as many power-play tallies at Madison Square Garden in this playoff y

On one hand, Creighton sophomore Jaali Winters understands why this is a big deal. The Bluejays, who had never been to volleyballs NCAA Sweet 16 before last year, now have advanced that far two seasons in a row.But on the other hand ... well, isnt this whats supposed to happen? Winters doesnt lack for confidence, and she wears it well. She expects to win big matches. Thats part of why she came to Creighton, even if there were plenty of big schools that were interested.She felt like this was the right place for her. And perhaps its a self-fulfilling prophecy, but its turned out that way.I really cannot remember a time when I didnt have this mindset, Winters said after she got 23 kills and 14 digs in the Bluejays NCAA second-round upset of No. 5 seed Kansas last Friday. From a young age, I was told that confidence was the key to everything. Weve all heard the saying, Believe, and youre halfway there. When the pressure is on, you have to just get down to business and do it.Creighton is one of two teams from non-BCS schools to make the Sweet 16, and theyre both in the same regional in Austin, Texas. The Bluejays will meet No. 12 seed Michigan Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN3), after host Texas, the No. 4 seed, plays No. 13 seed BYU (5 p.m. ET ESPNU).The Bluejays won the Big East regular-season title at 18-0, then swept both their matches to win the conference tournament. BYU was champion of the West Coast Conference, and is an inspiration to other mid-major programs, having made the national championship match in 2014, where the Cougars fell to Penn State.Its important for the mid-majors to get some of the great talent, Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. Fortunately, there are a lot of talented volleyball players in the Midwest.We can beat some BCS schools in recruiting sometimes, but we can also develop talent. If we can identify those kids who are wired the way Jaali is wired, thats what we want in our gym.How did the Bluejays land Winters, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter from Ankeny, Iowa? Booth said that Winters family liked Creighton, which is in Omaha, Nebraska, about 144 miles west of Ankeny. (Incidentally, Jaalis father, James Winters, played basketball at Iowa in the 1990s. There, he was roommates with Chris Street, an immortalized Hawkeyes standout who was killed in a car accident in 1993.)Booth also sensed a strong connection quickly developed between Winters and the Bluejays players whom she met on her recruiting visit. But ultimately ...Im really not sure how we got her, Booth said with a smile. But we certainly are thankful she came here.Winters said that Creighton, which has a total enrollment of a little over 8,000, was the smallest of the schools she visited. Her uncle, Adam Reid, had played basketball there, and he and others told her that she would get a feeling about what the right school would be.I thought that was just ridiculous, Winters said. Im not one to have a lot of emotions; Im a very logical person. But they told me, Youre going to know, and I did.Winters had a stellar freshman season, leading Creighton with 546 kills (a 4.07 per set average) and earning third-team AVCA all-America honors. She had 21 kills in the breakthrough 3-1 second-round win at North Carolina. Then, in the Bluejays final match of 2015, a 3-1 loss to top-seeded USC in the regional semifinals, Winters had 12 kills and nine errors.Jaali is highly competitive, Booth said, She didnt talk for about 48 hours after that loss, she was so upset about it. This is a kid that wants the ball at the end of the game, and steps up and goes for it. It doesnt always happen, but a good percent of the time, shes going to get it done.Winters is again the Bluejays kills leader this season; her 393 total and 3.54 per-set average reflect that Creighton has a bit more balance. Winters was an all-Big East first-team pick, along with fellow sophomore hitter Taryn Kloth and junior setter Lydia Dimke, a transfer from Purdue who was the leagues player of the year.Booth was the Big East coach of the year, and is in her 14th season with the Bluejays. Creighton had a volleyball program prior to the NCAA era, but ended it in 1980. The school brought the sport back in 1994, reflecting what was happening in the state.Nebraska volleyball built Creighton volleyball, Booth, a Lincoln, Nebraska, native, said of the Huskers program. I mean that in the sense that when Terry Pettit was the Nebraska coach and that program emerged in the 1980s and 90s, our high schools really developed. The high school coaches and club coaches improved a lot, and now volleyball is the premiere sport for girls in our state.Thats all a bit of ancient history for the Iowan Winters, who might say thats not her best subject. Winters is known for her short memory, which Booth said is a big plus. Winters doesnt dwell on plays, good or bad, and is always ready for whats next.Thats what the great ones do: They can move on, Booth said. And we didnt train that. She arrived that way. She prepares every day, and shes consistent. You want players like that on your team. Air Max 95 China Wholesale . On June 12, just as the sun sets on the magnificent historical city of Sao Paulo the inventors, innovators and purveyors of “joga bonitowill” open their campaign. The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. 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NEW YORK -- Chris Kreider proudly wore the Broadway Hat in the victorious New York Rangers dressing room as he tried to describe the feeling of saving his teams season. Kreider deftly steered in a pass from Rick Nash 7:03 into overtime, and the Rangers stayed alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. "It is so surreal," the 22-year-old Kreider said. "Its not something that can really be explained. It is something that just has to be felt, but it was awesome. Im just excited to give these guys an opportunity to play another game. "There is no quit in this room." New York, which erased 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, still trails the Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-1. The Rangers will need to win again on Saturday in Boston to force a Game 6 back in Madison Square Garden. The Rangers, who were outshot 40-32, won a faceoff deep in their zone, and Nash rushed the puck up ice. He stopped above the right circle and fed a hard pass in front that Kreider skated into and tipped past goalie Tuukka Rask for his first of the playoffs. New York, 0-3 in overtime in these playoffs, was eliminated from the conference finals last year by New Jersey in extra time in Game 6. "It is time for us to win an overtime game," Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. "This was a big one. It was such a great feeling to see that puck go in." Kreider, who made his NHL debut in last years playoffs, has six career post-season goals in just 25 games. "I was lucky enough to play with Rick," Kreider said. "Just trying to go hard to the net. Hes such a talented player. He was able to find my tape, and I tried to put it on net." Derek Stepan and Brian Boyle scored tying goals in the third period for the Rangers, who even found success on the power play. Carl Hagelin netted New Yorks first goal of the game in the second period. Lundqvist made 37 saves for New York, which managed only five goals total in the first three games against Boston. Boston got second-period goals from Nathan Horton and rising star Torey Krug to build an early lead. Tyler Seguins first of the playoffs put the Bruins back on top 3-2 in the third. Only three teams have lost a series after leading 3-0, but the Bruins are the most recent to do it in 2010 against Philadelphia. "Its a resilient group," Kreider said. "The tone of the dressing room was the same as positive and upbeat. Were excited to play more hockey." One more win will put Boston back into the conference finals for the second time in three years. The Bruins gave up a 3-1 lead to Toronto in the first round before rallying in Game 7 to advance. "There is no panic here," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We have to go back home and play a better game." Stepan got New York even at 2 just 1:15 into the third after a dump-in. Rask went behind the net to slow the puck down for defenceman Zdeno Chara, but Stepan forced a turnover when he surprised Chara from behind. Stepan gathered the puck, came around in front and tucked the puck inside the left post for his team-leading fourth of the playoffs. "We made some mistakes tonight, mistakes we havent been making, mistakes you cant have, and they capitalized on them," Chara said. "They made us pay. "These nights are going to happen. They played to win, and we didnt match their intensity at times." The Bruins made the most of another power play andd took a 3-2 lead just 2 seconds after a goalie interference penalty against Ryan McDonagh expired.dddddddddddd Seguin got to his own rebound in close and shoved a shot past Lundqvist at 8:06. However, the Rangers still wouldnt go away and they finally connected on the power play for the first time in the series and the third time in 41 man-advantages this post-season. Boyle took a pass from Stepan in the slot and snapped a drive that nestled into the middle of the net at 10:00 after the Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice. New York coach John Tortorella made desperate moves with his lineup, hoping to find some chemistry to spark his club. Tortorella benched star centre Brad Richards, who had just one goal in the playoffs, and rugged forward Arron Asham in favour of seldom-used Kris Newbury and Micheal Haley. "By no means is this a situation where I take him out and Im blaming him," Tortorella said of Richards. "I need to make decisions about what I feel is right for our team to win tonights game, and thats why I made that decision." Veteran Roman Hamrlik also played for the first time in these playoffs in place of injured defenceman Anton Stralman, who left Game 3 in the second period. The Bruins used their power play to grab control in the second period, connecting twice in a span of 3:02 to take a 2-0 lead. After Newbury was sent off for goalie interference, when he knocked down Rask, Horton got the scoring going. He tried to feed a pass from the bottom of the left circle into the slot, but the puck hit Rangers defenceman Michael Del Zotto and bounced back to Horton. This time, Horton let a shot go that struck the inside of Lundqvists left leg and caromed in at 4:39. Lundqvist blocked a hard shot by Chara, who rattled a drive off of the goalies mask. At the next stoppage, there was a brief delay as Lundqvist had repairs made. Del Zotto took an interference penalty 1:25 after Boston took the lead, and Krug made the Rangers pay again. Krug, a rookie defenceman who made his NHL post-season debut in the series opener, fired a slap shot from the Stanley Cup logo in the Rangers zone that sailed past Lundqvist and into the top right corner at 7:41. Krug has scored in three of the four games he has played in this series, and his goal gave Boston as many power-play tallies at Madison Square Garden in this playoff year as the host Rangers had mustered to that point. However, New York got a big break just 54 seconds later to cut the deficit in half. As the Rangers were moving the puck up ice, Rask stumbled in the crease and fell at around the same time that Hagelin was backhanding a shot on net. Sliding as slowly as possible, the puck eluded Rask as he tried to recover in time to stop it. "We need to be more focused, I need to be more focused," Rask said. "I just took a step to the side in what I think probably was a skate mark or something. I lost my balance and the rest is history. "We gave them a couple of gifts and it cost us the game." It took nearly seven minutes before New York recorded its first shot on Rask -- a drive by defenceman John Moore -- and Boston controlled the period with a 12-4 edge in shots. NOTES: The Rangers are 5-6 in Game 4 when trailing 3-0. ... Before Game 1, the Rangers and Bruins hadnt gone to overtime against each other in the playoffs since March 27, 1958. ... Kreider, who made his regular-season debut against Boston on Jan. 19, had two goals in 23 games this season. ' ' '