Creighton University
26-6
Coastal Carolina
20-8
Volleyball Wins NCAA Home Debut Over Coastal Carolina; Michigan State Next
12/1/2017 9:09:00 PM | Volleyball
Jays win in four sets in 2017 NCAA Tournament opener
Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-20, 27-25, 20-25, 25-22.
Creighton (26-6) pulled away in a tense first set, using a 5-0 run to build a 17-13 edge, and finishing off the Chants with an ace by Samantha Bohnet on set point for the 25-20 win. Creighton hit .292 in the opener, led by four kills from freshman Naomi Hickman.
The host Bluejays saved four set points in the second frame for a dramatic 27-25 win that served as the turning point for the match. The Jays trailed 24-21 before getting three in a row to draw back to even on freshman Jaclyn Taylor's serve. The teams exchanged sideouts before CU won it on a kill by Jaali Winters and a CCU hitting error. Marysa Wilkinson led CU with six kills in the second set and Winters added five putaways after being held without a kill in the opening kill. Creighton hit .263 in the set and had a 15-12 lead in kills.
Coastal Carolina (20-8) won the third set, 25-20, as Hardeman had seven kills in 11 swings and the Chanticleers hit .294. Hardeman served a 6-0 run as CCU went ahead 14-8 and maintained a cushion to win a set against CU for the second time in three seasons.
Creighton broke free from a 20-20 deadlock late in the fourth set with a 3-0 run that started on a kill from Wilkinson. A kill from Winters pushed CU to match point up 24-22, and CU won the match on an attack error into the net by the Chanticleers. Megan Ballenger had six kills in 16 swings in the final frame after just two kills on nine swings in the opening three sets.
Wilkinson had 13 kills and a match-high six blocks to lead a balanced Bluejay attack. Winters posted her sixth straight double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs, and sophomore Brittany Witt had 15 digs on the night while surpassing 1,000 in her career. Creighton had 52 kills, five aces, 58 digs and 10 blocks on .209 hitting.
Hardeman had 25 of CCU's 48 kills on the evening, setting Coastal's career kills record in the process with 1,811. Lincoln native Sara Boothe had 20 assists in her return to Nebraska, and Dora Lulic led CCU with six blocks. The Chanticleers recorded 48 kills, eight aces, 48 digs and 10 blocks on .184 hitting.
Creighton and Michigan State will meet at 6 p.m. Central on Saturday night, with a berth in the Sweet 16 on the line.
NOTES: The crowd of 2,517 was second-largest in D.J. Sokol Arena history, trailing only the 2,578 in a 3-0 win over Kentucky earlier this fall ... No. 9 seeds are now 17-0 in the opening round since the shift to rally scoring ... Creighton is now 8-5 against NCAA Tournament teams this year ... Creighton has won 41 straight matches when winning the first set and owns 35 straight home wins over unranked teams ... Creighton has won 10 straight matches at home and is 11-1 at home this season ... Creighton has now drawn 21,931 fans at home this season, third-most in history, and most in any season that didn't involve a match at CenturyLink Center Omaha ... Creighton's home attendance average this season of 1,828 is second-most in program history ... Creighton improved to 9-6 all-time in seven NCAA Tournament appearances ... Both Creighton and Coastal Carolina have both won four straight conference tournaments.
2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship - First Round
Postgame Quotes - Coastal Carolina vs. Creighton
Dec. 1, 2017 - Omaha, Neb.
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Coastal Carolina
Head Coach Jozsef Forman Opening Statement:
"First of all I would like to congratulate Creighton, they are deserving the victory. Â They did a very good job and you know, when we played in Nebraska, the University of Nebraska, was very supportive and they understand the volleyball and today when we played I realized it is not just the University of Nebraska, it is Creighton and all Nebraska volleyball and the fans were very supportive to us and I thank you for that. Â And also, I would like to congratulate my team because we fought today. Â This was short but we left everything on the court and I think this was a great game."
ÂQuestion: "Leah, I guess you had a pretty good match the first time you played them back in 2013 in Chapel Hill. What was the game plan going in, did you feel like it was going to be a similar type of match-up without having a lot of the same players or I guess, what was your plan of attack tonight?"
Â#10 Leah Hardeman
"My plan for this game was, this could have been my last game ever playing for Coastal Carolina so I want to play my best and put everything on the court because my team deserves to have my all. Â I also had a record I wanted to beat so I was trying to do that too so I had a lot of things. Â Mentally I wasn't thinking about the other team because I thought if I played my best and the team played our best then we could put up a fight and maybe win."
ÂQuestion: Â "How are you able to stay locked in? Â I mean I think you got 90 percent of their serves in serve receive but you are also taking the first contact and the third contact most of the time?
Â#10 Leah Hardeman
"This season the other teams have stayed away from me for passing because I've done so well when they serve me the first time. Â Obviously, you want to take away the outside hitter so being a stable leader was basicly what Jozsef has been trying to teach me for all four years. Â If you've seen me play previously I haven't been able to stay stable. I was glad that I did, I don't really know I did it, I just was honestly trying to play my best."
ÂQuestion: Â "What does the record mean to you?"
#10 Leah Hardeman
"It means a lot. Â My mom didn't tell me what I had to get to beat the record because I've become a stats person this year, I don't know why, but it means so much to me. Â It's another record that I've added to my accomplishments so it's pretty cool for me".
ÂQuestion: "How frustrating knowing how close you were to making it 1-1 when you had a 23-19 lead in game 2 and going into the locker room down 0-2?"
Â#10 Leah Hardeman
"It's funny but it's not. Â In the game, we were obviously upset but we've done that before and we knew in the third game we were going to come out fighting and we were going to win that game just because that's the how the season has gone all year. Â Like we sometime we took the second set and it was 0-0 and we come out fighting". Â
ÂQuestion:
"Sara, you're back in the home state playing a survive and advance volleyball match in front of a sold out crowd, you know, what coach mentioned obviously raucous volleyball fans."
Â#6 Sara Boothe
"Yeah, it was really fun for me because this is like what I grew up around so I kind of knew coming into it what it would be like. Â Even playing in the state tournament here, it's a crazy atmosphere so I don't think I was to nervous or to surprise by it but I loved it and I can hear my mom every time we score a point. Â It's just nice and the support I had with 60 of our friends and family come so it was a great thrill for me. Â Honestly, going to Coastal I never thought I'd have a chance to play in Nebraska again, so yeah it was really special."
ÂQuestion: "It is a little bit bittersweet? Â I mean, obviously you didn't get the win so that's going to hurt but I mean so the fact that you played an important match in front of a crowd like them, you know in an environment like that, all things that kind of go with the match itself."
Â#6 Sara Boothe
"I mean, we knew obviously we knew we were an underdog going in but when we played them my freshman year, we knew we could upset them. Â It obviously hurt because it was right there, we were that close and it would have been probably the biggest upset of the tournament. Â Yeah, that definitely hurt but it makes it a little bit better being home and getting to see all my friends and family after the loss but yes, it does hurt." Â
ÂCreighton
Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth Opening Statement:
"Well we were fortunate to get a win tonight. Â We knew Coastal was a great team. Â And they gave us all we could take. Â Leah Hardeman is special special player. Â And she's so hard to defend because she can hit every area of the court. Â So we'd make adjustments one way and then she'd do something else with the ball. Â We had no answer for her in the back row so kudos to them. Â And then I thought in game four we had that cushion a little bit and then they just they made some phenomenal defensive plays and we won a couple of those points and lost of couple of them. Â I thought Coastal really challenged us. Â I don't really think we played our cleanest match. Â You could tell there was some nerves. Â So I think it's huge to get past this first match. Â So tomorrow night we are playing a team that some think that when they play their best they could win the national championship. Â It will be a battle and we are really stoked for the opportunity to play Michigan State and put our best out on the court.
ÂQuestion: For any of the players, You've been through the meat grinder the past couple of weeks and taken everybody's best shot. Â Did you feel comfortable tonight because of what you've been through?
Â#1 Lydia Dimke
"I think it helped playing really solid teams at the end of our BIG EAST season. Â Marquette, Villanova, everyone took it to us. Â We had to learn and grow a lot from those matches and it definitely helped us going into the tournament. Â I wouldn't say comfortable is a very good word. Â I don't think anyone is really comfortable going into at this point because everyone's so good. Â Any game could go either way. Â I think we appreciated the experience and the toughness those teams brought us against the BIG EAST."
Â"The losses that we had the last couple of weeks helped us grow as a team and for this weekend and without those losses I'm not sure how this game would have gone. Â Because we have learned that we got to play better every single weekend because the teams are going to get better as we go."
ÂQuestion: Down 23-19 Â in game two and came back to win and was a turning point in the match, what was the attitude like in the locker room?
Â"It's great to win that match and fight back but we knew it was all on our side all of the errors. Â So when we went back it in there we were all like great finish but we have to clean up our side, clean up all errors."
ÂI think it was a huge momentum to get back into that match. And just showing ourselves how tough we can be. Â Our fans were great during the end of that second set."
ÂQuestion: Can you describe what it was like playing for the home crowd for change in a match like this? Coach said it seemed like nerves were a factor. Â How did you battle through the extra stuff and focus on the volleyball aspect?
Â#1 Lydia Dimke
Â"I think the nice part of this group is that we have a lot of returners who have been in this situation before. Â Some have been since they stepped on the floor for Creighton. Â So I think that maturity helped us calm down a little bit. Â But you could be in this for 10 years and still have jitters because you know if you lose you are done. Â So I don't think those will ever go away. Â But I think that the maturity and experience helped us and just being at home and getting to sleep in our own beds and in front of our fans pushed us to the end."
ÂQuestion: "You talked about Hardeman and how good she was. Â And there was the back-to-back stuffs and that gave some separation. Â Tell me about that."
 Â"Oh my gosh, I'm looking at her stats right now, 25 kills.  She's obviously phenomenal.  She got through our blocks at times. We were talking about that a lot on our side. Getting low and getting over there quick because she has a really fast arm.  So just getting up on her.  But she's a great player.
ÂHead Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
Â"We shifted our rotation and Marysa got the challenge that you need to contain her and she came up two big blocks, that could be arguably the difference in the match so kudos to her for stepping up when we needed her to, like a senior should do.
ÂQuestion: I think your setter was on the block as well wasn't it?
Â#1 Lydia Dimke
"I didn't touch it."
ÂQuestion: "In the second set, you came back from 5-1, 24-21 and you ended up winning the set 27-25. Â What did you see that Coastal Carolina was doing where you could get that rally going?"
Â#1 Lydia Dimke
Â"I think volleyball is a game of runs and it's not over until the scoreboard says 25, well as long as you are winning by two. Â We knew that it wasn't going to be over and we weren't ready to roll over. Â It was a huge deal to go to the locker room being up 2-0 and not 1-1. Â And we knew that we aren't going to go back to the locker room and think what can we do better. Â We knew we were going to win this game right now.
ÂHead Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
Â"Kudos to Jaclyn Taylor for coming into this game and hitting a couple of big serves. Â I knew she missed one but it took them out of system for two points and allowed us to come back and tie that game up."
ÂQuestion: "How big was Megan Ballenger in that fourth set? Â It seemed like she took over in that fourth set"
ÂHead Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
Â"Well I think Megan's fearless and that's huge. Â Well you always want players that will go for it. Â If you give teams an easy ball you know that it's coming back to you. Â All these guys go for it and Lyd knows that and tries to find those that will go for it and come up big."
ÂQuestion: "Lydia how much faith did you have in Megan?"
Â#1 Lydia Dimke
"Yeah, I have faith in all my hitters. Â And I know people are going to step up at times. Â And Megan was feeling it and I could feel that vibe from her so might as well give it to her. Â She wants it, she's commanding it. Â But I would have no problem going to my other hitters at that point.
ÂQuestion: Â "Jaali what changed for you in the midway through the match? Â It seemed like your swings were different halfway through."
Â"I just started going after it. Â Guns out.
ÂQuestion: "Michigan State has a balanced offense, what are you going to do to contain them? Â What's the strategy?"
ÂHead Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
Â"Well I can't give you the strategy. Â I think we are going to have to play great defense. Â It's going to be a pass and serve game. They're known to have a good serving team and they are good at every position. Â We're excited. Â It's go time. Â In the sense of like it you're supposed to win, are the tickets going to be sold tomorrow night? There is a lot of pressure on these women today. Â But now we're like heck we're playing a phenomenal team and this is where I think they thrive. Â Â We're excited for the opportunity to play and definitely respect Michigan State. Â And I definitely thought Michigan State played a phenomenal match tonight. Â They were really clean and efficient, served well, passed well so we're going to need to be ready to go.
ÂQuestion: "It's going to be the most battle tested team that you've faced all year."
ÂHead Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
ÂSure, but we play a lot of those teams in non-con and post season. Â But I think we're battle tested. Â I think this team has been in a lot of those scenarios. Â They've been down 0-2 and came back, been down 7-2 in game 5 and come back, been down 1 game. Â So I think those are good. Â At the time I'm not happy going five, but I think the experience tells them that they can be 20-20 in the fourth game and come up with key blocks. Â I think that for sure Michigan State is battle tested but we are too.
