This year’s Bluejay Invitational turned into a potential lost weekend for the Creighton volleyball team.

The Jays were forced to play two Saturday matches without their star middle blocker Laurel Sanford, who injured her ankle in Friday’s win over San Francisco.

If there was any doubt about Sanford’s importance to the team, that was quickly erased as the Bluejays fell in four games to Kansas 25-21, 27-29, 25-14, 25-22.

Creighton lost earlier in the day to Lipscomb in four sets after taking the first, 20-25, 25-22, 28-26, 25-21.

Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said the weekend was a good chance to learn to play under difficult circumstances early in the season.

“I think I saw a lot of good things this weekend,” Booth said.

“I thought we dealt with a lot of adversity this weekend with the injury to Laurel.”

Creighton used sophomore Heather Thorson and freshman Savannah Smith to fill the hole that Sanford left.

The pair each had four blocks in the match.

Booth said she liked the way the two played.

“We had two kids that have never played middle playing middle, and I thought they did a great job,” she said.

With the Jayhawks leading 1-0, Creighton looked like it would easily tie the match at a set apiece as it cruised to a 23-16 lead in the second.

But Kansas clawed its way back, tying it at 24-24 and again at 25-25.

Creighton eventually pulled out a 29-27 set win to tie the match 1-1 at intermission.

The third set saw the Jayhawks jump to a 10-6 lead, but Creighton won the next five points to take an 11-10 lead.

From that point it was all Jayhawks as they won the final 15 of the final 18 points and took the third set 25-14.

“We’ve got some things we’ve got to go back in the gym and get better on,” Booth said. “And that’s the kind of thing you expect to see in the first weekend.”

Kansas wrapped up the match 25-22 in the fourth set.

Alicia Runge paced the Jays with 13 kills, and Thorson and Oelke each had 9.

Allison Mayfield lead the Jayhawks with 14 kills, and Karina Garlington added 13.

Garlington was named the MVP in the tournament as the Jayhawks went 3-0.

Runge was the only Jay named to the all-tournament team. Creighton has never won the Bluejay Invitational in six tries.

Kansas (3-0).................25 27 25 25

Creighton (1-2).....................21 29 14 22

K (kills-aces-blocks): Melissa Manda 0-2-0 Kara Wehrs 3-1-3, Tayler Tolefree 5-0-2, Morgan Boub 0-2-0, Karina Garlington 13-0-2, Caroline Jarmoc 8-1-5, Allison Mayfield 14-1-4, Brianne Riley 0-0-0, Jenna Kaiser 9-0-0, Lauren Hagan 0-0-0, Nicole Tate 0-0-0.

C (kills-aces-blocks): Heather Thorson 9-0-4, Allie Oelke 9-0-5, Savannah Smith 1-0-4, Megan Bober 2-0-5, Alicia Runge 13-0-0, Brooke Boggs 1-1-0, Nayka Benitez 0-2-0, Karisa Almgren 8-0-1, Julianne Mandolfo 0-0-0.

Set assists: K: 51 (Wehrs 39, Tate 6, Riley 4, Manda 2); C: 39 (Bober 34, Benitez 2, Smith 1, Thorson 1, Boggs 1). A: 1,074

Lipscomb.......................20 25 28 25

Creighton.......................25 22 26 21

L (kills-aces-blocks): Jake Pease 5-2-0, Katie Rose 9-1-2, Meghan Hinemeyer 11-2-1, Charlyn Ursell 3-0-1, Kaycee Green 15-0-3, Alex Kelly 19-0-2, Caitlin Dotson 0-0-0, Stephanie Rex 0-1-0, Kelsey Neumann 0-0-3.

C (kills-aces-blocks): Heather Thorson 3-1-7, Allie Oelke 13-1-1, Savannah Smith 4-0-3, Megan Bober 5-0-2, Alicia Runge 19-0-2, Brooke Boggs 0-1-0, Nayka Benitez 0-1-0, Karisa Almgren 11-0-5, Julianne Mandolfo 0-2-0.

Set assists: L: 58 (Pease 51, Rex 3, Rose 1, Hinemeyer 1, Kelly 1, Dotson 1); C: 55 (Bober 46, Benitez 6, Oelke 2, Boggs 1).

Contact the writer:

444-1201, sports@owh.com

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