Friday, December 9
Austin, Texas
5:30 PM
Creighton University
29-6,18-0Big East
3
vs
2
Michigan
24-11, 11-9Big 10
1
2
3
4
5
F
Creighton
24
25
17
25
15
3
Michigan
26
21
25
20
7
2
Jaali Winters had a huge match in the win.
Photo by: Joe Willman
Volleyball Heads to Elite Eight With Comeback Win Over 12th-Seeded Michigan
12/9/2016 8:22:00 PM | Volleyball
Jays will meet Texas with a Final Four berth on the line
AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 21 Creighton Volleyball team extended the nation's longest winning streak to 23 with a comeback 3-2 win over 17th-ranked and 12th-seeded Michigan on Friday night in Austin, Texas.
Creighton (29-6) becomes the first team in history to open an NCAA Tournament with three straight five-set victories, and will play fourth-seeded and fifth-ranked Texas on Saturday night at 7 pm for a chance at its first Final Four in program history. The Longhorns fended off two match points to oust No. 10 BYU in the first Regional semifinal in five sets. Saturday's contest will air on ESPNU.
Scores of the match were 24-26, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 15-7.
The first set featured 15 ties and four lead changes before Michigan (24-11) used a late rally to steal the set. Creighton was in control at 21-18 before Michigan got the Bluejays out-of-system. The Wolverines tied the set at 22 and squandered a set point chance at 24-23 on a serving error before scoring the last two points to take a 1-0 lead.
Creighton controlled the second set, racing to a 7-3 lead. Creighton led 12-8 after a 5-1 run, and then traded sideouts most of the remainder of the set. A kill from Jaali Winters closed out the frame to even the match heading into the break.
Michigan won the pivotal third set, finishing strong to close out a 25-17 set. The Bluejays led 15-13 at the media timeout before the Wolverines went on a big run. UM hit .444 in the set, getting five kills each from Kelly Murphy and Claire Kieffer-Wright, as MacKenzi Welsh dished 12 helpers.
Creighton never trailed in the fourth set and won 25-20 to force the decisive set.
Creighton scored the first two points of the fifth frame, which Michigan then matched, before the Bluejays pulled away. Creighton embarked on a 7-1 run with sophomores Samantha Bohnet and Winters at the serving stripe. The lead would grow as large as 13-5 before a Bluejay timeout with CU ahead, 13-7. Kills from Kloth and Winters ended the match, as the team stormed the court in pandemonium after reaching the Elite Eight for the first time.
After shaking hands with Michigan, and several more hugs, the team raced to embrace members of its Blue Crew, Jays Dancers and Pep Band, who endured an 18-hour drive from Omaha to see the match on Thursday.
BIG EAST Championships MVP Winters led Creighton with 21 kills and 25 digs, while BIG EAST Player of the Year Lydia Dimke had 57 assists and 14 digs. Marysa Wilkinson (16 kills), Taryn Kloth (16) and Lauren Smith (15) also buoyed an offense that hit .264 and finished with 73 kills, three aces, 91 digs and 10 blocks.
Michigan was led by 17 kills from Kelly Murphy, who notched a double-double with 13 digs as well. Welsh had 54 assists and 12 digs for a double-double, and Jenna Lerg popped up 30 digs. Michigan hit .208 and tallied 64 kills, five aces, 94 digs and six blocks.
NOTES: Creighton is the sixth unseeded team in the past seven years to reach an Elite Eight ... Creighton improved to 4-3 in five-set matches this season, and is 4-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches to go the distance ... Creighton's 23 match win streak is the nation's longest, 10 more than the next-closest (Minnesota, 13) ... Creighton improved to 10-1 since early last year in the match after a five-set match .. Creighton improved to 7-66 all-time against ranked teams, including a 4-4 mark in the NCAA Tournament ... Jaali Winters had a career-high 25 digs ... Brittany Lawrence came in off the bench for the first time since Nov. 11th and finished with one kill in four swings.
THE MODERATOR: We'll start off with a statement from the head coach. Coach if you want start off with your thoughts on the match tonight.
MARK ROSEN: I thought it was a great match. At this point in the NCAA Tournament, you expect matches to be well contested, and I thought it was. I thought that Creighton did an excellent job back there, a very good team. They are a very physical team and I think that -- playing a power five conference, people don't know that about them. We saw it on tape and we knew it coming in, they are a very, very physical team and very balanced team and with that it creates difficulties and I thought they did a great job.
I thought the turning point of the change in the match was their ability to continue to get kills. They out-killed us and their defense set up a lot. I thought our ability to get kills was limited a lot based on their defense. But again, I think they are a very good team. It was a good, well-played match.
I thought our team did a great job this season, and I'm proud of our season and certainly disappointed that it's ended because I like this group and I like being around them on a daily basis. That will be the hardest part.
Q. What do you think was the difference between the third set, having a 2-1 lead and the fourth and fifth set?
MARK ROSEN: We got nine kills, and kills are points and that's the big difference -- they got 11 and we got four. It's pretty easy to look and know where that lies. They did a better job both in service speed and swings and in transition.
I thought they scored really well in transition. We did enough scouting on them that I knew they were going to come out and be really aggressive and that was our plan as well. But they executed better than we did. In the end -- most of the errors we made in the fifth set were aggressive errors, a couple violations and errors that were aggressive. I'll take that. In that situation, I want us going after the match. I don't want us sitting back and being afraid to make mistakes.
Q. For any of the players, how much of your confidence through the last three sets, being up 2-1, having a tie, to having won that fifth set, what was the team's confidence?
KELLY MURPHY: I think our confidence level is very good throughout the match. I think when it was down match point, we thought we were going to win the fifth set and we all believed that. All the way through I thought we were going to win. We just didn't get the outcome.
Q. This season, the success you've had?
ALLY DAVIS: It's definitely something to be proud of -- not what we wanted but speaking for myself and Abby and Kelly, great program to be a part of. It's going to be interesting to be watching on the other side but it's going to be great. It's going to be really fun to watch.
ABBY COLE: This was the goal preseason, feeding off what Ally said, it stinks that we lost. But right now it's more about reflecting on all of the great opportunities we've had and just the opportunity that the coaches gave us to be part of this program.
Q. Is it hard, to kind of reflect on what you guys didn't accomplish, or is that something you'll have to do a couple days, a couple weeks down the line?
ABBY COLE: I don't think it's really sunk in personally. I think it's sad right now but it kind of still feels like we have practice tomorrow or a match next weekend and we don't, and that's a hard pill to swallow.
I think definitely over time, when that does set in -- it's sad, but we're really grateful.
ALLY DAVIS: Definitely a lot to be proud of this season and just through our careers that we've been here. I know I wouldn't trade it and they wouldn't trade it, so it's been really awesome to be part of this whole group.
Creighton (29-6) becomes the first team in history to open an NCAA Tournament with three straight five-set victories, and will play fourth-seeded and fifth-ranked Texas on Saturday night at 7 pm for a chance at its first Final Four in program history. The Longhorns fended off two match points to oust No. 10 BYU in the first Regional semifinal in five sets. Saturday's contest will air on ESPNU.
Scores of the match were 24-26, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 15-7.
The first set featured 15 ties and four lead changes before Michigan (24-11) used a late rally to steal the set. Creighton was in control at 21-18 before Michigan got the Bluejays out-of-system. The Wolverines tied the set at 22 and squandered a set point chance at 24-23 on a serving error before scoring the last two points to take a 1-0 lead.
Creighton controlled the second set, racing to a 7-3 lead. Creighton led 12-8 after a 5-1 run, and then traded sideouts most of the remainder of the set. A kill from Jaali Winters closed out the frame to even the match heading into the break.
Michigan won the pivotal third set, finishing strong to close out a 25-17 set. The Bluejays led 15-13 at the media timeout before the Wolverines went on a big run. UM hit .444 in the set, getting five kills each from Kelly Murphy and Claire Kieffer-Wright, as MacKenzi Welsh dished 12 helpers.
Creighton never trailed in the fourth set and won 25-20 to force the decisive set.
Creighton scored the first two points of the fifth frame, which Michigan then matched, before the Bluejays pulled away. Creighton embarked on a 7-1 run with sophomores Samantha Bohnet and Winters at the serving stripe. The lead would grow as large as 13-5 before a Bluejay timeout with CU ahead, 13-7. Kills from Kloth and Winters ended the match, as the team stormed the court in pandemonium after reaching the Elite Eight for the first time.
After shaking hands with Michigan, and several more hugs, the team raced to embrace members of its Blue Crew, Jays Dancers and Pep Band, who endured an 18-hour drive from Omaha to see the match on Thursday.
BIG EAST Championships MVP Winters led Creighton with 21 kills and 25 digs, while BIG EAST Player of the Year Lydia Dimke had 57 assists and 14 digs. Marysa Wilkinson (16 kills), Taryn Kloth (16) and Lauren Smith (15) also buoyed an offense that hit .264 and finished with 73 kills, three aces, 91 digs and 10 blocks.
Michigan was led by 17 kills from Kelly Murphy, who notched a double-double with 13 digs as well. Welsh had 54 assists and 12 digs for a double-double, and Jenna Lerg popped up 30 digs. Michigan hit .208 and tallied 64 kills, five aces, 94 digs and six blocks.
NOTES: Creighton is the sixth unseeded team in the past seven years to reach an Elite Eight ... Creighton improved to 4-3 in five-set matches this season, and is 4-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches to go the distance ... Creighton's 23 match win streak is the nation's longest, 10 more than the next-closest (Minnesota, 13) ... Creighton improved to 10-1 since early last year in the match after a five-set match .. Creighton improved to 7-66 all-time against ranked teams, including a 4-4 mark in the NCAA Tournament ... Jaali Winters had a career-high 25 digs ... Brittany Lawrence came in off the bench for the first time since Nov. 11th and finished with one kill in four swings.
.@CreightonVB will carry its 23-match winning streak into its first Regional Final! #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/wrg4R6vbvB
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 10, 2016
Austin Regional NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
Friday, December 9, 2016
Kirsten Bernthal Booth
Marysa Wilkinson
Jaali Winters
Lauren Smith
Lydia Dimke
Creighton Bluejays
THE MODERATOR: We'll start off with a statement from the head coach. Coach if you want start off with your thoughts on the match tonight.
KIRSTEN BERNTHAL BOOTH: It's want incredible match. You know, we like the five-setters, clearly. But I feel for Michigan. You know, what a great team. What a great season they have had. Great coaches. They gave us all that we could handle and we really tried to lock in on Cole and Kieffer-Wright. I thought we did a pretty good job trying to contain them. We knew they would get their kills but I thought our team did a nice job following game plan.
I told them that I just -- I can't say enough about these young women and the thing is, I really like them off the court, too, which was a nice thing as a coach. They are outstanding student athletes. They exemplify what we want in college sports of high character young women who take care of things in the classroom.
Man, they are winners. Pretty excited, making history for our program and we are excited for another opportunity tomorrow night.
Q. For the players, you've been pretty resilient of late, especially the last sets, you seem to enjoy. USC was similar. What did you guys tell each other coming off the course of that and how were you able to overcome the deficit?
LAUREN SMITH: I would say every game we come out ^ we re-set 0-0 and what we do, how we start off is what really counts.
We have a lot of trust on this team and the girls were amazing and aggressive. I would just say the synergy overall is what we really count on.
MARYSA WILKINSON: Yeah, the passes in the past -- it's a new game. Like Lauren said, it's 0-0. We've always been pretty aggressive and that's what we did.
Q. For any of the players, what's your reaction to making history?
LYDIA DIMKE: I think we're all kind of speechless. I mean, it has not really set in yet but I think. It's just so much fun and we've had such a fun journey and get to go play for each other and an amazing coaching staff, we just don't want it to end, every time we step on the court because we like don't want to not have practice next week.
JAALI WINTERS: We like winning.
Q. A contrast with this time last year, when you lose to USC, your season is over, and felt like you could have gone further. Just contrast the two feelings.
LAUREN SMITH: I would say that our goal is to leave it all out on the court, every time we step out there, it's an opportunity, but also we are playing for each other.
I'm just really proud of how we came out tonight and I think that we have a bright future in front of us.
Q. Why is a team that is so resilient, winning three straight in the tournament -- how have you found that success?
LYDIA DIMKE: We play so well together. I feel like I sound like a broken record but we just love each other so much and it's genuine. It's not fake.
We just touch each other. So even in intense situations, we don't have to play more than we need to because no matter who is behind us or who is on the court, we can trust in them and I think we just have such good camaraderie that we just enjoy it, every second of it.
JAALI WINTERS: Yeah, we are really doing really good in five sets but I'm really tired of going to five sets. I don't know, something changes, something clicks and everyone just has the right mind-set.
Q. What is it about Marysa's game? She's the one that gets the least questions, doesn't get enough focus from the opposing defense, been very efficient, dominant in the tournament. What in your guys's minds do you see from her?
LAUREN SMITH: Yeah, I would say she's killing it, no pun intended.
She comes out ready to work hard every day. I mean, she's always hitting at a high clip, always supporting her teammates and just wonderful to play next to. We help each other out on and off the court. So as long as we can keep that going --
LYDIA DIMKE: I think Marysa is such a gamer. She's probably one of the most underrated middle -- any time, no matter if it's the first point or the last point or if it's 18-18 against Kansas, I know that I can always look to her to put the ball down. I mean, she brings it every time.
JAALI WINTERS: She's a baller.
MARYSA WILKINSON: I would just like to add -- (laughter) -- teammate.
Q. What was the mood in the locker room after the second set?
JAALI WINTERS: We were vibing, having a good time in the locker room. We just needed to have a good mind-set and stay positive and that's what we did.
Q. Two or three sets -- what was the key against her?
JAALI WINTERS: Yeah, we thought we ex-suited our game plan on all the hitters really well but especially Cole, just talking about her and knowing where she was at all times on the floor, making sure we were getting four hands in front of her all the time.
MARYSA WILKINSON: Not just about blocking her and stopping her but slowing her down and I thought we did pretty well at that.
Q. The block was big for you tonight -- felt like an advantage for you on paper.
LAUREN SMITH: Well, we wanted take them out of system, and Cole's an amazing player and just key on her, and as long as we took care of things on our side, I think just happened.
Austin Regional NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
Friday, December 9, 2016
Mark Rosen
Kelly Murphy
Abby Cole
Ally Davis
Michigan Wolverines
THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you want to open up with your thoughts on tonight match.MARK ROSEN: I thought it was a great match. At this point in the NCAA Tournament, you expect matches to be well contested, and I thought it was. I thought that Creighton did an excellent job back there, a very good team. They are a very physical team and I think that -- playing a power five conference, people don't know that about them. We saw it on tape and we knew it coming in, they are a very, very physical team and very balanced team and with that it creates difficulties and I thought they did a great job.
I thought the turning point of the change in the match was their ability to continue to get kills. They out-killed us and their defense set up a lot. I thought our ability to get kills was limited a lot based on their defense. But again, I think they are a very good team. It was a good, well-played match.
I thought our team did a great job this season, and I'm proud of our season and certainly disappointed that it's ended because I like this group and I like being around them on a daily basis. That will be the hardest part.
Q. What do you think was the difference between the third set, having a 2-1 lead and the fourth and fifth set?
MARK ROSEN: We got nine kills, and kills are points and that's the big difference -- they got 11 and we got four. It's pretty easy to look and know where that lies. They did a better job both in service speed and swings and in transition.
I thought they scored really well in transition. We did enough scouting on them that I knew they were going to come out and be really aggressive and that was our plan as well. But they executed better than we did. In the end -- most of the errors we made in the fifth set were aggressive errors, a couple violations and errors that were aggressive. I'll take that. In that situation, I want us going after the match. I don't want us sitting back and being afraid to make mistakes.
Q. For any of the players, how much of your confidence through the last three sets, being up 2-1, having a tie, to having won that fifth set, what was the team's confidence?
KELLY MURPHY: I think our confidence level is very good throughout the match. I think when it was down match point, we thought we were going to win the fifth set and we all believed that. All the way through I thought we were going to win. We just didn't get the outcome.
Q. This season, the success you've had?
ALLY DAVIS: It's definitely something to be proud of -- not what we wanted but speaking for myself and Abby and Kelly, great program to be a part of. It's going to be interesting to be watching on the other side but it's going to be great. It's going to be really fun to watch.
ABBY COLE: This was the goal preseason, feeding off what Ally said, it stinks that we lost. But right now it's more about reflecting on all of the great opportunities we've had and just the opportunity that the coaches gave us to be part of this program.
Q. Is it hard, to kind of reflect on what you guys didn't accomplish, or is that something you'll have to do a couple days, a couple weeks down the line?
ABBY COLE: I don't think it's really sunk in personally. I think it's sad right now but it kind of still feels like we have practice tomorrow or a match next weekend and we don't, and that's a hard pill to swallow.
I think definitely over time, when that does set in -- it's sad, but we're really grateful.
ALLY DAVIS: Definitely a lot to be proud of this season and just through our careers that we've been here. I know I wouldn't trade it and they wouldn't trade it, so it's been really awesome to be part of this whole group.
Team Stats
CU
MICH
Kills
73
64
Errors
21
23
Attempts
197
197
Hitting %
.264
.208
Points
86.0
75.0
Assists
66
60
Aces
3
5
Blocks
10.0
6.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
21
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
15
Aces
1
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH/RS
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballOH/RS
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