Creighton University
(9-7, 3-0BIG EAST)
St. John's
(11-7, 1-2BIG EAST)
Red Storm Can't Handle Winters As CU Volleyball is King of Queens
10/2/2015 8:04:00 PM | Volleyball
QUEENS, N.Y. -- Jaali Winters had a career-high 28 kills to lead the Creighton Volleyball team to a 3-1 road win at St. John's on Friday night in Queens. The 28 kills by Winters were tied for third-most in Creighton history, and most by a Bluejay since 2000.
Scores of the match in favor of Creighton were 20-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-20.
Creighton improved to 9-7 (3-0 BIG EAST) while winning a season-best fourth straight match. St. John's falls to 11-7 (1-2 BIG EAST), suffering just its second loss in seven home matches this fall.
"I didn't like our start and that created a hole that we couldn't come back from in game one," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "St. John's was in system and hit over .500 against us in the first set, but we settled down and got into a really good rhythm in games three and four. St. John's is a good team and I'm pleased, as that's a really big win on the road."
Along with Winters' stellar night, juniors Jess Bird and Lauren Smith each had 14 kills. Bird hit .400 and added 12 digs and three aces, while Smith had six blocks and hit .545. Kate Elman paced the defense with a match-leading 18 digs, while Maggie Baumert dished a season-high 55 assists.
Winters had a huge night, with eight kills in the first set and six kills in the second before unleashing 10 kills in 15 swings during the third set. As the Red Storm focused on her down the stretch, Smith and Marysa Wilkinson each had five kills while Bird dropped four kills in the final frame.
In addition to Winters' overall play, Booth singled out the play as Bird and Smith as major factors in the win: "I thought for Jess to come back from not swinging much all week that she had a great game. She hit.400 and some crucial kills at some key times. We didn't use Lauren much early but when they started to pull off to focus on our outsides, Lauren had great success, too."
St. John's was led by 13 kills from Pelin Aroguz, who hit .345. Delaney D'Amore topped SJU with 13 digs, and Danisha Moss added a team-high four blocks.
Creighton dominated the team stat categories, finishing with advantages in kills (68-49), hitting percentage (.321-.271), assists (65-45), aces (6-1), digs (54-41) and blocks (12.0-10.5).
After St. John's led the first set wire-to-wire, the Red Storm raced to a 4-1 lead to open the second set. Crieghton would regroup to take its first lead at 6-5 on a serving run from Baumert. With the score knotted at 15-all, Baumert again spurred a 4-0 run to build a 19-15 lead. A kill from Bird on set point evened the match at 1-1.
The Bluejays took control of their fate in the third set, bolting to a 9-3 lead that saw Winters amass four early kills. With CU clinging to a 13-10 edge, Bird served up a six-point surge that made it 19-10 and gave CU control. Winters had Creighton's final three kills in the third set as CU took a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set contained 14 ties and six lead changes. Creighton trailed as large as 12-8 before a service run from Elman knotted the score at 12-12. Creighton trailed 18-17 late before Ashley Jansen dialed up a 5-0 run that put CU in control, and Wilkinson later added a kill on match point.
Creighton returns to action on Saturday at 4 pm Central when it visits Providence.
NOTES: Kirsten Bernthal Booth moved to 100 wins over .500 at Creighton with the win, improving to 244-144 ... Creighton is the lone remaining team that is unbeaten in BIG EAST play ... Michelle Prorock owns the Creighton single-match record with 32 kills, while Melissa Walsh ranks second with the freshman mark of 30 ... Creighton has been tied 1-1 at intermission in each of its last five matches against BIG EAST foes, only to win all five contests in four sets ... Creighton improved to 10-3 in conference road openers under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... St. John's .271 hitting percentage is the second-best by an opponent in a Creighton win under Booth.
