Shocker volleyball can’t hold off Creighton

By any standard, Wichita State completed a good weekend of volleyball to wrap up non-conference play. The frustrating part, however, is that the Shockers came painfully close to making it a great two days at the Bluejay Invitational.

Creighton rallied in sets three and four on its way to a 3-1 (25-15, 16-25, 27-25, 25-19) win over WSU on Saturday at Sokol Arena. The Shockers led 24-22 and 25-24, serving both times, and failed to put Creighton away in the third set. In the fourth set, WSU led 10-4 before Creighton took the lead with an 11-4 run and pulled away to defeat the Shockers for a sixth straight time.

“Creighton has a lot of talent, but they also have a lot of girls who are older, more experienced,” WSU libero Dani Mostrom said.

That is experience the Shockers lack. Creighton (6-3) returned all its starters from an NCAA Tournament team. WSU (6-4) played six freshmen. The Bluejays spread their offense around, dominating early with senior middle Kelli Browning and later with right-side attackers Leah McNary, also a senior, and freshman Marysa Wilkinson. Browning led Creighton with 18 kills and hit .586. McNary and Wilkinson both added 14.

“Creighton’s got a lot of firepower,” WSU coach Chris Lamb said. “We clearly didn’t have a good enough plan to deal with the right-side attack, and that was the match.”

Creighton recorded a .319 attack percentage, best by a WSU opponent since Virginia Tech hit .422 while sweeping WSU.

“They’re just a solid team and they didn’t make mistakes,” WSU setter Emily Heibert said.

WSU freshman middle Abbie Lehman had a career-high 16 kills and hit .538. Ashlyn Driskill added nine kills, but had seven errors and hit .056. Lehman and Driskill were named to the all-tournament team.

Creighton dominated the first set, hitting .469 with Browning recording six kills on seven swings. The Bluejays broke a 5-all tie with an 8-2 run and the Shockers never threatened.

WSU quickly turned the match around with excellent serving in the second set. Heibert targeted Creighton’s Melanie Jereb for back-to-back aces for a 4-2 lead and the Shockers held the lead the rest of the way. WSU continued to pick on Jereb, disrupting Creighton’s offense, and recorded five aces, all off Jereb. Creighton’s attack percentage fell to .160 in the set and the Shockers hit .240.

Creighton trailed most of the third set, but the Shockers couldn’t pull away.

“Game 3 could have been the match,” Creighton coach Kristin Bernthal Booth said. “We felt like Wichita kind of had the momentum and for us to win that game was huge.”

McNary recorded seven kills on 11 swings in the set, including back-breaking points when WSU led 24-22 and 24-23 to tie the match. Her block on Lehman gave Creighton the win.

“We scrambled them, to win, and then McNary got one through,” Lamb said. “We were just late getting off the ground to block her and that shouldn’t happen.”

The Shockers surrendered a 10-4 lead in the fourth set, allowing the Bluejays to end the match on a 21-9 run. Wilkinson had six of her kills in the set and the Bluejays hit .368. Creighton setter Maggie Baumert’s serving run of eight points turned the match by turning a 14-all score into a 21-14 Bluejays lead.

“Maggie putting pressure on them and making them earn their points is big,” Bernthal Booth said.

WSU began the day with a 3-1 win over Pepperdine (22-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22).WSU’s serving game controlled large portions of the match and hit .299, its second-best attack percentage of the season. Driskill led WSU with 16 kills, hitting .250, one day after burning Bowling Green for a career-high 20. Right-side Mikaela Raudsepp, a freshman, added 12 kills and seven digs. Freshman left Jenny Whitledge added seven and continued to make her case for more playing time with a .294 attack percentage.

This story was originally published September 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Shocker volleyball can’t hold off Creighton."