Creighton University
3-3
Kentucky
5-1
Volleyball Takes 3rd at Commonwealth Classic After Loss @ #16 Kentucky
9/6/2014 8:38:00 PM | Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Creighton concluded play at the Commonwealth Classic with a 3-0 loss to host Kentucky on Saturday evening at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky. Scores of the match in favor of UK were 25-21, 25-22, 25-21.
Creighton fell to 3-3 this season, with all three setbacks against teams in the top-25. No. 16 Kentucky improved to 5-1 with the win.
USC won the Commonwealth Classic with a 3-0 record. Kentucky (2-1) was second, Creighton (1-2) third and Northern Iowa (0-3) fourth in the first of a four-year event that will rotate sites.
Senior Kelli Browning was named as the lone Creighton representative on the All-Tournament Team. She was joined by USC's Ebony Nwanebu, Samantha Bricio and Brittany Abercrombie, Kentucky's Jackie Napper and Shelby Workman, and UNI's Amie Held. Nwanebu was named the event's MVP.
Kentucky used a late run to claim the opening set, 25-21. The score was deadlocked at 15-all before UK broke free after three consecutive errors by the Jays. Seven straight sideouts gave CU plenty of chances, but UK ultimately took the frame on consecutive kills by Anni Thomasson, who led the 'Cats with five first set kills. CU had four different women with three kills each as Maggie Baumert distributed 13 assists.
Creighton appeared in good position as the second set neared an end, leading 19-15. But UK would storm to a 2-0 lead in the match with a set-ending 10-3 run. With the score tied at 22-all, UK had a pair of blocks, then Sara Schwarzwalder tipped an overpass to the floor to seal it. Browning had six kills and two blocks for CU, but the Jays couldn't keep up with Shelby Workman's seven kills in the set.
Creighton played from behind most of the third set. Leading 9-8, the Wildcats scored eight of the next 10 points to up the margin to 17-10 en route to CU's first 3-0 loss since Oct. 25, 2013. CU did use a 7-1 run to draw within one (20-19), but the Wildcats responded with a sideout and double-block to pull away once again while converting its second match point chance.
Browning and Lauren Smith shared team-best honors with 11 kills each for Creighton. Kate Elman had 17 digs, while Maggie Baumert dished 37 assists and had eight digs. Creighton finished with 42 kills, three aces, 58 digs and eight blocks on .165 hitting.
UK was paced by 12 kills from Shelby Workman and 11 kills and 12 digs by Thomasson. The hosts tallied 42 kills, four aces, 49 digs and nine blocks on .220 hitting overall.
Creighton returns home next weekend to host the Bluejay Invitational at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha. Bowling Green takes on Wichita State on Friday at 4:30 pm before Creighton hosts Pepperdine at 7 pm.
NOTES: The match was the first meeting between Kentucky and Creighton all-time ... USC won the tournament on Saturday evening with a 3-0 sweep of Northern Iowa. The Trojans lost just one set all weekend in three matches (set one to Creighton) ... Kate Elman had her 29th straight match of 10 digs or more, the third-longest streak in school history. She opened her career with 32 straight, the second-longest ... Elman also moved into fourth place in CU history in career digs, passing Melissa Walsh ... Creighton fell to 0-29 all-time in true road matches against top-25 teams and 3-55 in all matches vs. ranked opponents ... Creighton played the entire weekend without Michelle Sicner and Jess Bird, a pair of 2013 starters ... Ashley Jansen tied a career-high with four kills, all from the back row ... Kelli Browning moved into a tie for second-place in school history with 447 career blocks, tying her with Ashley Williams.
