Creighton University
15-7, 8-1BIG EAST
Providence
4-19, 0-9BIG EAST
Volleyball Rolls Past Friars; Moves Into Tie For First Place
10/19/2014 3:51:00 PM | Volleyball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Lauren Smith tied a BIG EAST record for hitting percentage to help the Creighton Volleyball team move into a tie for first place in the league standings with a dominant 3-0 win over Providence on Sunday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena.
Scores of the match were 25-10, 25-12, 25-7. The match featured just two ties, and Providence's only lead of the day was a 1-0 edge in the second set.
Creighton is now 15-7 on the season and 8-1 at the midway point of conference play. Providence fell to 4-19 and is 0-9 in league action.
Smith led Creighton with 12 kills in 14 swings, as her .857 hitting percentage tied the BIG EAST mark for a league game. The previous mark was set by Marquette's Kelsey Mattai vs. Pittsburgh on Oct. 5, 2012. It was also a Creighton record for hitting percentage in a match.
Michelle Sicner had 20 assists in her second start of the season directing the Bluejay offense. Kate Elman and Katie Neisler had seven digs each, while Kelli Browning topped the front row with seven blocks.
CU finished with 36 kills, three aces, 38 digs and 15.0 blocks on .471 hitting.
Providence was led by five kills each from Kayla Fitzgerald and Kayla Johnson. Three women had six digs each for PC. The Friars had 17 kills, no aces, 27 digs and one block on -.151 hitting.
The Bluejays opened the match with an offensive barrage, connecting on kills on each of its first seven swings to build a 9-2 lead. Only four serving errors in the first 19 points slowed down CU, which closed out the first frame on Browning's fifth kill of the set for the 25-10 victory. CU hit .565 in the set, with Sicner dishing 12 assists and Browning adding three blocks.
Creighton lost the first point of the second set, but not much else. The Jays doubled up the Friars 14-7 and never let up despite mass substitutions to win a 25-12 decision. CU forced PC into 13 attack errors as Browning had a hand in four of CU's six blocks.
The intermission didn't slow down Creighton either. The Jays scored nine straight points on Michelle Sicner's serve to build a 10-1 run in the clinching set en route to a 25-7 rout. Smith had four blocks while adding kills in all four swings to pace CU. The Jays hit .526 in the third set and were equally dominant on defense, holding PC to -.296 hitting in 27 swings.
Creighton continues its longest single-season homestand in program history next Friday when it hosts Marquette. First serve for the program's annual Pink Out match is set for 7 pm.
NOTES: This was the first meeting ever between the programs, as Providence rejoined the league in volleyball this fall after a 10-year absence ... Creighton's .471 hitting percentage was the third-best in program history, and a D.J. Sokol Arena record ... Providence's -.151 hitting percentage was lowest ever by a Bluejay opponent, and its 17 kills were third-fewest ever by a Bluejay opponent ... Creighton earned a sideout on 29-of-31 Providence serves ... Creighton is 8-1 at the midway point of league play for the second time in program history. The 2012 team also started 8-1 and would finish 17-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference en route to the program's only regular-season title in history ... Creighton freshman Kenzie Crawford saw her first extended time at setter and finished with a season-high nine assists ... Toni Tupper had a season-best four blocks, whlie Melanie Jereb had a season-high with five stuffs ... Leah McNary played in her 82nd career Creighton victory, breaking a tie she had shared with Megan Bober ... Providence has lost 38 straight BIG EAST matches dating to Oct. 22, 2000, winning just six of 123 sets and one of 64 BIG EAST sets away from home ... Creighton has won 20 of its last 21 October home matches ... Creighton has won 72 straight matches when up 2-0 at intermission, 64 straight when hitting .300 or better, 42 straight at home when winning the first set and 19 straight when hitting a better percentage than its opponent.
