MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Leah McNary had 14 kills while Kelli Browning had 12 more as the No. 21 Creighton Volleyball team won its NCAA Tournament opener, 3-0, over Marquette on Friday evening in Minneapolis, Minn.

Scores of Creighton’s 17th straight victory were 25-22, 25-23, 28-26.

The win was Creighton’s (29-3) second NCAA Tournament victory in three years, as the Jays also won in five sets in its NCAA Tournament debut in 2010 over Iowa State on the same Sports Pavilion floor.

Marquette ends its season with a 27-7 mark.

Creighton advances to play eight-seeded and 11th-ranked Minnesota, which swept Liberty (25-21, 25-10, 34-32).  Saturday’s contest will start at 6 pm. A free video webcast will be available.

Creighton hit .412 in the opening set to down Marquette, 25-22. Browning had five kills in as many swings to pace the Jays, while  McNary had three kills including the winner on set point. The match was tied five times early on before Kate Elman served up a pair of aces during a 5-0 run that helped CU to an 11-7 lead. MU got no closer than two the rest of the frame. MU hit .366, getting five kills by Erin Lehman, as setter Elizabeth Koberstein dished 16 assists.

Creighton won an even tighter second set that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. The Jays trailed 21-20 late, only to go on a 5-2 run to close out the set. A kill from Browning evened the score and CU went ahead on a Golden Eagles attack error. MU would answer with a Danielle Carlson kill to tie the score at 22-all.  McNary then followed with back-to-back kills, giving CU a 24-22 lead. Marquette earned a sideout on another Carlson kill, but the Jays then went back to McNary for the clincher, closing out the 25-23 set victory.

Creighton trailed much of the third set, but used a 3-0 run to go ahead 19-18. Marquette scored the next two points to go up 20-19, and the teams would then exchange 14 straight drama-filled sideouts (as Creighton survived three MU set points) until the score was knotted at 26 all. The Jays evened the score at 26-all on a Golden Eagles service error. Michelle Sicner then slammed her seventh kill to give CU a match point opportunity, which McNary finished with a kill on the next chance.

McNary led CU with 14 kills on .294 hitting, while Browning had 12 kills and hit .600 while also sharing team-high honors with Heather Thorson with four blocks. Jereb finished with a team-best 15 digs, while Elman tallied 14 digs. Sicner hit .500 in 14 swings without an error. The Jays hit .267 and finished with 48 kills, five aces, 54 digs and 12 blocks.

Marquette was paced by 13 kills each from Holly Mertens and Danielle Carlson, while Lehman had 10 kills. Julie Jeziorowski had 19 digs to lead all players on the afternoon. MU hit .231 and finished with 49 kills, two aces, 62 digs and three blocks.

NOTES: Kate Elman became the third player in Creighton history with at least 600 digs in a season and stretched her career-opening streak of 10 or more digs to 32 straight contests … Creighton improved to 24-0 on the year when winning the first set and 18-0 when leading a match 2-0 this fall … Creighton improved to 8-2 this year against teams in the NCAA Tournament field … Creighton has now won 11 straight matches away from home and are 7-0 on neutral floors this fall … Creighton finishes the month of November with a 9-0 record after also going undefeated in August (4-0) and October (7-0) … Creighton is one of eight teams to win at least one match in every NCAA Tournament apperance in program history. The only other teams still alive in the 2012 NCAA Tournament that can say that are Stanford, Texas and Florida …Creighton improved to 3-1 all-time vs. Marquette …Megan Bober set a school-record by playing in her 127th career match …Creighton improved to 11-1 against teams from the 2011 NCAA Tournament field … The MVC went 3-0 in the first round, as Northern Iowa swept Kansas State and Wichita State overcame an 0-2 deficit to beat Arkansas … Kelli Browning now owns 184 block assists on the season, four shy of the MVC single-season record … The 55 combined wins between Marquette and Creighton entering the match were more than any other NCAA Tournament first-round pairing … Megan Bober increased her school-record with her 23rd double-double of the season.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Jess Samorodova poured in 31 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team improved to 10-0 with an impressive win 91-68 against the Las Vegas Heat in the second day of the Air Force Prep tournament on Friday.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said they shot the ball a lot better against the Heat then they did on Thursday against the Adam College junior varsity. The Cougars converted on nine 3-pointers, led by Shalisa Moffitt with three treys and Samorodova and Laurin Rivera with two each.

“The first half we struggled a little bit defensively. They are a good team with some height,” Harnish said. “We then scored a lot better in the second half.”

Samorodova, the 6-foot-3 post player from Russia had a season-best score of 31 points followed by Moffit with 11 points and Jessica Aratani with 10 points. Kelsey Doddridge followed with nine points, while Mikayla Brower and Rivera each had seven points.

The Cougars will finish off the Air Force Prep Classic on Saturday at 4 p.m. when they face the host school. The Cougars will then return home to host the Lady Cougar Holiday Classic beginning Thursday when they face Colby Community College at 7 p.m.

 

WNCC (10-0)                      41 50 – 91

Las Vegas Heat                  35 33 – 68

WNCC

Mikayla Brower 7, Laurin Rivera 7, Kelsey Doddridge 9, Gritt Ryder 6, Katie Kerkhoff 2, Simone Evans 2, Shalisa Moffit 11, Ashley Stevens 6, Jessica Aratani 10, Jess Samorodova 31.

 

SHERIDAN, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received 43 points from Charles Ward and Cody Johnson and the Cougars hung on to clip Gillette College 65-61 in the Holiday Classic at Sheridan, Wyo., on Friday.

WNCC coach Russ Beck said the big reason for the win was their defense, which held the Pronghorns to just 34 percent shooting. Beck also said they took care of and distributed the ball. The Cougars had 17 assists and committed just 12 turnovers.

The Cougars held a 32-30 halftime lead thanks to 46.4 percent shooting in the first half, including connecting on four 3-pointers. WNCC finished the game shooting 44.6 percent and hit seven 3-pointers. Ward nailed 3 of 5 attempts, while Johnson, the 6-foot-10 post, had two treys.

Ward finished the contest with 22 points, five assists and five rebounds, while Johnson had 21 points and six rebounds. Willie Mangum was the next leading scorer with five points and five assists.

WNCC, 4-4, will be back in action Saturday when they take on the host team Sheridan College. Sheridan lost to the Midwest Elite team 88-83 after holding a 50-42 lead. Sheridan and WNCC met in the second game of the season the Generals won 107-104 in overtime.

WNCC (4-4)        32 33 – 65

Gillette                 30 31 – 61

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Gritt Ryder and Jess Samorodova each scored 15 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team remained unbeaten with a 64-38 win over Adams State College junior varsity Thursday at the Air Force Prep tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his team played well defensively, but came out sluggish offensively. He said that might because of the 10-day layoff between games. The Cougar women last played Nov. 20 when they defeated Casper 72-42.

“The first half we were a little bit sluggish and we actually didn’t pull away. We didn’t score well tonight, but I thought we played defense well,” Harnish said. “The second half we came out real strong and opened up a 30-point lead at 55-20 before we started to play the bench.”

Harnish said it was tight for the first part of the contest until they opened up the contest with a late first-half run to lead 31-13 at the break. The second half saw the Cougars lead balloon to 30 points.

“We haven’t played in a week and a half,” he said. “We just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We need to play better tomorrow [Friday]. The Las Vegas Heat has a 6-foot-4 girl that is athletic and most of their players are like 25 years old.”

The Cougars also received seven points each from Laurin Rivera and Maurissa Ortega, while Shalisa Moffitt collected six points.

WNCC, 9-0, will get a test tonight at 6:00 when they take on the Las Vegas Heat, which is an all-star team.  The Cougars will then wrap up the Air Force Prep Classic tomorrow against the host team at 4 p.m.

WNCC (9-0)                        31 33 – 64

Adams State JV                 13 25 – 38

WNCC

Gritt Ryder 15, Kelsey Doddridge 2, Jessica Aratani 2, Jess Samorodova 15, Ashley Stevens 4, Laurin Rivera 7, Shalisa Moffitt 6, Mikayla Brower 4, Jenna Lindquist 2, Maurissa Ortega 7.

 

CHADRON – Both Chadron State College basketball teams will be seeking their first victories of the season this weekend when they open their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedules at home against a pair of Colorado teams.

Colorado Mesa, located at Grand Junction, will visit Friday night, while Western State, which is in Gunnison, will be the opponent Saturday night.  The women’s games will open the action at 6 o’clock, followed by the men’s contests at about 8.

The CSC men are 0-4 after also playing some rugged non-conference foes. Transfer Zac Bargen is averaging 15.8 points and 6.3 rebounds to lead the Eagles in both categories. Freshman point guard Justyn Anderson is next in scoring at 10 points a game.

Three more Eagles, transfer Grant Stone, junior David Downey and senior Josh Hatcher, are averaging between 6.8 and 8.5 points a game.

Kyle Vinich, a part-time starter last year as a true freshman, joined the team over the weekend after being given a week off following the football season.  Coach Brent Bargen said he believes the 6-4 Vinich will give the Eagles a more physical presence in the middle and help with the rebounding.

Both Colorado Mesa teams have their seasons off to a good start.

The Mesa women are 4-0 and the Mavericks’ men are 3-1.

The Mesa men opened their season by beating Fresno Pacific 82-81 in overtime and losing to Dixie State of Utah 77-65. But last weekend, the Mavericks overwhelmed Northern New Mexico 84-51 and avenged the earlier loss by topping Dixie State 80-61 during a tournament in Grand Junction.

Colton Burgon, a 6-8 senior, leads coach Jim Heaps’ club with averages of 15.5 points and 7.3 rebounds.  He’s also blocked nine shots.

Also scoring in double figures are 6-4 senior Jeff Hart at 12.8 points and 6-5 sophomore Mike Melillo at 12 points even.

Melillo is not afraid to shoot 3-pointers.  He’s 6 of 23 from behind the arc this season. The Mavericks have an almost 11 per game rebounding bulge over their foes.

The Western State teams are off to a rather slow start this winter. The Lady Mountaineers are 0-4 and have been outscored by an average of 67 to 43.8 points while the Western men are 1-3, but they’ve played two Division I opponents.

There’s something unique about the Western State men’s team.  The roster includes both Charles Joseph and Joseph Charles.

But aside from the reversal in names, there’s not much similarity between the two.  Charles Joseph is a 6-8, 300-pound center and Joseph Charles is a 5-11, 175-pound guard.

Joseph, the center, was on the team last year and led the Mountaineers when they played in Chadron in February by scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, although the Eagles won the game 83-58.  So far this season, he’s averaging 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds.

Charles, the guard, transferred to Western from Northeastern Junior College at Sterling, and is averaging 14.3 points.

The team’s leading scorer is Terrence Boyd, who is averaging 15.3 points a game. Travis Shepherd, the team’s leading 3-point threat (11-25), is close behind at 13 points a game.

The Mountaineers opened the season against Wyoming and the Air Force Academy and lost by scores of 62-42 and102-68, respectively.  Since then, they have edged Northern New Mexico 70-68 and lost to Panhandle State of Oklahoma 91-88, despite 27 points by Boyd, 19 by Shepherd, 15 by Joseph and 11 by Charles.