years.
   When Kirsten Bernthal Booth was hired in 2003, Creighton's modern day school record for wins in a season was 16.
   The following 25 schools entered this year with four straight seasons of 20+ wins, and are listed with their 2016 record to date:
Team   2016 W-L   Next Match
Western Kentucky   24-2   11/4
American   23-6   11/4
Nebraska   20-1   11/4
Florida   20-2   11/2
Kansas   20-2   11/2
BYU   20-3   11/3
Marquette   20-5   11/5
North Carolina   19-3   11/4
Washington   19-3   11/4
Florida State   18-3   11/4
Creighton   18-6   11/4
Texas   17-3   11/2
Kentucky   17-5   11/4
Penn State   17-6   11/4
Hawaii   16-5   11/4
UTSA   16-6   11/4
Wichita State   16-7   11/4
Colorado State   15-7   11/3
College of Charleston   15-9   11/3
Wyoming   15-9   11/3
Stanford   14-6   11/4
Purdue   14-9   11/2
Ohio   13-11   11/4
Idaho State   13-12   11/3
Valparaiso   13-16   11/4

Home At Last
All six of Creighton's matches in league play in November will be at home, where Creighton is 6-1 this fall and has won 15 straight matches against BIG EAST competition.
   So after being home just 3-of-10 weekends (and 7-of-22 matches) to start the season, Creighton will be home three straight weekends for its final six matches.

Smith Moves Up Charts
Senior Lauren Smith continues to rise up the charts in sets played, matches played, matches started and wins appeared in.
Matches Started
       Name   MS   Year
   1.   Megan Bober   128   2009-12
   2.   Lauren Smith   125   2013-Pr.
   3.   Allie Oelke   120   2007-10
   4.   Korie Lebeda   119   2005-08
       Jessica Houts   119   2005-09

Sets Played
       Name   SP   Year
   1.   Megan Bober   480   2009-12
   2.   Melanie Jereb   471   2012-15
   3.   Lauren Smith   467   2013-Pr.
   4.   Kate Elman   464   2012-15
   5.   Leah McNary   458   2011-14

Matches Played
       Name   MP   Year
   1.   Melanie Jereb   133   2012-15
   2.   Ashley Jansen   132   2012-15
   3.   Megan Bober   128   2009-12
   4.   Jessica Houts   126   2005-09
       Lauren Smith   126   2013-Pr.
   6.   Kate Elman   125   2012-15

Most Wins, Appeared In As A Player
   Wins   Name   Year
   102   Melanie Jereb   2012-15
   101   Ashley Jansen   2012-15
   95   Kate Elman   2012-15
   93   Lauren Smith   2013-Pres.
   92   Leah McNary   2011-14

Smith Adds A Weapon
Long known as one of the best middle hitters in the BIG EAST, fifth-year senior Lauren Smith is now showing off a new weapon behind the service line.
   Smith entered Creighton's Marquette match on October 22 with one ace in 123 career matches.
   She served up a service winner on match point against the Golden Eagles, then served up three aces last Friday against Seton Hall and another ace at St. John's on Saturday.

Walsh Woes
Last Friday's trip to Walsh Gymnasium is the rare facility where Creighton has struggled in the past.
   In fact, it's the only BIG EAST venue in which Creighton has a .500 record or worse since joining the league in 2013, as seen below:
Site   Creighton W-L
D.J. Sokol Arena (CU)   44-10
Al McGuire Center (MU)   5-1
Cintas Center (XU)   4-0
McGrath-Phillips Arena (DPU)   4-0
McDonough Arena (GU)   4-0
Carnesecca Arena (SJU)   4-0
Alumni Hall (PC)   3-0
Jake Nevin Field House (VU)   3-1
Hinkle Fieldhouse (BU)   3-1
Walsh Gym (SHU)   2-2

Keeping It 100
Creighton had a perfect 100 percent sideout percentage in the third set of its October 16 sweep over Seton Hall. The Pirates served 18 times in that set, and CU won the point each time.
   For the match, Creighton won the point on 38 of Seton Hall's 46 serves, a tremendous 86.4 percent.
   The match vs. Seton Hall is one of just five times in the last five years (591 sets played) that Creighton has had a 100 percent sideout percentage in a set, and first time since the second set of a 25-8 win over Lipscomb on Sept. 11, 2015.

Witt Wins BIG EAST Award, Twice
Brittany Witt was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Oct. 10 after helping the Bluejays to road wins at Villanova and at Georgetown. Witt had 33 digs in seven sets and added three aces and a kill in the victories.
   Witt then made it back-to-back weeks with the honor after picking up the award again on Oct. 17th. She averaged 4.33 digs and 1.83 assists per set in sweeps over St. John's and Seton Hall.

Senior CLASS Award Duo
Creighton's Jess Bird and Lauren Smith are among 30 women's volleyball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court that were selected today as candidates for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate volleyball. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
   An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
   The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
   Creighton is one of three schools with multiple candidates, joining Minnesota and New Hampshire. The BIG EAST has five candidates (Bird, Smith, Seton Hall's Tessa Fournier, Xavier's Abbey Bessler and Marquette's Meghan Niemann), tying the Big Ten for most of any league.
   Smith and Bird are not the first Creighton Volleyball student-athletes to make the Senior CLASS cut in recent seasons, as Melanie Jereb was a candidate last year, Kelli Browning in 2014 and Megan Bober in 2012. Former Creighton men's soccer goalkeeper Brian Holt won the 2011 Senior CLASS Award on the pitch, while ex-Creighton men's basketball standout Doug McDermott won the 2014 Senior CLASS Award on the hardwood.

Sweep City
Creighton owns nine 3-0 sweeps in 12 BIG EAST matches this season. Creighton's four straight sweeps from Oct. 8-21 (Georgetown, St. John's, Seton Hall, DePaul) were its first time with four straight sweeps since Oct. 12-26, 2012.
   In eight BIG EAST road matches this season, Marquette and Villanova are the only teams to win a set against the Bluejays.
   Creighton's 14 sweeps on the season are a program record, one more than the 13 achieved last year.

A "Pablo" Picasso
One of the more popular volleyball ranking systems on RichKern.com is the Pablo ranking system, which is best described at http://www.richkern.com/vb/rankings/PabloFAQ.asp.
   In this week's Pablo rankings, Creighton is 12th. That mark is the best for the program since 2011, and almost certainly in school history.
   By comparison, Creighton was 41st in last year's Pablo rankings at this time and got as high as 27th after its Sweet 16 run in the NCAA's.
   The previous high-water mark since 2011 had been 14th on Sept. 10 & 17, 2012, when CU finished 20th at year's end.

Control In Conference
Creighton is 12-0 in BIG EAST play this season, having won 36-of-39 sets played. Creighton is one of 11 teams in the country that are still unbeaten in league play.
   On a national basis, Creighton's winning percentage in sets played during league action ranks tied for fifth-best among the unbeaten teams through games of October 31st, as seen below:
Team   League   Sets W-L   Next
American   Patriot   39-1   11/4
Florida A&M   MEAC   24-1   11/4
Miami Ohio   MAC   36-2   11/4
Alabama State   SWAC   39-3   11/4
Creighton   BIG EAST   36-3   11/4
Howard   MEAC   33-3   11/2
Fairfield   MAAC   45-4   11/4
TAMU-CC   Southland   33-4   11/1
Princeton   Ivy   30-4   11/4
Dayton   A-10   30-5   11/4
Western Kentucky   C-USA   36-6   11/4

   Friday's Are For The Jays
Creighton's been unbeatable in 10 Friday matches this season, winning 30-of-31 sets it has played.
   Of those 10 wins, four are against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams (Northern Iowa, TCU, Marquette and Villanova).
   In those 10 matches, Creighton has hit a robust .325 while holding foes to .154 hitting. Creighton averages 16.03 kills per set, compared to 10.52 per set against the Jays. On the other six days of the week this season, Creighton has hit .233 and averaged 13.94 kills per set while allowing opponents to hit .188.
   Creighton has hit .299 or better in eight of its last nine matches played on a Friday, and owns 86 straight wins (on all days of the week) when hitting .300 or better.

Home Sweet Home
Creighton is 28-2 all-time (.933) in regular-season BIG EAST play at D.J. Sokol Arena, falling once each to St. John's (2013) and Seton Hall (2014).
   Since D.J. Sokol Arena opened in 2009, Creighton is 59-7 (.894) all-time in regular-season conference matches in the facility, including 13 straight victories.
   After playing at home in just seven of its first 24 matches, all of Creighton's final six regular-season matches will be at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha.
   Creighton has won all seven meetings with St. John's since that 2013 upset, and all five encounters versus Seton Hall since dropping the home match in 2014.

Smith Surges Past 1,000 Kills
Lauren Smith registered the 1,000th kill of her career late in the first set of an Oct. 7 at Villanova. She became the 11th player in CU history to reach the milestone, and it came in her 119th career contest.
   Smith enters this weekend with 1,062 career kills, ninth-most in Bluejay history.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 1,000 Kills (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Melissa Walsh   70   10/15/00   Eastern Illinois
Leah Ratzlaff   76   10/22/04   Missouri State
JoDe Cieloha   83   09/13/97   at Drake
Kelly Goc   87   11/24/06   vs. Northern Iowa
Jessica Houts   90   11/08/08   Illinois State
Leah McNary   96   09/12/14   Pepperdine
Amanda Cvejdlik   99   11/15/08   at Evansville
Shelly Kapler   103   11/18/99   vs. Missouri St.
Allie Oelke   107   10/09/10   Wichita State
Kelli Browning   110   10/26/14   DePaul
Lauren Smith   119   10/07/16   at Villanova

Smith Seeks 500 Blocks, Too
Lauren Smith enters Friday's match with 521 career blocks, third-most in Creighton history behind Jessica Houts and Kelli Browning.
   Among active players nationally, Smith's 521 career total blocks rank seventh.
Total Blocks
       Name   Sets   BS   BA   Tot.   Years
   1.   Jessica Houts   451   73   536   609   2005-09
   2.   Kelli Browning   424   55   547   602   2011-14
   3.   Lauren Smith   467   54   467   521   2013-Pr.
   4.   Ashley Williams   359   100   347   447   2001-04

Revenge Acquired
Since the start of last season, Creighton is 31-1 against BIG EAST competition, with the lone loss coming last year at Villanova.
   In that contest, Creighton saved six match points before ultimately losing a 19-17 decision in the fifth set. The match featured 37 ties and 15 lead changes.
   Creighton won the rematch four weeks later with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-17 dismantling of the Wildcats in the BIG EAST Championship finals. VU never led by more than one point in the rematch.
   Creighton is one of 10 teams nationally with one or fewer losses against league teams since the start of last year, as seen below, through matches of October 30th:
Team   League W-L   Next
American   31-0   11/4
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi   30-0   11/1
Dayton   26-0   11/4
Creighton   31-1   11/4
Arkansas State   31-1   11/4
Western Kentucky   30-1   11/4
Howard   26-1   11/2
New Mexico State   26-1   11/5
Hawaii   25-1   11/4
Coastal Carolina   25-1   11/2

Dimke Dominating
Creighton's Lydia Dimke is second in the BIG EAST and 15th nationally with 11.37 assists per set. Should she maintain that mark, it'd be the best in school history since the shift to 25-point sets prior to the 2008 season.
   Dimke's season has also attracted the attention of the experts nationally. She was recently named one of college volleyball's five best transfers by PrepVolleyball.com, and also one of the nation's 10 best setters by FloVolleyball.tv.
   Each of Creighton's last 18 matches have been won by the team with more assists, and Creighton has not lost to a BIG EAST team when owning more assists since Nov. 16, 2013 at Seton Hall. Creighton leads the BIG EAST with 13.49 assists per set this season.

Booth On The Road
Kirsten Bernthal Booth owns 104 career true road wins in her 14 seasons at Creighton, reaching the century mark with a 3-0 win at Georgetown on Oct. 8th.
   Booth's teams are currently 104-70 in true road matches, including an 85-39 mark in league contests. Booth is 29-5 in BIG EAST road matches all-time.

Smith Named Player of the Week
Senior Lauren Smith was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Sept. 26. It was Smith's first BIG EAST Player of the Week honor in 2016, and second of her career (Oct. 5, 2015).
   A Lincoln, Neb., native, Smith hit .553 while averaging 3.64 points, 3.29 kills and 0.57 blocks per set in a pair of victories.
    The preseason All-BIG EAST selection started her week with 10 kills in 17 swings, hitting a season-best .588 in a sweep of a Marquette team that was just outside the top-25. She then had a season-high 13 kills on .524 hitting, adding four blocks in a 3-1 win over DePaul.

Let's Get It Started
Creighton is off to its third straight start of 5-0 or better in league play after this fall's 12-0 opening. It's the first time in program history that Creighton has won its first 12 league matches in a season.
   Below is a list of Creighton's best starts in conference play all-time:
Start   League   Year   Final W-L   Final Place
12-0   BIG EAST   2016   ? ? ?   ? ? ?
11-0   BIG EAST   2015   17-1   1st
7-0   MVC   2007   14-4   T-2nd
5-0   MVC   2006   12-6   4th
5-0   MVC   2011   12-6   4th
5-0   BIG EAST   2014   16-2   1st

Let's Compare
Let's take a look at how Creighton's start in 2016 compares to how its three league champions (2012, 2014, 2015) fared after 24 matches:
Stat   2016   2015   2014   2012
W-L Thru 24   18-6   17-7   17-7   21-3
Final W-L   ? ? ?   27-9   23-9   29-4
Postseason   ? ? ?   NCAA   NCAA   NCAA
5th NCAA RPI   20   23   39   32
Kills/Set   14.71   13.82   14.17   13.48
Hitting %   .266   .258   .238   .255
Aces/Set   1.31   1.26   1.06   1.31
Digs/Set   16.14   15.51   16.30   17.50
Blocks/Set   2.30   2.31   2.70   3.11

Against The BIG EAST
Since the BIG EAST was restructured in 2013, Creighton owns a .500 record or better against each of the other teams currently in the BIG EAST.
   The Bluejays enter this weekend with 62 wins against BIG EAST competition (including BIG EAST Championship play) since 2013, nine more wins than Marquette for most in the league.
   Creighton is 6-3 against Seton Hall since joining the BIG EAST, and 56-5 against everyone else, including a 9-0 mark against Xavier.
Opponent   Reg. Season   BE Tourney   Total
Butler   6-1   -   6-1
DePaul   8-0   -   8-0
Georgetown   7-0   -   7-0
Marquette   7-1   1-1   8-2
Providence   4-0   -   4-0
Seton Hall   5-3   1-0   6-3
St. John's   7-1   -   7-1
Villanova   6-1   1-0   7-1
Xavier   7-0   2-0   9-0
Total   57-7   5-1   62-8

On A Roll
Creighton won its last six regular-season BIG EAST matches in 2015 and has extended that streak to 18 straight with 12 consecutive wins this fall.
   That is the longest league win streak of regular-season matches in program history.
   Nationally, only six teams have active steaks of 20 or more straight victories against conference foes (including league tournament play), a streak led by Dayton (36).
Creighton - Most Consecutive Regular-Season League Wins
   Wins   Dates   Snapped By   League
   18   Oct. 31, 2015-Present   (not yet)   BIG EAST
   14   Sept. 29, 2012 - End of 2012   Never (left MVC)   MVC
   12   Sept. 20-Oct. 25, 2015   at Villanova, 3-2   BIG EAST
   11   Oct. 11-Nov. 21, 2014   Seton Hall, 3-0   BIG EAST
   9   Nov. 4, 2005-Sept. 30, 2006   Northern Iowa, 3-2   MVC
   9   Nov. 17, 2006-Oct. 6, 2007   at Wichita State, 3-0   MVC
   9   Oct. 25, 2008-Sept. 18, 2009   Northern Iowa, 3-1   MVC

Back-To-Back BIG EAST Champs
Creighton won its second straight BIG EAST Championship title in 2015, becoming the league's first back-to-back tourney champ since Louisville won three straight titles from 2008-10.
   Creighton joined Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville as the only four schools to ever win back-to-back BIG EAST Championships in volleyball.
   St. John's is the last BIG EAST team to win a share of three straight titles, having done so from 2006-08.
   Notre Dame is the last team to win three or more straight outright BIG EAST regular-season titles, having claimed four in a row from 1999-2002.
   The Irish are also the last team to go unbeaten in league play, having done so in 2009 (14-0). No team has ever gone 18-0 in BIG EAST play.

Service Winners
One reason for Creighton's recent success has been its efficiency at the service line. The Bluejays have 63 aces and just 60 errors in its last 11 matches over the span of 881 serving attempts, putting 93.2 percent of its serves in play.
   By comparison, Creighton had 47 aces and 120 service errors in 1099 service attempts in the first 13 matches, keeping just 89.1 percent of its serves in play.
   Three newcomers -- Megan Ballenger, Lydia Dimke and Brittany Witt -- have combined for 36 aces and 35 miscues in 434 serves (91.9 percent in play) in the last 11 matches after combining for had 26 aces and 76 errors in 508 serves (85.0 percent in play) during those first 13 contests.

Ace Of Jays
Creighton has just 60 service errors total in its last 11 matches (881 serve attempts), and no one's played a bigger role in that than Taryn Kloth.
   Kloth has served 196 times over the past 16 matches. In that time, she has eight aces and just three serving errors. Kloth had a streak of 140 straight serves kept in play between Sept. 10 vs. Chattanooga and October 14 vs. St. John's
   For the season, Kloth has 12 service aces and just six serving errors in 286 attempts.

Service With A Smile
Creighton served up a season-high 12 aces against DePaul on Sept. 26 and countered that with a then-season-low four serving errors.
   The +8 ace/error differential against DePaul ranks tied for fifth-greatest since the program's 1994 restart, and was the best since a +10 (12 aces, 2 errors) disparity at DePaul on Oct. 3, 2014.
Diff.   Aces   Errors   Opponent   Date
+11   15   4   vs. NE Illinois   9/23/95
+10   12   2   at DePaul   10/3/14
+9   12   3   at Evansville   10/7/94
+9   15   6   UMKC   11/12/95
+8   13   5   at New Mexico   9/4/04
+8   12   4   DePaul   9/25/16

Not Middling Around
Creighton middle blockers Lauren Smith and Marysa Wilkinson have been on an absolute terror over the past 15 matches, which coincides with a visit to their hometown of Lincoln, Neb., for the Ameritas Players Challenge.
   Smith owns 2.55 kills per set and a .389 hitting percentage in that time, while also adding 0.96 blocks per set.
   Wilkinson leads CU with 1.31 blocks per set in that time, while also averaging 2.63 kills per set on .362 hitting.
   Creighton is 14-1 in this stretch, with the lone loss being a four-set match at No. 1 Nebraska.

Aced That Test
Megan Ballenger went back to serve 28 times on Sept. 25 vs. DePaul, with Creighton winning an astounding 21 of those points.
   Ballenger served up six aces in the match -- tied for sixth in CU history for a single match -- and did not have a service error.
   She's one of three players in CU history with six or more aces in a match, joining Kelli Koochi (7 aces at Indiana State on 10/19/01) and JoDe Cieloha (6 aces vs. Northeastern Illinois on 9/23/95).
   Ballenger's six aces were two shy of Carolyn Decker's single-match record that was set in 2004, and the most by a Bluejay since Michelle Sicner had seven aces vs. McNeese State on Sept. 17, 2011.

Dueling Aces
Creighton had 12 aces on Sept. 25 vs. DePaul, while also surrendering 10 aces to the Blue Demons.
   The 22 combined aces were the most in a Creighton match since Nov. 15, 2002, when Drake had 17 and Creighton had five. That match was the second-to-last before Kirsten Bernthal Booth took over.
   The match vs. DePaul also marked the first time since Nov. 4, 2000 that both teams had 10 or more aces in the same match. Creighton and Evansville both had 10 service winners in that 2000 contest.

Wilkinson's Huge Night
Marysa Wilkinson hit .786 on Sept. 16th in Creighton's win over Montana State, finishing with 12 kills and one error in 14 swings. She added a career-high eight blocks in the sweep.
   The .786 hitting percentage is second-best in program history by a Bluejay with at least 12 kills, trailing only Lauren Smith's .857 (12-0-14) against Providence in 2014.
   Wilkinson was on pace to hit a school-record .923 before her final swing of the match landed inches wide.
Best Attack Percentage (Min. 12 kills)
   .857   Lauren Smith (12-0-14) vs. Providence   10-19-14
   .786   Marysa Wilkinson (12-1-14) vs. Montana St.   09-16-16
   .750   Katy Grady (12-0-16) vs. Auburn   8-30-03
   .750   Abby Baumann (12-0-16) at San Diego St.   9-3-05
   .737   Lauren Bloemke (14-0-19) vs. Evansville   11-4-07
   .733   Lauren Smith (12-1-15) vs. Villanova   11-24-13
   .722   Lauren Smith (14-1-18) vs. DePaul   10-9-15
   .714   Amanda Cvejdlik (15-0-21) vs. Drake   10-3-08
   .684   Kelli Browning (14-1-19) vs. So. Illinois   10-27-12

Challenging Schedules So Far
The NCAA website tracks the nation's toughest schedules played through Sunday, Oct. 30th.
   Creighton's opponents were 282-167, and that .630 winning percentage makes it the 14th-toughest nationally.
   Last year Creighton faced the nation's eighth-toughest schedule per the NCAA, with foes going 466-260 (.642) overall.

Ballenger Repeats BIG EAST Honor
Megan Ballenger was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on both Sept. 12th & 19th. Ballenger, a redshirt freshman from Ankeny, Iowa, averaged 3.30 points, 2.50 kills, 1.30 digs, 0.80 blocks and 0.40 aces per set while helping Creighton to a 2-1 record at the Ameritas Players Challenge.
   Ballenger had kills on her first seven swings of a 3-0 sweep over once-beaten Gonzaga, finishing with 13 kills, five digs, four assists, two blocks and a career-high three aces. She also hit a dominating .579 in the match.
   Ballenger contributed six kills, four blocks and three digs on .357 hitting in CU's 3-0 blanking of Montana State in CU's second match that day.
   She closed the weekend with six kills, five digs, two blocks and an ace at No. 1 Nebraska. Ballenger served during a 3-0 run as Creighton rallied from a 21-18 deficit late in the first set of an eventual 25-23 Bluejay victory that snapped NU's 24-set win streak.

Ankeny - Home of the BIG EAST's Best Frosh
Creighton's Jaali Winters and Megan Ballenger were teammates in high school for a bit, and have reunited to win big at the college ranks.
   Combined, the duo from Ankeny, Iowa, have won nine of the last 21 BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors. Winters won six times in the final 11 weeks of 2015, while Ballenger has won three of 10 awards this fall.

Home Sweet Home
Creighton went 9-0 at home last season in BIG EAST play, the second time (joining 2012) in the last four years it was unbeaten at home in league play.
   Creighton is 59-7 (.894) in regular-season conference home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena all-time, including a 28-2 mark (.933) against BIG EAST competition. St. John's (in 2013) and Seton Hall (in 2014) own the only victories against CU.
   The Bluejays have had a winning record in conference home matches each of the previous 10 seasons. That streak that dates back to its days at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, a site that is currently being torn down.

111, 112, 113...
Lauren Smith has made 113 straight starts, a streak that started Oct. 5, 2013 in a match at Xavier that also doubled as Creighton's first BIG EAST win in program history.
   The streak of 113 straight starts is the third-longest in program history, trailing only Megan Bober (128) and Korie Lebeda (119). Of that group, Bober and Lebeda were both setters.
   Smith ranks second in program history with 125 career starts overall, and would pass Bober's record for career starts (128) on Nov. 12 vs. Providence if she remains a starter until then.

Select Company
Creighton is one of just 11 schools nationally who have won 23 games or more in each of the previous four seasons. That group consists of BYU, Creighton, Florida, Florida State, Idaho State, Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford, Texas, Washington and Western Kentucky.
   Creighton is also one of 23 teams to have appeared in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments. That group features Arizona State, BYU, Colorado State, Creighton, Florida, Florida State, Hawaii, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Penn State, San Diego, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, USC and Washington.
   Throw in four straight NCAA Tournament bids to that group of teams with four straight 23-win seasons and the group narrows to nine teams: That group consists of BYU, Creighton, Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford, Texas and Washington.

Kloth With The Most
Taryn Kloth has been on a mission since seeing regular playing time on the left side in the last 20 matches.
   In that time, she's had matches of 23 (USC), 15 (No. 4 Kansas), 17 (Chattanooga) and 20 (Villanova) kills. The average of 11.70 kills per match is especially impressive since she entered this stretch with a career-high of 16 kills in the first 34 matches of her career.
   Creighton is 32-5 all-time when Kloth hits .182 or better, 22-2 when she starts, and 35-8 when she has five or more kills in a match.

RPI On The Move
Creighton moved down one spot into an RPI of 20 when the NCAA released the fifth official figures on Monday.
   CU had an RPI of 23 on November 2nd in the fifth official release a year ago before finishing the season with a school-record year-end RPI of 14.
   The Bluejay program has finished with a top-35 RPI in each of the previous four seasons.

Ballenger Wins Weekly BIG EAST Award
Megan Ballenger was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Sept. 12th after averaging 1.73 kills, 2.55 digs, 0.45 blocks and 0.27 aces as Creighton went 2-1 at the Bluejay Invitational.
   Ballenger's week opened with a career-high 16 digs in a narrow five-set loss to No. 4 Kansas. She added a team-high two aces, and also finished with eight kills in 29 swings.
   In a sweep of a TCU team that was receiving votes in the AVCA poll, Ballenger hit .333 and finished with five kills, eight digs and two blocks.
   She closed out her weekend with six kills, four digs, two blocks and an ace on .600 hitting in a 3-0 sweep of defending Southern Conference champion Chattanooga.

Nothing But Time
Creighton has played in 125 matches to last two or more hours until Kirsten Bernthal Booth, but none have been longer than the 2:42 it took to complete its Sept. 3 match at USC. The previous longest contest under Booth was a match vs. Iowa played in St. Louis that took 2:39 to play on Sept. 4, 2010.
   That game was the longest length of a match since Nov. 4, 2000, when CU won at Evansville in a match that took 2:45. Scores of that Bluejay win, played under the old side-out scoring system, were 12-15, 15-13, 15-9, 10-15, 16-14. Creighton radio analyst Erin Swanson Russell started that match and finished with five kills and five digs.
   Booth is 68-57 in matches to crack to the two-hour mark.
   The match vs. USC was the third-longest in school history. In addition to the Nov. 4, 2000 match at Evansville, CU also played a match lasting 2:45 at Indiana State on Oct. 14, 2000.

Double-Digit Witt
Brittany Witt had 10 or more digs in each of her first six matches, including a high of 24 vs. No. 4 Kansas on Sept. 8.
   Only two players in Creighton history have had a longer streak to open their career, a chart headed by CU's previous libero, Kate Elman (32 straight). Witt's streak of six tied Julianne Mandolfo for third place. Both Elman and Mandolfo, like Witt, attended Marian High School in Omaha.
Consecutive Matches With 10+ Digs To Start Career
   Consec. Matches       Name   Year
32   Kate Elman   2012
27   Bianca Rivera   2007
6   Julianne Mandolfo   2010
6   Brittany Witt   2016
3   Brittany Coleman   2003

Witt Races To 100 Digs
Brittany Witt tied the school record for fewest matches needed to reach 100 career digs, matching Bianca Rivera's six contests during the 2007 season to reach that milestone.
   Witt now owns a team-high 354 digs through 24 matches, and reached 300 career digs in her 20th career match. That reaches fifth-quickest in program history.
   Rivera owns the school record for fewest matches to 200 (11 matches), 300 (15), 400 (20), 500 (25), 600 (31), 700 (38), 800 (43), 900 (49), 1,000 (53) and 1,100 (58) career digs.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 100 Digs (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Bianca Rivera   6   09/02/07   Cal Poly
Brittany Witt   6   09/08/16   #4 Kansas
Nayka Benitez   8   09/12/09   Connecticut
Melissa Weisensee   10   09/30/94   Missouri State
Kailey Reyes   10   09/27/98   at Western Illinois
Brittany Coleman   10   09/19/03   Southern Illinois
Julianne Mandolfo   10   09/11/10   vs. Central Michigan

Creighton's Quickest Players To 200 Digs (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Bianca Rivera   11   09/15/07   vs. Charlotte
Nayka Benitez   13   09/25/09   at Indiana State
Kate Elman   13   09/22/13   Drake
Brittany Witt   13   09/23/16   Marquette
Julianne Mandolfo   15   10/01/10   at Illinois State

Creighton's Quickest Players To 300 Digs (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Bianca Rivera   15   09/28/07   Illinois State
Kate Elman   17   10/05/12   Northern Iowa
Nayka Benitez   18   10/16/09   at Evansville
Julianne Mandolfo   19   10/16/10   at Drake
Brittany Witt   20   10/16/16   Seton Hall
Kailey Reyes   25   09/03/99   vs. Gonzaga

Coaching Them Up
Lydia Dimke became Creighton's fifth different starting setter on Opening Day in as many years.
   Megan Bober was CU's Opening Day setter in 2012 vs. UCF before Michelle Sicner took over in the 2013 lid-lifter vs. BYU. In 2014 Maggie Baumert started the opener at setter against Lipscomb, while Kenzie Crawford got the call last fall versus Miami (Ohio).
   Bober owns the distinction of being Creighton's last setter to start consecutive season-openers, having done so all four years from 2009-12.
   The revolving door at setter hasn't hurt the team in that time, as each of the previous four seasons ended in the NCAA Tournament, and three of them saw Creighton win conference titles. Creighton also won all four of those season-opening matches.

Rally Time
Creighton and USC embarked on one of the longest volleyball rallies in recent memory late in the fourth set on Sept. 3rd.
   The rally, which came with CU leading 23-16 in the fourth set, lasted 68 seconds and featured 53 different contacts as the ball crossed the net 16 times in all.
   All 12 women on the court touched the ball at least once, and 11 of the 12 women had multiple touches. Creighton's Lydia Dimke touched the ball 10 different times before the rally ended with a Bluejay attack error.
   The complete rally can be viewed in its entirety at http://tinyurl.com/CU-USC-rally.

Automatic Bid x 2
Creighton is one of 11 schools nationally to earn an automatic bid into both the 2014 and 2015 NCAA Tournaments. That grouping includes New Hampshire, Dayton, Texas, Creighton, Coastal Carolina, Western Kentucky, Colorado State, American, Denver and BYU.
   Of those teams, the only six schools to win a conference tournament in consecutive campaigns have been American, Coastal Carolina, Creighton, Dayton, Denver and New Hampshire.

The Gauntlet
Creighton's non-conference schedule ranks among the toughest in the nation once again. CU's first seven opponents all reached the NCAA Tournament, and the slate featured a pair of Final Four teams and the reigning national champion.
   All but one (Montana State) of CU's non-conference foes owned a top-90 RPI last season, and nine of the 12 played in the NCAA's.
   Creighton has three non-conference matches against top-10 competition (preseason No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 Kansas, No. 7 USC), tying it for second-most nationally, and also plays No. 24 Kentucky, as well as vote-getters Wichita State, Iowa State and TCU. Maryland plays four such teams, while Creighton, North Carolina and Texas A&M meet three top-10 teams each prior to league action.
   Creighton is 5-66 all-time against top-25 foes.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, 20 of Creighton's 37 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 119-17 against unranked teams. Creighton has won 18 straight home matches over unranked teams.

Against NCAA Tournament Qualifiers
Creighton's 2015 club beat 11 teams that appeared in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
   The schedule figures to be just as daunting in 2016, as CU plays 13 matches against 2015 NCAA Tournament qualifiers.
   After going 3-35 against teams coming off NCAA Tournament bids prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the Jays are 58-83 since, including a 6-6 mark this fall.
Year   W-L vs. Previous Season NCAA Teams
1994   0-4
1995   0-2
1996   0-2
1997   0-3
1998   0-5
1999   2-4
2000   0-4
2001   1-6
2002   0-5
2003   0-3
2004   2-2
2005   0-6
2006   4-6
2007   4-9
2008   6-8
2009   1-11
2010   4-7
2011   2-6
2012   8-3
2013   6-6
2014   4-5
2015   11-5
2016   6-6
TOTAL   61-118
TOTAL Under Booth   58-83

Marian Pipeline
This is the 14th straight season that Creighton Volleyball had at least one product of Omaha Marian High School on the roster, as Kelsey O'Connell returns and is joined by freshman Brittany Witt.
   Each of the previous five years, Creighton's year-end leader in both digs and aces has been a player that attended Marian.
   Interestingly, the Bluejays had never had a volleyball player from Marian between 1994-2002. Here's a look at Creighton's pipeline of players from Marian.
2003: Emily Greisch 2004: Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2004: Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2005: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2006: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2007: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2008: Emily Crowley, Korie Lebeda
2009: Lisa Greisch
2010: Lisa Greisch, Julianne Mandolfo
2011: Julianne Mandolfo
2012: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2013: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2014: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2015: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen, Kelsey O'Connell
2016: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt

The Reviews Are In
Creighton's Aug. 28 match vs. Iowa State was Creighton's first it has played using the Challenge Review System, NCAA Volleyball's new instant replay program.
   Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth challenged just one call, an in/out call in the second set with CU trailing 17-12.
   Though the replay review confirmed the original line judge call to put Creighton in an 18-12 deficit, CU would rally to score 13 of the next 17 points to win the second set, and eventually claim a four-set victory.
   For the season, Booth is 5-10 in challenges (0-3 in/out, 0-0 foot fault, 5-5 ball contacting a player, 0-2 net fault).
   Marquette and Creighton are the only BIG EAST schools that use the replay system in their home matches.

Dimke's Rare 40/20
Purdue transfer Lydia Dimke opened her Creighton career with 41 assists and 20 digs against Wichita State on Aug. 27th.
   Not only did that make Dimke the sixth player in program history with a double-double in her debut, but it also made her the sixth player in program history with at least 20 assists and 20 digs in the same match.
   Dimke was the first player with a 20 assist/20 dig contest since Michelle Sicner (44A, 21D) on Nov. 29, 2013.
   There have been 20 overall 20/20 performances in CU history, including seven each by Melissa Weisensee (1994-97) and Kailey Reyes (1998-2001).
   Dimke became the second player in CU's modern history (since 1994) with a double-double in each of her first two career matches, joining Brittany Coleman in 2003. Coleman had three straight double-doubles to open her career.

Season-Opening No. 18 Was A Program Best
Creighton started the season ranked No. 18 in the AVCA Coaches poll. It was the highest ranking in program history for any week, one spot better than the No. 19 spot it attained twice, including the final poll of 2015.
   Being ranked in the preseason poll is no guarantee of future success, however. In the last eight seasons, only 144-of-200 teams (72 percent) would be in both the preseason and postseason AVCA Top 25 polls.
   In that same time frame, all but 19 teams named in the preseason AVCA Top 25 poll would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament (90.5 percent).
   Creighton dropped four spots to No. 22 in the Aug. 29 AVCA poll, before falling out of the poll on Sept. 5.

Offensive Production Returns
Creighton ranked among the nation's most potent offensive teams last year. The Bluejays ranked third in the nation in kills, and return 94.7 percent of those terminations.
   Creighton also finished second nationally in assists in 2015, fifth in attack attempts and sixth in digs.
   In all, Creighton returns 11-of-16 letterwinners to the court from last season, including four starters. Below is a breakdown of the production that is back:
Stat   Returners   Departures
Kills   1779 (94.7%)   99 (5.3%)
Points   2122.0 (90.2%)   231.5 (9.8%)
Blocks   275 (85.8%)   45.5 (14.2%)
Matches Started   132 (73.3%)   48 (26.7%)
Digs   992 (44.7%)   1229 (55.3%)
Aces   68 (43.9%)   87 (56.1%)
Assists   548 (30.9%)   1226 (69.1%)

Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won eight matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point. Three of those comeback wins have come against Wichita State.
   On the other hand, Creighton is 280-2 under Booth when it reaches a match point opportunity, falling only when it wasted two match points on Sept. 4, 2010 to Iowa and two other match points on Nov. 1, 2013 in a loss to St. John's.
Surviving Match Points, Under Booth
Date   Opponent   MP(s) Faced   Final Set 5
08/30/03   vs. McNeese State   13-14, 15-16   18-16
10/10/03   Wichita State   13-14   16-14
10/13/06   at Wichita State   12-14, 13-14, 14-15   17-15
09/11/07   at Drake   13-14, 14-15   17-15
08/26/11   vs. UTSA   12-14, 13-14   16-14
11/16/12   at Wichita State   13-14   16-14
09/20/15   Kansas State   23-24 (4th set)   15-13
11/20/15   at Georgetown   23-24, 26-27 (4th set)   15-7

2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 238-9 (.964) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 181-3 mark under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. CU's streak of 94 straight wins when up 2-0, dating to September of 2009, was snapped in the Aug. 27 season-opener vs. Wichita State.
   Conversely, the Jays are 12-187 (.060) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, but did have three comeback victories in 2015. CU also rallied from down 0-2 at Butler on Nov. 8, 2014.
   Those 12 comebacks from down 0-2 are listed below.
Date   Opponent   Sets 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
11/16/12   at Wichita St.   25-16, 25-20, 16-14   Booth
09/05/14   vs. No. Iowa   25-16, 25-22, 15-5   Booth
11/08/14   at Butler   25-16, 25-20, 15-13   Booth
09/20/15   Kansas State   25-23, 26-24, 15-13   Booth
10/09/15   DePaul   25-21, 25-12, 15-11   Booth
11/20/15   at Georgetown   30-28, 26-24, 15-7   Booth

Set 1 Result = Match Result
Creighton is 232-28 (.892) overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when it wins set one. In that same time span, CU is just 48-124 (.279) under Booth when it drops the first set.
   Since Aug. 29, 2010, Creighton has gone 64-1 in its last 65 home matches when taking a 1-0 lead, losing only on Sept. 12, 2015 to Pacific.
   In 2014 Creighton was 20-2 when winning the first set and 5-7 when dropping the opener. Last year's team was 21-2 when winning the first set but 6-7 when it fell behind after the first set.
   This year's team is 15-4 when winning the first set, but 3-2 when losing the first set.

Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 44-26 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, including an 0-3 mark this year and a 15-7 home record under Booth in five-setters. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
   Creighton has won eight of its last 11 true road matches to go five sets, including wins in 2012 over league rivals Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Missouri State, wins in 2013 at Denver and at Wichita State, wins in 2014 at Butler and at St. John's, and a win last year at Georgetown in 2015.
   It's also worth noting that Creighton is 9-3 all-time in five-set home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena.
   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   2-3   18-9
2009   1-4   14-17
2010   3-3   21-12
2011   5-2   17-14
2012   4-1   29-4
2013   3-2   23-9
2014   3-2   25-9
2015   5-2   27-9
2016   0-3   18-6
Total   59-54   373-304

BIG EAST Preseason Poll
For the fourth straight season, Creighton was picked to win the BIG EAST Conference in a preseason poll of league coaches.
   CU was a unanimous choice and received 81 points in the poll and all nine possible first-place votes. Marquette was picked second while Xavier, Villanova and Butler rounded out the top half of the poll.
   Creighton also had three women named to the 12 member on the BIG EAST's preseason all-conference team, as Jess Bird, Lauren Smith and Jaali Winters were all honored. Winters was selected as Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year.
   Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of them or better in the preseason poll in 11 of the past 13 years, including six years where it's finished exactly where it was predicted.
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
2009   4th   T-4th   - -
2010   4th   3rd   #1
2011   3rd   4th   i1
2012   4th   1st   #3
2013   1st   T-2nd   i1
2014   1st   1st   - -
2015   1st   1st   - -
2016   1st   ???   ???

Last Year Summary
Last year's Creighton team finished 27-9 and won the BIG EAST regular-season and tournament titles. Creighton earned the No. 16 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, where it defeated Coastal Carolina and No. 23 North Carolina, to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time. The Bluejays ended the year with a No. 14 RPI and a No. 19 spot in the final AVCA poll.
   Maggie Baumert, Lauren Smith and Jaali Winters were named First Team All-BIG EAST, with Winters also being named a Third-Team All-American by the AVCA, AVCA East Freshman of the Year and BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Jess Bird was a second-team all-league choice and was named MVP of the BIG EAST Championship.
   Defensively, Kate Elman led Creighton in digs and became the school's all-time leader in the category, and also topped the club in aces.

2015 Season Highlights
The 2015 season was one full of highlights for Creighton. Consider the following...
-Creighton won a pair of NCAA Tournament matches for the first time in any year, advancing to its first Sweet 16.
-Creighton defeated No. 23 North Carolina to win the Chapel Hill sub-Regional, its first true road victory over a ranked team in 32 tries.
-Creighton owned an NCAA RPI of 14 in the year-end official rankings.
-Creighton was voted 19th in the final AVCA coaches poll, matching the program's best weekly ranking ever (at the time). It was also the fourth straight season (at the time) CU has been ranked in the top-25 during at least one week.
-Creighton won the BIG EAST Conference, the nation's seventh-best league, by three full games in the standings.
-Creighton won the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship for the second straight year, beating a pair of eventual NCAA Tournament teams in the process.
-Creighton won 22 of its last 24 matches, and was 26-5 after starting the season 1-4.
-Creighton ranked tied for 15th nationally in victories and 20th in road victories last season.
-Creighton was the nation's only team to play five top-11 teams in pre-conference play. No one else played more than three. Creighton's non-conference schedule was ranked as the nation's third-toughest.
-Creighton swept the nation's No. 10 team, Kentucky, on Sept. 5 on a neutral floor.
-Creighton owned eight top-50 RPI wins last season, which was tied for 10th in the nation.
-Creighton owned 11 wins in 2015 against teams that made the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
-Creighton was honored with the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year, while Jaali Winters was a unanimous pick as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
-Kirsten Bernthal Booth was named East Region Coach of the Year, while Jaali Winters was named AVCA East Region Freshman of the Year.

Nationally-Ranked Volleyball Opens Six-Match Homestand

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Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Maggie Baumert

Jess Bird

Kenzie Crawford

Lydia Dimke

Kate Elman

Ashley Jansen

Melanie Jereb

Taryn Kloth

Kelsey O'Connell

Lauren Smith

Marysa Wilkinson

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt