Pride and seeding are really all that’s at stake tonight. Creighton is in the NCAA tournament beyond a shadow of a doubt even with a loss, and after two really good wins in the quarters and semis of this tournament, I’d be shocked (no pun intended) to see Wichita State left out as well.
And to be sure, this is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to fall into place — this and the Big Sky final later tonight (which, to the best of my knowledge, is not available for viewing anywhere) award the final automatic bids. I’ll have my last bracketology up later tonight (or early tomorrow morning, whatever it technically ends up being). And then, finally — Selection Sunday!
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a great match here tonight first. I’ve talked a little about the Shockers, but this is my first look at the Bluejays. They’ve been a strong program historically, but they’ve never actually won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament before, so there’s some motivation for them tonight. Creighton are led in scoring by the imposing 6’4″ presence of sophomore middle blocker Kelli Browning. Browning averages a shade under three kills a set, and a healthy 1.6 blocks per set (tops in the MVC and fourth in the nation), at a .372 hitting clip. Setter Megan Bober, a senior, is also a presence offensively. She checks into the match tonight with an even 1100 assists on the season, just under two kills a set, nearly a block a set, and is second on the team in service aces to freshman libero Kate Elson. It’s a skillset that reminds one of Wichita State setter Chelsey Feekin (and in fact, both are left-handed setters, making their dinks all the more powerful), while Browning might evoke recollections of the Shockers’ Ashley Andrade. This may be a very even matchup.
Creighton won both regular season matches between the two sides, but in the second, the Shockers extended it to five sets and actually had a match point that the Bluejays were able to stave off.
Both teams executed pretty well to start the match, on both offense and defense, until three out of four consecutive points were giveaways on service errors (two by Creighton, one by Wichita State). The Bluejays got the first 2-point lead of the set at 7-5 by rejecting Elizabeth Field with a perfectly timed double block. The lead extended to 9-5 following a kill for Browning and an easy point for the middles on the Creighton side following a serve receive overpass. At 11-7, it seemed that the Shockers were left pretty out of system by a powerful serve, but wound up siding out anyway with a picture-perfect threading the needle kill from Ashlynn Driskill. Wichita State had a gruesome point on 12-9, when both Emily Adney and Ashley Andrade went up for the set, and Adney tumbled into the net as a result, incurring the most obvious net violation you’re ever going to see. They took timeout there, down 13-9, despite a TV timeout coming once one side reached 15.
Creighton’s big stuff block coming out of the timeout put them up 5, their biggest lead of the set. The Shockers responded with a very good point on 14-9. They were left out of system, but it didn’t much matter as Andrade made a perfectly good set for Adney anyway. The Shockers whittled down the lead little by little until the Bluejays called time with just 1 point remaining in their advantage, at 17-16. The timeout was timely, as the Bluejays ran off three in a row back from it to force the Shockers’ second timeout. Three Bluejay players were sort of dancing in the team huddle during the timeout, which was odd to see. Wichita State got the first point back from the timeout, but after that one point Creighton really asserted themselves, getting set point at 24-17 after their seventh block of the set, five from Browning. After the Shockers saved one, the Bluejays got the second set point on a double contact call.
The Bluejay block really shut down the Shockers’ front-line in the first set, with Field hitting zero in the first set and Adney a negative.
The Shockers came out strong in set number two behind Feekin catching the Bluejays off guard a little with a couple of early second-contact kills. Browning and Bober’s front-line brick wall helped draw the match even at 6. The match remained quite even from there for some time, as Creighton were consistently able to side out by feeding sophomore outside hitter Leah McNary (a relative rarity in playing a scoring position at a major D-I school despite being less than 6 feet tall). They ran out to a 14-11 advantage following a double block and a Shocker hitting error at the end of a very good point. The lead extended to 15-11 at the TV timeout (evidently they didn’t bother with a TV timeout in the first set since a charged timeout had occurred so close to when it would have come. Wish basketball would do it that way).
The Shockers played an excellent point on 17-14, when the Bluejays stuffed their first swing, but the Shockers kept it alive anyway. They wound up getting a kill from Feekin doing an overhand dink that that somehow found the seam in a double block. The Bluejays called time at 17-16. The Shockers tied the match at 18 when they finally managed to reject Browning, rather than vice-versa. Despite the Bluejays seemingly playing quite a bit better by the eye test, that made it effectively a race to 7. The match was also tied at 19 after a Bluejay service error. Bober’s big service ace put Creighton up 21-19 to prompt Wichita State’s timeout. Wichita State brought in a sub just to serve (Gaby Urban) on 21-20, but Creighton’s side out meant she played just the one point. Field tried to gobble up a Creighton overpass on the next point, but found nothing waiting for her but a leaping double block. Katie Neisler‘sservice ace gave Creighton set point, and Heather Thorsonput it away on the first try with a two-hand dink to send the Bluejays to the intermission up 2-0.
Wichita State ran out to an early 4-1 lead in the third as they finally seemed able to get past the Bluejay block. On 4-1, Bober scored an emphatic kill with a jumping dink, but later on when she tried it again the Shockers learned from their mistake and put a block up. Andrade’s service ace to bring it to 7-2 in Wichita State’s favor prompted Creighton’s timeout. McNary’s 8th kill of the match got Creighton the sideout when play resumed, and she got another to bring the Bluejays within 3 on the next point. Later, her tenth kill made it 9-6, as the point different held steady for a while. The Shockers extended their lead to 5 at 14-9 when Andrade slammed home a Bluejay overpass. Play was delayed for a long moment on 15-11 as the down referee conferred with the scorer’s table for some issue — the commentators assumed it was about the number of subs used by Wichita State. Shocker coach Chris Lamb came over to listen in for a moment — and helped himself to a piece of candy from the bowl sitting on the scorer’s table.
Wichita State ran out to an 18-12 advantage at Creighton’s second timeout. After several consecutive sideouts, the Bluejays scored on serve with a block double to close to 21-17, and Wichita State called their first timeout. At 22-20, it looked like the Shockers had a kill, but the Bluejays somehow managed to keep the ball alive and wound up scoring with yet another block. The Shockers took their second timeout here, with their six-point lead now reduced to just one at 22-21. The Bluejays tied the set for the first time on the point after the timeout, with a powerful swing that rebounded into the rafters and way beyond the court on the Wichita State side. Shocker libero Jackie Church did reach the ball, but it was way too far away from the net to possibly make it back. The Bluejays went ahead for the first time at 23-22, and with no timeouts, the Shockers turned to a substitution to slow things down. Driskill then gave the Shockers a crucial sideout to knot the set at 23. Melanie Jereb (who quietly had a great hitting match) gave the Bluejays their first championship point at 24-23 with a kill from the left side, and a service ace by Brooke Boggs gave the Jays their first tournament championship ever.
#1 Creighton d. #3 Wichita State (25-18, 25-20, 25-23)
Massively entertaining match between two surefire NCAA tournament teams. Creighton played just a little bit better, as anyone probably should have expected. But this three-set sweep was no walkover — Wichita State were competitive in the second set and led for just about all the third set.
The Bluejays now know with absolute certainty they’ll hear their names called tomorrow, but the Shockers will be on that big board, too. Don’t even question it.
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