Creighton head coach Brian Rosen, along with seniors Kiara Reinhardt, Ava Martin and Annalea Maeder met the media prior to the team’s 90-minute practice inside Memorial Coliseum, which will host the action.

First serve between Creighton and Arizona State is set for 12 p.m. Central. The contest will be nationally-televised on ESPN2.

 

NCAA Volleyball Lexington Regional

Historic Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Ky.

Creighton-Arizona State Pre-Match News Conference

Creighton Head Coach Brian Rosen

Opening Statement …

“Obviously, just really happy to be here to still be playing, to be in the Sweet 16. We’ve had these goals for a long time now, especially two of the seniors have been here four or six years. They came here and chose Creighton for opportunities just like this. I am just really proud of them and our whole team to get to this point. I’ve actually never been to Lexington before, so this has been fun. I didn’t know that Creighton and Kentucky have a long history of playing, eight straight years of playing in those tournaments together. I was there for the last year of that, but it was at Creighton. That one didn’t go very well. So hopefully if we got a chance to play them, we didn’t be a little different. Arizona State’s a great team. Lots of firepower all over, really good block. We’ve gotten to watch them quite a bit on film and things like that, so it should be a great match. We have very similar resumes, similar RPIs, same best win, I feel like, in Kansas. So a lot of similarities, it should be a fun.”

On running offense against Arizona State’s defense…

“I think these are two of the strongest blocking teams in the country. Last week, we actually led the nation in blocks during the first rounds of the tournament, so it’s definitely a major strength on both sides. Ultimately, I think this match will come down to which team stays in system more consistently. Every team, no matter how good, has holes in their block when they’re out of system. So for us, it’s about getting them into one- and two-pass situations so we can set our block and take advantage of those opportunities. And the same is true for them—if they can get us into those situations, their block is extremely tough to overcome. At the highest level, that’s what volleyball becomes: creating holes in the block and preventing the other team from doing the same. Hopefully, our serving pressure and our ability to win first contact will be the difference.”

On Kiara Reinhardt setting the program record for NCAA tournament appearances and how that drives her…

“I’d like to start by saying that she absolutely earned this. She’s now the winningest Bluejay in our volleyball program’s history, and I love that all of these longevity records are going to belong to Kiara. I truly don’t think there’s anyone who embodies Creighton Volleyball the way she does. Her selflessness, her leadership, her consistency, she sets the standard for what our program is all about. Convincing her to come back for a sixth year definitely wasn’t easy, but I hope she knows how grateful we all are that she did. And honestly, who she is as a person will always matter so much more to us than any of the kills or blocks she’s put up, even though she’s had a ton of those too. I love that these records and awards are hers, and I’m not sure anyone will ever break them. unless maybe Ava decides to come back for one more year.”

Creighton Student-Athletes

#8 Ava Martin, OH

On not losing since September…

“I think one of our big things has just been respecting everyone this year. I mean all the Big East teams, they give us their all, and it’s always a battle with all those teams. We know coming into it, we respect every team and treat them like they’re a top-25 team, so I think that’s really important for us. Especially this year, we saw a ton of upsets within college volleyball, so just taking it one game at a time and treating everyone like it’s the most important game has been really big for us.”

#17 Annalea Maeder, S

On not losing since September…

“I mean, everything that Ava said is definitely true. I just want to add that we have not lost since September, but we’ve definitely found ourselves in situations where we had to fight back from being down, where we lost sets. Last week, we were down to one, and had to find a way to kind of recover and come back from this. Even though we haven’t lost, we definitely have been in very versatile situations that I think will help us with this weekend.”

On Arizona St. middles…

“Yes, as Brian mentioned, they’re a really good team. I also think we are just as good, and we present our own challenges. I think our coaching staff does a phenomenal job of scouting other teams, and giving me a game plan of who we start with, setting, and what we want to run. We for or than we expected.”

#5 Kiara Reinhardt, MB

On the last time she was in Lexington…

“Yeah that was fun. I wasn’t playing that year. That was my redshirt year. I just remember playing at Kentucky, they brought a great fan base, and they’ve had such a well established program here. I think the fans love it and really bring it, and want to support the program here. I’m just really excited. I think they’ll pull a great crowd here. It was a really fun tournament, from what I can remember. We also did get food poisoning that weekend, so I remember that, but we did win that tournament that weekend, which was really exciting. I remember walking away, we felt good about that, even though physically we didn’t.”

On setting the program record for tournament appearances…

“Yeah, I mean for me appearances that just means that I have spent more time playing volleyball with more of these amazing girls, and so I think that’s what definitely drives me. Just like not wanting to be done, and wanting to keep these moments continuing, and wanting to keep stepping out onto the court with them, wanting to keep hanging out in the hotel together, and all of those things. I’m really grateful for that. I’ve gotten to spend more time with all the teams that I’ve been on every year.”

Arizona State Head Coach JJ Van Niel

Opening Statement …

“We are excited to be here. I think our team has done a really nice job this year and been super resilient. We are ready to go.”

On the team’s blocking …

“Because we have a physical team, I think our plan was to try to invest a little more in the blocking side of things this year. It is nice to see the time we spent has paid off. We have some physical kids and have spent a little more time working on blocking this year than in past years. It has showed off. Having a physical team is fun.”

On the depth of his team …

“I think it has been huge because in any given match players are a little on or a little off. We have had several matches where maybe someone wasn’t quite at their normal standards and then other people have been able to pick up the slack really nicely. You always want a balanced team, it is nice to have some balance.”

On having similar opponents with Creighton …

“Yeah, it was quite a while ago. I think one of the challenges is that was at the beginning of the season. We will look at it, but I know for myself as we started scouting, you try not to look at what the other team did, just look at what they are doing and what I think we should do. We have our personnel, which is going to be different than every other team. So it is really about trying to think about what your strengths and weaknesses are and then what is your opponent going to try to do against you. Then what you are going to do to try to slow them down.”

On their team plans the rest of the day …

“We will do a little more prep and have a little game night tonight. I am always up for some card tricks. We will do a little team thing and play some games tonight.”

On signee Grace Martin and competing this weekend against her older sister …

“Recruiting her was kind of easy, she is an outside and really, really competitive. I remember watching her at JOs two or three years ago and I left going, ‘hey, we have got to talk to her, even if she is a little undersized.’ Just a really, really fiery and competitive kid, which I am sure she gets from her family or sister. We have a text thread going and it is pretty funny actually. I asked her what color she was wearing, but I told her she should wear her Creighton stuff and support her sister.”

On Creighton’s Ava Martin …

“She has experience. She has been here before. She is a really good all-around volleyball player. She has a heavy arm and can hit anywhere on the court. Those are the hardest people to defend for sure.”

On Brian Rosen‘s coaching job at Creighton …

“I think he has done a phenomenal job stepping in. Obviously, he was there and I am sure that was really helpful. When you are already there you are going to already know the players and have buy in quicker and easier. I have seen some stuff that they do a little bit differently than they have in the past. I think the ability to come in and really keep the momentum going, is great. Creighton has really been a nice program the last 10-plus years. It is always challenging when you step into a successful program. You are going to have people doubt that you can do it and he has been able to step in and keep it rolling. He is doing a great job. He lost some key pieces too. He has built a nice system around what he has.”

Arizona State Student-Athletes

#22 Bailey Miller, OH

On how Big 12 play has prepared ASU for the regional …

“I think we have a really strong conference. We had the most teams selected to the NCAA Tournament, so I think that helps a lot because we’ve had some really good competition to get us ready.”

On having the depth of hitters on her team …

“I have been able to have some really high-efficiency games because the middles are working so hard and the right sides are working super hard. We’re fortunate to have some of the best hitters in the country and so it makes it really easy.”

On her setting …

“She’s been so good, it’s amazing. All of our connection with her have been so good. She is the most understanding setter that I’ve ever met. She doesn’t care if you’re asking for it to be higher, lower, faster, whatever you need – she’s willing to do it. I think that helps a lot. Everybody is so comfortable talking to her, so I think that connection is really priceless in this game and it helps that she is able to set the gap and then skip over and set the go and that’s one of the best parts of our system. She has been so good all season.”

#15 Faith Frame, L

On how Big 12 play has prepared ASU for the regional …

“In the Big 12, any one could have won any of the games. Every game you had to be ready and prepared for anything. It really prepared us well.”

On having the depth of hitters on her team …

“They’re all great. Out of system is pretty easy because I’m not going to make a bad decision going either way.”

On her libero play this season …

“It’s been really fun. I’ve never had such a big block in front of me, so this season I’ve been getting more and more comfortable working around the block and trying not to stand behind it but work around it and being able to run things down that they touch being so physical.”