Jays slip in midseason

Photo by Mary Grasela
Kelly Goc (12) and Korie Lebeda (16) go up for a block against Northern Iowa. The Jays wore pink for the game.

By CHRISTINE PIVOVAR
Sports Reporter

The Jays got served — literally and figuratively — as they were swept in three of their last four home matches.

Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said Wichita State, Missouri State and Northern Iowa “were very effective serving,” prompting unforced errors from the Jays.

“They took us out of system,” she said. Without a good pass to the setter, the team’s arsenal of attack options was severely limited and thus less effective.

With the losses, the Jays (14-8, 8-3 MVC) fell from first-place in the Missouri Valley Conference into a tie for third with UNI (14-9, 8-3 MVC).

“Essentially, the regular season conference title is going to be unknown until the very last weekend of conference play, and until then we will continue working hard to push for the top,” said senior outside hitter Abby Baumann.

The Jays started the month strong, sweeping Evansville and Southern Illinois on the road.

“I thought that was a bear-trap weekend,” Booth said. “Not only did we take care of things, but we swept both teams.”
Home matches proved tougher as Creighton lost to Wichita State (19-4, 10-1 MVC) in three.

Missouri State (21-3, 10-1 MVC) also swept the Jays, despite a furious second-game comeback.

“We needed to pass and serve better and we needed to execute offensively,” Booth said. “The teams did a nice job of disrupting us. That’s what good teams do.”

The Jays’ record improved last weekend with a sweep of Bradley. They finished with 60 kills, 71 digs and six aces.

However, the Jays could not keep up the momentum as they fell to UNI on Saturday. Creighton had 75 digs but 33 attack errors, most of them unforced, hurt the Jays. They hit under .100 for the second time all season.

The Jays are confident they can finish strong.

“You can’t look backwards,” Booth said. “Now it’s about going back to the gym.”

Creighton will put its practice to the test this weekend on a roadtrip to Indiana State and Illinois State.

The Bluejays look to make up for their losses in the coming weeks as the MVC schedule enters its second round.

“The great part about our conference is that we play each team twice. So we still will have another shot to play seven of the nine teams in our conference again,” Baumann said.