WICHITA, Kan. -- The Creighton Volleyball team had its school-record eight-match win streak snapped in the semifinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, falling in five sets to longtime nemesis Northern Iowa. Creighton staved off four match points to force a fifth set but couldn't convert on that momentum as the Panthers eliminated CU for the fourth straight season at the league championship. Scores of the match were 25-20, 26-24, 18-25, 25-27, 15-8 in favor of the third-seeded Panthers.
Northern Iowa, which has won the MVC Tournament in eight of the previous 10 seasons, improved to 25-7. Despite the loss, Creighton has won 12 of the past 14 matches and fell to 18-9 this fall. CU has 18 wins despite missing three matches in early September when a tournament at Stephen F. Austin was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike.
“I thought it was a great match," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I thought we came out nervous. I thought we were over-hyped for it, and we struggled to get started. Once we kind of settled down, the second set could’ve gone in either direction. I liked how we came out in the third game and the fourth game epitomizes this group. I told them in the locker room this is one of my favorite groups that I’ve ever coached. They give it their all every time. They forced the fifth game, and typically we’re good in the fifth game, and tonight we weren’t.”
Northern Iowa never trailed in the first set, taking a 25-20 decision. Tied at one, Shannon Aschoff served eight straight points as the Panthers went ahead 9-1 and never looked back. CU would score six in a row to close within 11-8, but it wouldn't be enough in UNI's win. Allie Oelke led CU with five kills in the first set while Bianca Rivera paced the defense with 11 of CU's 29 digs. UNI libero Ellie Blankenship had nine of her team's 28 digs in the first set, while Amy Sampson led the offense with five kills.
UNI fought off a set point in the second set, rallying to score the final three points to take a 26-24 win and a 2-0 lead into intermission. The Bluejays got four points on reserve Melanie Feldman's serve to tie the score at 15-all. CU continued that momentum to take its first lead of the match at 17-16 on an ace by Jessica Houts. The lead eventually reached as large as 21-18 before UNI closed with an 8-3 run. CU's Feldman served for the set, leading 24-23, but a Sampson kill evened the score. UNI then got kills from Michelle Burow and Beth Discher to close out the set. UNI hit .273 in the second set and got nine kills from Sampson.
Creighton's block dominated the third set, as CU had eight blocks while holding UNI to .114 hitting and 10 attack errors. Creighton went ahead 3-1 early and would not trail again. A solo block by Amanda Cvejdlik finished the set. Creighton hit .250 in the third set while also serving up three aces.
UNI broke free from a 13-10 score with a 7-1 run to go ahead 20-11, but the Jays wouldn't quit. First, CU fought back with seven points in a row with Sarah Schulze serving to get within 20-18. CU trailed just 22-21 but lost a long rally that might have defeated most teams, but this CU team continued to swing away. The Jays saved three match points after getting behind 24-21, including an ace by Decker that evened the score at 24. Aschoff had a kill to give UNI another match point, but CU scored the final three points to steal the 27-25 fourth set, capped by a kill from Korie Lebeda.
UNI went ahead 4-0 to open the fifth set thanks to three striaght Bluejay attack errors. Creighton responded with four kills in a row of their own to even the score at 4-all. UNI answered by scoring the next six points to take control, 10-4, and would not look back. An attack error by Decker ended the match, 15-8.
Creighton had three players post double-doubles, Oelke (16 kills, 10 digs), Lebeda (50 assists, 17 digs) and Decker (10 kills, 15 digs). Jessica Houts had 12 kills and nine blocks, while Rivera posted a team-best 30 digs. CU hit .175 and finished with 63 digs, seven aces, 91 digs and 16 blocks.
UNI was led by 27 kills from Sampson, who needed a whopping 77 swings to do it. Stelken had 22 kills and hit .366, while Aschoff finished with a dozen kills. Jessa Benson, making her first start in more than a month, had 60 assists and nine digs for UNI. The Panthers hit .221 and totaled 72 kills, two aces, 94 digs and 13 blocks.
Lebeda agreed with Booth's analysis of the match: “I think we did get over hyped, and we needed to calm down a bit. Starting that fifth set, we got ourselves in other deficit and had to work ourselves out of it. That was kind of the theme for all five games was working our way out of deficits.”
With the win, Northern Iowa advances to play in the finals of the MVC Tournament on Saturday night at 7 pm against fourth-seeded Missouri State. The Bears went up 2-0, lost the next two sets, and withstood a Wichita State match point to beat the previously unbeaten Shockers 17-15 in the fifth set. The final will be televised in Omaha on Cox Channel 2 and throughout the Midwest (except in the state of Nebraska) on Fox Sport Net Midwest, Dish Network channel 418 and DirecTV channel 671.
Creighton will learn its postseason fate when NCAA Tournament selections are announced on Sunday at 9 pm (Central) on ESPNU. The Bluejays, with an RPI of 40 entering the week and second-place regular-season finish in the MVC, are expected to be in the running for their first-ever at-large bid.
NOTES: Despite the loss, Creighton has still won 12 of its past 14 matches ...Creighton's school-record eight-match winning streak came to an end ...Creighton is now 3-10 in its 10 appearances at the MVC Tournament ...Northern Iowa has eliminated Creighton from the MVC Tournament in four straight seasons, just the second time in league history one team has eliminated another in four straight years. UNI eliminated Illinois State from 1998-2001 ...Korie Lebeda had her 18th double-double of the year and 56th of her career, Allie Oelke's double-double was her second this year and 16th of her career, while Carolyn Decker's double-double was her 10th of the year and 15th of her career ...Korie Lebeda and Allie Oelke now own three double-doubles in MVC Tournament play in her career, tying them with Melissa Walsh and Kailey Reyes for most in school history ...Creighton had been 22-1 all-time when Allie Oelke hit .168 or better, including 19 straight wins, before today ...Bianca Rivera reached 30 digs for the second time this season ...Allie Oelke's 16 kills were a season-high ...Carolyn Decker had a season-high five blocks for the fourth time this fall, while also tying a season best with three aces for the third time ...Lauren Bloemke tied a season-high with nine kills for the fourth time, including all three matches against UNI, while also tying a season-best with six blocks ...Jessica Houts had a season-high nine blocks for the fourth time this year ...Korie Lebeda's five blocks tied a season-best, while her 17 digs were one away from a season-high ...Creighton is now 20-7 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
Creighton's Single-Match Records Broken (MVC Tournament matches only)
-30 digs by Bianca Rivera
-3 aces by Carolyn Decker (tie)
-9 blocks by Jessica Houts (tie)
-7 team aces by Creighton
-28 team block assists by Creighton
-16 team blocks by Creighton (tie)
Creighton's Career Records Broken (MVC Tournament matches only)
-280 assists by Korie Lebeda
-79 digs by Bianca Rivera
-3 double-doubles by Korie Lebeda and Allie Oelke (tie)
-6.08 digs per set by Bianca Rivera
