University of Minnesota Athletics
Creighton-Minnesota Posmatch Notes
12/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
2010 NCAA Volleyball Championship
Second Round Notes
Minnesota, Creighton
Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Minneapolis, Minn.
Minnesota Notes
- Minnesota is now 32-15 in NCAA Tournament play, and 16-2 in home matches in tournament play.
- The Gophers are 15-1 in 16 first-round NCAA Tournament matches and 13-1 in those first-round matchups under Mike Hebert. They are also 10-1 at the Sports Pavilion in NCAA Tournament play.
- Minnesota is now 9-6 in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament.
- Minnesota has won nine straight matches and 12 of its last 13. The Gophers are 16-2 at the Sports Pavilion this season.
- Minnesota earned its eighth NCAA Regional berth since 1999. Nebraska, Florida, Hawai’i, UCLA, Penn State and USC are the only schools in NCAA Division I to have that many regional appearances in that span. Hawai’i is the only team on that list who has been knocked out of the tournament and won’t make a regional this year. UCLA, USC and Florida have not completed their 2010 second-round matches.
- The Gophers are 4-0 against Creighton. The Gophers are 2-1 against the Missouri Valley Conference in NCAA Tournament play. Minnesota lost to Northern Iowa in five sets in Cedar Falls in 2001 after leading 2-0, and won against the Panthers in 2003 in four sets on the way to its first Final Four bid.
- Minnesota is 22-3 when it wins the first set.
- Lauren Gibbemeyer moved her career total to 588 blocks, 500 block assists and 1,407 kills. She now ranks 9th on the all-time kills list, passing Trisha Bratford (2001-04).
- Jessica Granquist collected 21 digs to move up to 647 digs on the season. With that total, she is now third on the school’s single-season list. Granquist is also only 9 digs from matching Paula Gentil’s second-best single-season total at 656.
- With Ashley Whittman’s 427 kills this season, she is now third on the freshman kills list. With 10 digs, she would become the first Minnesota freshman to have 400 kills and 400 digs in a season (since 1982).
- Tori Dixon is the third Gopher freshman (since 1982) to have 300 kills and 100 blocks in a season.
- Minnesota is now 13-8 against the tournament field this year. Four of the eight losses came in five sets.
- Minnesota’s 30 points against Creighton in set two, is the most scored in a set by a Creighton opponent this year. Southern Illinois scored 28 in a 28-26 third set victory on Nov. 20.
- The Gophers are 7-1 in sets when scoring more than 25 points; 2-0 when scoring 30, or more.
Creighton Notes
- With last night's 3-2 win over No. 16 Iowa State, Creighton (21-11) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. The only other school in MVC history to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament is Northern Iowa, which did so in 1999, 2001 (including a 2nd round win over Minnesota) and 2002.
-Tonight was Creighton’s first appearance in the second round, they are now 0-1 in NCAA second-round play.
- Creighton has been swept by Minnesota in its last three meetings. Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-3 against Minnesota and coach Mike Hebert.
- The Missouri Valley Conference 3-5 against the Big Ten Conference this season, including a 1-1 mark vs. Minnesota.
- Creighton finished with a 21-12 record, tying both its 2006 and 2007 teams for most wins in a single season, since the program’s reinstatement in 1994.
- For the fall, Creighton is 15-15 in sets decided by exactly two points.
- Creighton’s win on Friday over No. 16 was just its second ever over a ranked team. The Bluejays defeated No. 25 Wichita State on Oct. 2, 2009, in five sets in Omaha. Minnesota, is ranked 12th. Creighton is 0-23 in true road matches against ranked teams all-time, and 0-3 all-time against teams ranked exactly 12th.
- The team to win the first set has won each of Creighton’s last 18 matches. Creighton is 1-10 this year when losing the first set.
- Eight teams made their NCAA Tournament debuts this year. Only Creighton, Auburn and Virginia Tech won in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament; but all three were swept in second-round play. The other first-timers that lost included Austin Peay, Cal State Fullerton, High Point, Sacred Heart and South Carolina State.
- Creighton and Minnesota played three similar teams in 2010. Both teams swept Marquette. Creighton went 0-3 against Northern Iowa, whereas Minnesota was 0-1 against the Panthers. Additionally, Minnesota was 2-0 vs. Iowa, while Creighton fell in five sets to the Hawkeyes on a neutral floor in St. Louis.
- Tonight was Creighton’s 33rd match of the 2010 season, extending a season mark set yesterday vs. Iowa State. The previous high had been 31, done also in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Creighton’s 124 sets played this season is also a school-record.
- Ranked as the nation’s No. 6 conference, the Missouri Valley had four teams earn NCAA Tournament bids this fall. Creighton was the only one of that quartet to advance, but it did mark the 12th time in the last 13 years that the MVC had a representative in the round of 32. Auburn swept Missouri State on Thursday in the first match of the 2010 tournament. On Friday, Wichita State fell 3-0 at Oklahoma, while national No. 5 seed UNI was defeated in five sets by Missouri.
- Creighton had 53 digs tonight, giving it 2,249 digs on the season. That total is a school record. Teammates Julianne Mandolfo and Nayka Benitez, who have both seen extensive time as Creighton’s libero this fall, have joined 1985 Bradley teammates Kathy Bickler (530) and Stacey Besjak (606) as the only duo in league history to both own over 500 digs in the same campaign.
- Saturday’s loss moved Creighton to 18-8 in matches started by Eagan native Laurel Sanford. The Jays went 1-4 early in the year with Sanford sidelined by an ankle injury. She also voluntarily surrendered her starting spot on Senior Night so that teammate Lauren Bloemke could start the match at the service line.
- With her two kills vs. Minnesota, Creighton’s Alicia Runge upped her 2010 total to 463 on the season. That ranks third-most in school history, and is most by a senior in school history. Leah Ratzlaff had a school-record 516 as a sophomore in 2003, then put down 479 more in 2004 as a junior. Runge’s 1,259 attack attempts this year ranks second most in Bluejay history, trailing the 1,398 by Ratzlaff in 2003.
- Megan Bober had 31 assists on Saturday, giving her 1,272 on the year. That ranks fifth-most in school history, but all five seasons (three by Korie Lebeda; two by Brittany Coleman) have come since Kirsten Bernthal Booth took over in 2003.
- Two Creighton starters hail from the metro Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Senior OH Allie Oelke is from Chanhassen, while junior MB Laurel Sanford is from Eagan. Jessica Houts, a Bloomington, Minn., native, graduated last season after setting most of Creighton’s blocking records during an All-American career.
-Junior middle blocker Laurel Sanford had 12 kills against the Gophers, marking the 12th time this season she has been in double-digit kills.
-The 28 points scored by the Bluejays in the second-set ties the most points they have scored in a set this season. They scored 28 in the first set against Southern Illinois on Nov. 20, they won that set 28-26.
-Creighton is 6-3 when scoring more than 25 points in a set this season.
-The Jays are 10-4 this season in three-set matches.
