Former Cougar Benitez ready to lead Creighton into first-ever NCAA volleyball tournament

Nayka Benitez goes for a dig in a match this season.

                Former Western Nebraska Community College volleyball player Nayka Benitez knows all about playing at the national tournament.

                At WNCC, Benitez helped the Cougars to a NJCAA national championship in 2007. Now, she has helped lead the Creighton Bluejays to their first NCAA volleyball tournament bid. Creighton opens tournament action Friday against Iowa State in Minneapolis, Minn.

“I feel like I am part of something really special,” Benitez, the senior libero, said. “Our school has never made it into the tourney before. It was a great feeling seeing the school’s name appear in the bracket.”

The Bluejays road to the national tournament won’t be an easy one. Creighton earned an at-large bid into the tournament when they finished runner-up to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.  Creighton (20-11) faces an Iowa State team that is 20-8 on the season. The two squads will battle at 3:30 p.m. (MST) with the winner facing the winner between Minnesota and North Dakota State.

Benitez said that they just need to play their game.

“We honestly do not know much about Iowa State. We know that they are a really good team and that they are in a really good conference,” she said. “So, we will need to play hard and stay focused the whole game to compete with a team like Iowa State.”

Benitez definitely knows what it takes to win at the national level. At WNCC, Benitez helped the Cougars to a national title in 2007 as a freshman, and then a third place finish her sophomore season. She said helping both teams to two firsts – Creighton’s first trip to the NCAAs and WNCC’s first national title – has been something special to the 5-foot-3 defensive sparkplug.

“I am proud to be a part of both of these programs,” she said. “WNCC was a great program when I arrived and it was fun to keep that going and win the national championship for the first time in WNCC history. It is also fun get that started here at Creighton and seeing the progress we made. I’m proud to say I have been a Cougar and a Bluejay.

Benitez’ senior season has been filled with plenty of highs and lows. Benitez finished with 28 digs in the MVC conference final and became only the ninth player in CU history to reach 1,000 digs for her career. She enters the first-round national tournament contest with exactly 1,000 digs.

But, Benitez had to work hard this season at her position. She said that she lost her starting libero position for a spell but worked hard to get it back. That, she said, has made her a better player.

“It was a tough season personally,” she said. “I lost my libero position for a couple weeks and even though it was tough for me, it has made me such a better player. As a team, I feel like we had a really successful season. Although we lost games, we had some great wins.”

Benitez’ big honor came during the MVC tournament where she was named to the all-tournament team.

“I was surprised to be named to the all-tournament team,” she said. “It felt good to hear my name but I really wasn’t playing for myself in the conference tourney. It hurt when we lost at the final against UNI but I am proud of my teammates; they competed well. It’s always fun when we all play well and help each other. Thanks to them, I was named all-tournament team.”

Benitez was also named to the NJCAA all-tournament team as a freshman at WNCC when she helped the Cougars to the national tournament. She also finished her junior college career with 1,110 digs and a school record 250 career aces. In her four-year volleyball career, Benitez has over 2,000 digs.

“I worked very hard for that digging honor,” she said. “I’m satisfied with that even though I did not play libero for 15 games this season.”

But, her season isn’t completed just yet and Benitez is hoping to lead the team as deep into the national tournament as possible.

“I think we are a very good team and if we work hard and play with passion, we can win some games at the national tourney,” she said. “I trust my teammates and I know they will give their best at the tournament.”

Benitez said they are entering the tournament as underdogs and that is the way they want to enter the tournament.

“I really don’t know what people think about us,” she said. “I think we are a very good team and we have the capacity to play against really good teams.”