Creighton University
26-7
Michigan State
23-8
Ninth-Seeded Volleyball Drops NCAA Second Round Match To Michigan State
12/2/2017 8:05:00 PM | Volleyball
Senior Marysa Wilkinson led the Bluejays with 13 kills as Creighton hit .290
Scores of the match in favor of Michigan State were 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16.
Autumn Bailey led the Spartans with 18 kills, while three other Michigan State players had 13.
Creighton (26-7) had three players with double-figure kills, led by senior Marysa Wilkinson with 13. Wilkinson ended her Bluejay career with 1,183 career, eighth-most in team history.
Saturday's action started with a first set race to 25 points that featured 12 ties and four lead changes. Consecutive service aces by Lydia Dimke gave Creighton a 9-8 lead, only the Bluejays' second advantage during early action. A kill by Naomi Hickman gave Creighton a 12-9 edge, the first and only lead of more than two points by either team during the first set. Michigan State (23-8) used a kill from Holly Toliver to take a 22-21 lead, the team's first since leading 8-7, and used a 5-2 spurt to close out the opening set 25-23. Bailey led the Spartans with six kills during the opening set as the team hit .444.
Five different Bluejays tallied at least two kills during the first set, with Wilkinson leading the way with four.
Creighton gained a 7-6 lead in the second set on a kill from Jaali Winters, but Michigan State used a 3-0 run to force the Bluejays to call timeout.
A solo block by Dimke between Wilkinson's fifth and sixth kills of the night gave the Bluejays their first 3-0 run of the second set to take a 15-13 edge and force Michigan State to call timeout. Creighton used an 8-1 run which included five kills from Wilkinson, to take a 20-14 lead. A kill by Winters into the back right corner of the court gave Creighton a 25-19 victory during the second set to even the overall match at 1-1.
The Bluejays hit .432 during set the second set as Wilkinson recorded five kills, Winters and Taryn Kloth each had four, and Megan Ballenger finished with three on three swings.
Michigan State jumped out to a 4-1 lead during the third set in an attempt to regain control of the match before the Bluejays gained a 6-5 edge after a long rally ended with an attack error for their first lead following the intermission.
Creighton held a 15-14 lead at the media timeout, but the Bluejays never led by more than one through the first half of the third frame as Michigan State continued to limit any of Creighton's opportunities to control momentum.
The Bluejays final lead of the third set occurred at 17-16 before the Spartans closed out the match on a 9-3 run, capped by a kill by Toliver.
The third set featured 14 ties and nine lead changes as Michigan State hit .308, while Creighton claimed a .250 hitting percentage.
The Spartans gave up the first point of the fourth set before recording the next five, forcing Creighton to take an early timeout. Michigan State reached double-digits and took an 11-3 lead behind six kills on 12 swings. After calling their second timeout of the set, the Bluejays went on a 3-0 run behind the serving of Winters for a short spurt of momentum before the Spartans controlled the remainder of the match.
Michigan State duplicated their eight-point lead after a kill by Rachel Minarick made it 18-10, her third kill of the match gave Michigan State its first nine-point lead, 21-12, and the senior setter's service ace ended the match at 25-16.
Michigan State advanced to the Sweet 16 next weekend, the Spartans first appearance in the third round of the NCAA's since 2013.
In addition to Wilkinson's 13 kills, Winters had 11 kills and Kloth recorded 10 putaways on .391 hitting. Brittany Witt led the defense with 12 digs and Naomi Hickman matched Wilkinson with three blocks. Creighton hit .290 and finished with 51 kills, three aces, 56 digs and eight blocks.
Michigan State hit .325 on the evening and recorded 67 kills, five aces, 63 digs and seven blocks. Jamye Cox finished with 23 digs, including 11 in the first set.
Creighton recorded 107 wins over the past four seasons, a program record for a senior class. The Bluejays also claimed more than 20 victories and reached the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season, and have won four straight BIG EAST regular-season and tournament titles.
NOTES: Creighton dropped to 9-7 all-time in its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and 2-4 in the Second Round ... Jaali Winters moved past Jessica Houts for fourth on Creighton's career kills list and now owns 1,392 career kills ... Marysa Wilkinson tied Lauren Smith's school record by playing in her 138th career match ... Creighton's 10-match home win streak was snapped ... Creighton averaged 1,873 fans per home match this season, a program record. The previous mark was 1,860 in 2007 ... Creighton fell to 3-1 all-time in matches involving a pair of top-15 teams ... The teams had never met prior to Saturday ... Creighton's 26 wins are fourth-most in program history ... Creighton had not hit .290 or better in a loss since Oct. 17, 2003, and had won 61 straight contests when hitting .250 or better.
2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship - Second Round
Postgame Quotes - Michigan State vs. Creighton
Dec. 2, 2017 - Omaha, Neb.
Michigan State
Head Coach Cathy George Opening Statement:
"Yeah what a great match and it was exciting from beginning to end. And there was a turn in game one, game two, just like a lot of intrigue and drama. I thought it was great match but Creighton is a fabulous team and we knew that coming in. You know they have so many talented players and we have lot of respect for the program. Again I'd like to thank Creighton. My gosh you guys put on a great show. So it was wonderful. The fans, the crowds, the student group just the kind of program that was built here at Creighton is really impressive and we're lucky to come out of alive and to be able to advance. We did feel that things in game three started to go our way a little bit. We chipped away got a little better with our platform. We started working to stay in system and let them and our blocking game got our systems better. Thank you Bailey. We started to make that run. I'm real pleased with what happened and how our players stepped up.
Question: For Coach, going into intermission they had five players hitting over .400 what kind of adjustments did you make to slow them down?
Head Coach Cathy George
Really in game two we weren't fighting the way we needed to fight. We were letting loose balls. We were letting balls hit the floor. We weren't grappling for points. We were missing blocking assignments and our platform wasn't what we wanted to be. So it was getting back to the basics and going one point at a time and starting to chip away a little bit at a time. And really the team came out there and started to do that. As they started to build a little momentum it started to come their way. But yes they hit very well in game two. I didn't like those numbers.
Question: Autumn, this isn't the first time you've had to play a do or die match on this floor. Do you remember it? I'm sure you've played a lot of matches since then but how much did you lean on that experience as far as what kind of environment you faced tonight?
#2 Autumn Bailey
"Yeah it was nostalgic coming back here tonight. Kind of knew what to expect tonight with the crowd. They have a great crowd like Cathy said. So it was fun environment to play in so I look forward to it and I'm happy with how we executed it "
Question: What made the difference in game three? It was going back and forth but in the end you guys really stepped up and made some plays in the end. How did you get the momentum there?
#18 Holly Toliver
"Yeah I think just like you said making plays. We had some crazy plays that we made. Just plays we should have made in the first place. I think that changed that game for us in a lot of ways"
Head Coach Cathy George
"We saw a lot more hustle for those loose balls and it does change the momentum of the game and we needed to do that and the team knew we were back at it.
Question: "It looks like you were taking away the line from Jaali with three prong?"
Head Coach Cathy George
"We were going back and forth with some different things, taking line at some points and leaving line at some other times. That's when we were missing some of our blocking assignments. Like we weren't lining up our defense behind the way we needed to in certain situations. We did want to make sure we didn't become to predictable because they do like to change their shots back and forth. So we wanted to make sure we were staying ahead. You want to get into a loop."
Question: "You said thank you Autumn for getting that block why is that?"
Head Coach Cathy George
"Because Autumn was missing a couple of her assignments so we had a little chit chat about that and she came back and did a much better job and I was very pleased with that. And just tracking on her people a little bit more.
Question: "So what was that chat about? What did you have to do different?"
#2 Autumn Bailey
"Yeah I had to track the middles better on the other side which I wasn't doing great before. So we just had a nice little talk and I decided I should probably start doing that."
Question: Big picture wise, coming out of this pod a lot of coaches felt like you were a dark horse and a dangerous team that no one wanted to face. Do you feel like your team was hitting a good stride the right time of the year? Do you feel confident"
Head Coach Cathy George
"We struggled a little bit at the end of conference. You know it's good to see that we gained a little momentum here. We started to get back at the things we wanted to do. Yeah everybody going to the Sweet Sixteen is hitting a little bit of stride because you have to win to get there. So we know the challenge is big ahead of us. And we have to play together and we have to play hard that's what it's all about. You play hard, you put it all out on the line. Our team is capable of doing great things and we know that it's about getting in there and going after it and getting ready for our next challenge."
Question: Just they way you finished in game four where does that rank?
Head Coach Cathy George
"I think that was awesome what do you guys think? Everything started to work, the serving and the passing we started to get some things together. Some defensive plays that were big. But everybody did their part and it really wasn't a one person show and everyone was doing their job."
#2 Autumn Bailey
"Yeah I think we started playing together and for each other. I think that made a big difference"
Question: Were you nervous with that one time out in your pocket? When do you use it, do you use it?"
Head Coach Cathy George
"Where do you use your time outs for sure. They were getting on some runs and we just wanted to make sure that we use them wisely. We had stop them at times. They were coming up with points together early on in the match and we just weren't. It was going back and forth. We'd side out and then we wouldn't make a run at points and we were really working on trying to clump those together more and you know you want to stop their momentum. They were really serving the ball well but I thought we settled down a little bit with serve receive we triumphed."
Creighton
Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth Opening Statement:
"First of all congratulations to Michigan State. I thought they played a phenomenal match, I thought it was a well played match on both sides of court. Doesn't take the sting way of losing, we came in with the expectation to win just as Michigan State did so you know it hurts. It's always hard to end something that you put so much heart, and blood sweat and tears into. I thought getting the opportunity to host was really incredible for our program. Our fans were just phenomenal. I thought so many people put so much time into this to make first-class operation and I'm really proud of our institution of what they put out there and so many people that worked so hard and again our fans were just awesome. Our student section was awesome, band, dance team all of that really made it although disappointing, was quite an experience for our student-athletes and we're really appreciative of that."
Question: There was not much separation in the first 3 games until late what did you think Michigan State started to do that allowed them to create some separation?
Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
"I saw this last night when they get confident they almost get a little more mojo and you kind of saw that in the fourth game. I believe when they opened it up early you could just see more swagger and maybe they went for different shots then what they were doing. We kind of had them locked into what they are doing and they started to do some different things and caught us a little bit."
Question: What was your impression of their athleticism? Was there an adjustment at all you needed to make, to either neutralize or just match it?
#1 Lydia Dimke
"I think there just a really good team, I think any adjustment we'd make, then they hit it the other way. They have it all. I think they are going to go really far in the tournament they showed up, They played really well. We were right there with them, which makes us a great team as well. They came out on top this time."
"They are very physical team and that showed tonight, but so are we and I don't think there was much that we needed to change They showed up and stay aggressive in the match. I hope they go far in the tournament."
Question: Considering how you passed and served yesterday what did you think about your team's performance on a 23 hour turnaround knowing that would be the key to make this competitive give how Michigan State played yesterday?
Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
"I thought overall we passed well. You know they are best serving team in the Big Ten. Which tells you something, you would key on just one great server, but they got 3 - 4 great servers. So I thought we passed well, but when the top spin kid comes in we'd get shook up on the velocity on the first one but on the second ball was a good pass. But I thought we disrupted them with our serving for a good portion of the match. They would get in the system was a really big key we needed to get them out of system. I did not think we passed well last night, so it was great to see us passed and served a good game tonight.
Question: Obviously pretty emotional walking off the floor for the last time. What has this time at Creighton meant to you girls and how tough was it to walk off?
"It's been amazing here and I wouldn't trade this team for anything, I mean I loved the fact that we had during the entire game today I wouldn't trade this for the world, I can't say anything anymore."
#1 Lydia Dimke
"It's hard to say right now, I think all kind feels kind of surreal. I think we think on Tuesday we are showing up at practice. So it will hit later on, but we have nothing but good memories here. All we can say is thank you to the girls, the coaching staff, facilities, the students, everything. It's been awesome dream."
Question: Why they were able to take control at the end there at the end of the fourth set?
#1 Lydia Dimke
I think they have kind of the same philosophy as us, as every team should. Stay aggressive I think something click for them and it just spiraled. Like coach said they got their mojo and everything was clicking. They were firing from all cylinders. They were passing great they were in a system and it's hard to stop any team of that sort so they had a few good points and it spiraled and they got confidence and kind of took over the match..
Question: Following the trend of always into the looking to the future looking at the projection of the program of the recruits coming in, but what about the seniors that don't have any matches left. What are they like to coach, what are they like to be around everyday, what is this group around them going to miss about them the most?
Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth
"Yeah so we have four incredible seniors. These two and Kenzie Crawford and Brittany Lawrence is going to graduate and go play someplace else for Graduate School. You know, specifically to Marysa she's a kid that we didn't anticipate to play much her freshman year. She knows this story. I think someone twisted an ankle that came back and she never left the court. But I think you guys all know what Marysa does on the court but she always has a smile on her face. She brings the same energy every single day to practice. She's just been a joy. She's coachable, she never pouts, she's a Creighton kid. She epitomizes a great human being.
Kenzie Crawford has been here for five years. She's had the toughest role. A starter last season and midseason ends up not getting as much playing time. I know it's been hard for her and you guys see her on the bench and she's the leader on the bench. Those kids are special. Kenzie's our entertainer, she's our lightning rod. She's the kid that getting the team going in the weight room. She's just an incredible young woman.
Brittany Lawrence again hasn't seen much time on the court but is just someone that willing to play any role that she needs to jump into be anybody on the scout side she's willing to do it. She's had some big moments last year in the NCAA Tournament. It was a big moment for her to help us win the Michigan match to go on to the Elite Eight. She's just a kid that wants to do whatever she can for the team.
And then Lyd, you know Lyd showed up two years ago and hasn't looked back. Again everyone knows what a phenomenal player Lydia is but she's a phenomenal person. She's has a strong faith and she lives that the way she walks around and the way she treats people. That's why I coach, you're trying to help these incredible women become even stronger wonderful women. And that's what stinks is that I'm not going to get to see them every day like I used to. These guys are going to flourish in life and hopefully sport is going to be able a part of them to be able to fly."
Question: There was a run in set two there was a time when you four of five kills in like a 10 point stretch. What did you notice and what did you see in that stretch to make that run?
"Pretty much it's single elimination we just have to go out with a fight. And that's what I was trying to be and that's what everyone was doing so I mean we got on the net and that helped a lot, and we just wanted to go."
#1 Lydia Dimke
"She does an awesome job of always working her butt off. And the game is fast and she's making sure she's in every single time and she's making herself available. And I think Michigan State kind of struggled with that. They weren't expecting her to be up and kind of releasing already. And to just have her work so hard as a setter you just have to reward for that. And she loved every second of that."
