Creighton University
Nebraska
No. 6 Huskers Too Much For Volleyball
9/1/2009 9:00:00 PM | Volleyball
LINCOLN, Neb. -- A valiant effort by the Creighton Volleyball team wasn't enough, as No. 6 Nebraska remained unbeaten against its in-state rival with a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-23, 25-16) over the Bluejays on Tuesday night at the NU Coliseum. The win was Nebraska's record 88th consecutive home victory, breaking a tie it had held with Penn State for the longest in NCAA history.
Nebraska is now 2-1 on the season, while Creighton dropped to 1-2 after falling to a top-10 team for the second consecutive contest.
Creighton started slow out of the gate, falling behind 5-0 to start the match before a timeout helped calm the team's nerves. Creighton would draw within one point at both 17-16 and 20-19, but both times Nebraska would answer with a kill to extend its lead. The Huskers pulled away late in the first set, scoring the final five points for the 25-19 set one victory. NU's middles proved unstoppable, as middle blockers Brooke Delano and Jordan Wilberger combined for nine kills in 10 swings in the first set.
The second set followed the pattern of the first set, with Creighton falling behind 5-1 and playing catch-up the rest of the way. The Huskers led by six as late as 21-15 before Creighton made a late rally that fell just short. Kills from Alicia Runge and Laurel Sanford drew CU within 23-21 and prompted Nebraska to use their second and final timeout. Hannah Werth then gave NU a set point with her kill to go up 24-21. A service error and blocks by Sanford and Runge got CU within 24-23 before another Werth swing rolled off the Bluejay block and to the floor. Creighton out-hit NU .192 to .171 in the second set, but it wasn't enough.
Nebraska used a 6-1 run early in the third set to go ahead 9-3 and did not trail the rest of the way.
Alicia Runge led the Bluejay offense with eight kills while also hitting .200 in 20 swings. Jessica Houts added seven kills while Allie Oelke chipped in with six putaways. Nayka Benitez paced the CU defense with eight digs, while Houts topped the squad with four blocks. CU hit .155 and had 29 kills, no aces, 28 digs and eight blocks.
Tara Mueller had 13 kills while Wilberger finished with 10 kills and hit .467. Werth added eight kills and eight digs in her home debut. Kayla Banwarth had 10 digs to lead all players in the contest. Nebraska had 46 kills, three aces, 38 digs and eight blocks while hitting .267.
Creighton returns to action this weekend when it plays in the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kan. On Friday Creighton will play both Florida International (10 am) and Lipscomb (5 pm) before challenging host Kansas on Saturday (1 pm).
NOTES: The match was Creighton's first on the road this season as well as Nebraska's home opener ...The match was also the 121st consecutive sellout at the NU Coliseum with a crowd of 4,054 ...Nebraska's No. 6 ranking this week is the lowest it has ever held when playing Creighton ...Nebraska's last home loss came on Sept. 10, 2004 to Florida A&M ...Creighton dropped to 0-35 all-time against ranked teams, including an 0-16 record vs. top-10 foes.
