Breaking Down Creighton's Opening Spike Classic Matchups

Today, the Creighton team announced their first two matches of the season, and they are big ones. Texas and Kansas, two top ranked teams from last year. 

The first matchup will be against Texas on August 19th at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Thinking back to last season, this is a huge matchup as the Bluejays defeated the Longhorns in four sets preventing them from a third consecutive championship. 

Let’s break down what the Bluejays will have to accomplish in order to win some of the first matches of the season. First of all, one of the biggest reasons Creighton won last year’s match was due to setter Kendra Wait. Her offense was impeccable the whole match and she knew when to throw the opponents off by scoring herself. With the loss of Wait, the Bluejays will have to make sure new setters Ivy Leuck and Annalea Maeder are at their best. 

In addition, another standout in the previous match was Jaya Johnson on the right side. Now that she has transitioned to a middle blocker role, it will be exciting to see if she continues to make such a large impact. 

One issue the Jays ran into during this match was serving. In order to add another to the win column, Creighton will have to make their serving is sharp with minimal errors to capitalize and avoid throwing away easy points. 

Now on the Texas side, one win for the Jays is that Madisen Skinner has graduated and is now playing professionally in Houston. Skinner is a huge presence on the outside and it will be favorable for the Jays not having to defend against her. 

However, the majority of the Longhorns will be returning this season. The Jays will have to figure out what worked well defending against Torrey Stafford and Marianna Singletary in the playoffs and bring this energy again in Madison. 

The second matchup against Kansas should also be a challenge. The Bluejays did take a 3-0 victory over the Jayhawks last September, but the Jayhawks will be coming back with a vengeance. Kansas ended up finishing 12th overall nationally last season and has a decently high ranked recruiting class is looking to make an impact in the Big 12. 

In order for the Bluejays to do well here, Ava Martin will have to show out for this match. Last season, she was a standout against Kansas recording 12 kills on the match. 

The defense will also have to be sharp, and well it is undecided who will be the starting libero, they will have to be on their A game.

I think the Bluejays have what it takes to do incredibly well in both of these matches. Even though many of the seniors from last season have since graduated, the transfers and freshman have been looking great in the scrimmages so far. If Creighton can get two wins out of Labor Day weekend, they will be well on their way to continue being a top 10 team.