No. 19 Creighton (3-1) is scheduled to play its next four matches against No. 25 Marquette (3-1), a stretch that starts when the clubs meet up for a pair of non-conference match-ups on Friday and Saturday. Both matches will take place inside D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center in Omaha, Neb., and start at 7 p.m.
Both matches this weekend will be video webcast at no charge. Friday’s match can be seen at http://GoCreighton.com/VBvideo020521. Jon Schriner and Shannon Smolinski will announce Friday’s match. Saturday’s broadcast will be broadcast at http://GoCreighton.com/VBvideo020621, with Jake Ryan & Kate Elman announcing.
Both matches will have free live stats available at http://Creighton.StatBroadcast.com. Fans can also find the links on the GoCreighton.com volleyball schedule page.
Ranked 19th nationally, Creighton is off to a 3-1 start. The Bluejays swept Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Iowa on the opening weekend before splitting five-set matches in a home-and-home series with South Dakota last weekend.
The Bluejay offense has been led by Preseason All-BIG EAST selections Jaela Zimmerman (3.50 kps., 2.25 dps.) and Keeley Davis (3.31 kps., 3.06 dps.). Both women have a pair of double-doubles already, and Zimmerman was the initial BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week.
Two other senior starters to be mindful of are Naomi Hickman (1.31 kps., 1.38 bps.) and Preseason All-BIG EAST choice Erica Kostelac (1.23 kps., 0.54 saps.).
Ally Van Eekeren (5.44 aps.) and Mahina Pua’a (4.27 aps.) have split time at setter, and Grace Nelson (3.50 dps.) and Ellie Bolton (3.44 dps.) each have logged sets at libero.
Creighton went 25-6 in the fall of 2019, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament, in a season that saw the Bluejays win a sixth straight BIG EAST regular-season title. Gone from that team are three seniors with a wealth of experience who each earned First Team All-BIG EAST honors in 2019: middle hitter Megan Ballenger (2.07 kps., 0.97 bps.), setter Madelyn Cole (11.03 aps., 0.39 saps.) and libero Brittany Witt (5.09 dps.).
Creighton has been picked to win the Midwest Division of the BIG EAST Conference, one spot ahead of Marquette.
Marquette is off to a 3-1 start and ranked 25th nationally. All four matches to date have come against Missouri Valley Conference competition, as MU split two contests with Illinois State before winning in Cedar Falls, Iowa, against both Northern Iowa and Drake last weekend.
With 2019 BIG EAST Player of the Year Allie Barber having graduated, the Golden Eagles boast a much more diverse attack this season. Green Bay transfer Taylor Wolf leads the team in kills (2.80 kps.) while also averaging 4.67 assists and 3.47 digs per set. She’s had three triple-doubles in the first two weeks of the spring.
Hope Werch (2.60 kps.) and Hannah Vanden Berg (2.13 kps.) also average multiple kills per set.
Claire Mosher (5.33 aps.) shares setting duties with Wolf, while Katie Schoessow (4.71 dps.) has taken over the libero role.
As a team, Marquette averages 13.00 kills, 1.67 aces, 16.00 digs and 2.13 blocks per set while hitting .205 as a team.
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 374-172 record in her 18th season with the Bluejays. She’s led Creighton to six straight outright BIG EAST titles, and seven league crowns in the previous eight years. Booth led the Bluejays to their first two Sweet 16’s (2015, 2016) and first Elite Eight (2016) in program history. In 2016 she was recognized as VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Coach of the Year and AVCA East Region Coach of the Year. Booth was tabbed BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the third time in 2019.
The winningest coach in school history, Booth has taken Creighton to its only nine NCAA Tournament bids in the program’s modern history. She’s also coached CU into the top-25 each of the last nine seasons, 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 Angie Oxley Behrens, Craig Dyer and Justin Dueck.
Creighton is 18-4 all-time against Marquette, including seven straight victories. The Bluejays are 14-1 since the start of the 2014 season against MU, and have posted at least one 3-0 win in Omaha over the Golden Eagles in four of the previous five seasons.
Teams to win the first set are 18-4 in the history of the series, and CU has owned a 2-0 lead at intermission in nine of the last 15 meetings.
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 18-4 against Marquette and 14-1 against Ryan Theis.
Even though Creighton and Marquette have proven to be perennial powers in the BIG EAST Conference, both of this weekend’s matches will be classified as non-conference contests.
That won’t be the case two weeks from now when the teams open league play against each other on Feb. 19 & 20 in Milwaukee.
Creighton is one of four schools in the country to have a top-20 team in both volleyball and men’s basketball this week.
Creighton is joined in that elite grouping by Wisconsin, Texas and Baylor.
While Creighton’s 19th-ranked volleyball team hosts Marquette this weekend, the Bluejays’ 15th-ranked men’s basketball squad will play at Marquette on Saturday at 4 p.m. on FOX.
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