2024 Creighton Volleyball

[taa71458]

Two incredibly fun sets and then a hammer drop to end all hammer drops. Norah and Kendra getting the last two kills were bittersweet.

[Eye of the Jay]

USC had 19-16 lead in Set 1 and let it slip away. Texas not looking as dominant as last year, but they have so much star power and weapons they can go to.

Marquette up 2-0 at Utah. Could all be there at PSU. Mizzou upset SMU at a place Pitt and Nebraska couldn’t.

[jaykorver]

USC had 19-16 lead in Set 1 and let it slip away. Texas not looking as dominant as last year, but they have so much star power and weapons they can go to.

Marquette up 2-0 at Utah. Could all be there at PSU. Mizzou upset SMU at a place Pitt and Nebraska couldn’t.

I doubt the outcome would have changed but USC did a good job challenging them despite multiple injuries. I think they were down to 3 healthy pins for this match.

Marquette-Utah went 5 after Utah pushed it to 5 despite a 23-19 Marquette lead in the 4th. Marquette was able to finish them off 15-12 though and will likely play Penn State in the Sweet 16.

Hopefully Ella Foti will be healthy. She rolled her ankle in the 5th and didn't return

[Wizard of Westroads]

Jays and Marquette in Happy Valley, cool!

[jaykorver]

Penn State advanced to the sweet 16 with a 3-1 with over UNC.

[taa71458]

Dang, Reese Booth almost knocked off #1 seed Louisville. Up 14-12 in the 5th but couldn't close the door. UNI then survived countless match points before finally giving in 22-20. Service errors buried them late.

[jaykorver]

Dang, Reese Booth almost knocked off #1 seed Louisville. Up 14-12 in the 5th but couldn't close the door. UNI then survived countless match points before finally giving in 22-20. Service errors buried them late.

That was brutal. They had 4 service errors on either match point or in extra points in the 5th

[jaykorver]

Creighton's match against Texas is Friday at noon on ESPN2.

[Wizard of Westroads]

No prediction on how it will go against Texas, but some things that give me hope:
1. Texas has struggled with serve receive this year, and our serving has been very high level. It was not against Mississippi, however, and Friday night's effort wouldn't have been good enough against the Longhorns.
2. We've never had talent like we have now. The last time we faced Texas in the E8, we had Winters, Kloth and Dimke, but it dropped off after that. Norah, Kendra and Ava are all likely to be All Americans, and the rest of the team was all Big East. Jaya was "only" an all Big East freshman, but she has a cannon for an arm and (I thought) turned the Ole Miss match around by forcing them to give up their triple block on Norah and Ava.
3. If you don't follow this team regularly, you may not realize that the pleasant, even-keeled KBB is a killer. Her teams always show up. This team could have wilted after the five-set losses to Louisville and Nebraska, but it didn't. The Jays have been preparing all season for this moment and they're not afraid of it.

All that being said, Texas is the two-time defending champion and will have arguably the most talented player in the nation in Madi Skinner (but one who has struggled at times this year). The rest of the lineup is all top 10 recruits, so while we may not be overwhelmed by their talent, you'd have to give them the edge. And as for the Longhorns struggling this year, they did the same thing last year to an extent and righted the ship to win the title.

[jaykorver]

No prediction on how it will go against Texas, but some things that give me hope:
1. Texas has struggled with serve receive this year, and our serving has been very high level. It was not against Mississippi, however, and Friday night's effort wouldn't have been good enough against the Longhorns.
...
All that being said, Texas is the two-time defending champion and will have arguably the most talented player in the nation in Madi Skinner (but one who has struggled at times this year). The rest of the lineup is all top 10 recruits, so while we may not be overwhelmed by their talent, you'd have to give them the edge. And as for the Longhorns struggling this year, they did the same thing last year to an extent and righted the ship to win the title.

I agree Jays have the talent to compete but it will be a tall order. I think Texas (and Penn State should they advance) will be the best serving teams they have faced all season. Halter, Carlson, Akana, and Skinner are dangerous servers for Texas.

I don't think Texas's mid-season struggles mean much. Texas was running a 6-2 and only playing Skinner in the front row for 2 of those 3 losses (they switched to a 5-1 with Skinner going all 6 rotations after losing to Missouri and then lost to Oklahoma 2 days later with their new 5-1). They haven't lost since and Skinner has hit above .300 in every match since they switched their system. They nearly lost to Ole Miss a week ago but that was with Skinner out with illness. I was hoping the SEC wouldn't show out as well in the tournament but the SEC has performed very well so far. All but 1 SEC team with a 1-8 seed advanced into the Sweet 16 with the only R2 loss being Oklahoma to Pitt yesterday (it was a pretty competitive match as far as sweeps go).

As you mentioned, Texas isn't a great passing team and that is something Creighton will need to exploit to win the match. Jays will probably want to target Skinner and Wenaas when they have opportunities. Texas uses a 2 player receive quite a bit and has their libero covering a lot of court.