Shatel: It's Volleyball Year in Nebraska — and this time with a dangerous Creighton team
It’s Volleyball Year in Nebraska.
The stage is set and all the characters are here. Nebraska, No. 1 overall seed and NCAA tourney favorite. UNO, first-time tourney team wearing Cinderella’s name tag.
Wayne State and UNK, both in the Division II tourney, round out the historic Volleyball Day In Nebraska field. That event had some serious karma.
Wait. Who are we missing?
Creighton.
Don’t sleep on the Jays. They look set up for a NCAA run.
With all the big noises coming out of Lincoln, CU quietly put together what has become a typical season for coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth’s program: Big East champions, No. 3 seed in the NCAA tourney and NCAA first weekend host.
But it was anything but typical: the Jays lost elite outside hitter Norah Sis in September. She was out for 11 matches, with CU going 7-4.
The Sis Factor is why Creighton could be a dangerous draw these next two weeks.
The Jays have fizzled out as NCAA hosts the last two seasons. In fact, CU has hosted four times and never advanced.
But Creighton had injuries to important players at the end of the last two years.
This year, for a change, Booth’s team is not only healthy, she gets a star player back.
Sis returned on Oct. 13 against Georgetown and has been in the lineup for 14 of CU’s current 15-game win streak.
The junior is fresh for this time of year, and her return energized CU. In Sis’ absence, sophomore hitter Ava Martin was forced to step up — and did in a big way.
With both Sis and Martin firing away, this is a better, deeper club.
“We discussed as a team prior to the season, let’s have our injuries early this year,” Booth said Sunday night, tongue in cheek.
“One of my Achilles heels as a coach is being ready for those injuries at the end of the year. We weren’t necessarily ready for those situations. This has forced my hand a little bit.
“The thing that’s great about our team and about Norah is we didn’t skip a beat with her coming back. Sometimes that can disrupt things. People are playing, we were winning a lot of matches. I felt like people were saying we were playing really good without her, now we can play really good with her.”
The Jays will be favored again to win their regional. Minnesota would be a challenge, but Creighton beat the Gophers in five sets earlier this season in Minneapolis without Sis.
If CU can get to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, No. 2 Louisville and No. 1 Pitt could be waiting.
But it would be a good problem to have. In fact, the Jays might be the problem for the others.
Photos: Creighton and Omaha players react as the 2023 NCAA volleyball tournament bracket is unveiled, 402-444-1025, twitter.com/tomshatelOWH
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