Thursday, October 18
D.J. Sokol Arena
7:00 PM
Creighton University
17-4, 9-0BIG EAST
3
vs
2
Xavier
6-15, 4-6BIG EAST
1
2
3
4
5
F
Xavier
25
25
17
17
13
2
Creighton
23
21
25
25
15
3
Photo by: A.J. Olnes
Volleyball Rallies To Thwart Xavier's Upset Bid
10/18/2018 10:02:00 PM | Volleyball
Creighton loses first two sets before winning the final three frames to stay unbeaten in BIG EAST play.
OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 10 Creighton Volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Xavier on Thursday night, stretching its BIG EAST Conference home win streak to 32 straight matches.
The Musketeers took a 2-0 lead into intermission after wins of 25-23 and 25-21 before Creighton rallied to take the match with 25-17, 25-17 and 15-13 decisions to close it out. The match featured just two lead changes, both in the first set.
Creighton (17-4, 9-0 BIG EAST) won its ninth straight match and hung onto its one-game lead in the league standings over No. 18 Marquette with the victory. Xavier dropped to 6-15 and is 4-6 in BIG EAST action.
Jaali Winters led Creighton with 17 kills, while fellow Ankeny native Megan Ballenger added 15 kills. Taryn Kloth collected 11 kills and freshman Kari Zumach provided a season-best nine kills on .471 hitting to lead the offense. Brittany Witt, who led the Bluejays with 18 digs, also tied a Creighton record for aces in a five-set match with five. Creighton finished with 63 kills, 75 digs, eight blocks and hit .168. The Bluejays also had 10 aces against just five service errors.
Morgan Finn led Xavier with 15 kills, and reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week Laura Grossman added 12 kills and 16 digs for the double-double. Nadia Dieudonne had a double-double with 24 assists and 13 digs, and Meredith Klare posted a match-best 29 digs. The Musketeers finished with 52 kills, seven aces, 80 digs and 15.0 blocks on .131 hitting.
Xavier had lost 24 straight sets against Creighton entering the match, but you never would have known it at the break. The Musketeers overcame an early 10-4 hole in the opening frame thanks to a 7-0 serving run by McKena Estes to take a 14-12 lead. Creighton tied the score at 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 before kills from Grossman and Finn paved the way for the Xavier win.
The Musketeers then rolled to a 10-1 lead to open the second set. Creighton would recover and tie the score at 19-all after an ace by Taryn Kloth, but the Musketeers closed out the set on a 6-2 spurt, including an ace by Ryan Shannon on set point.
Creighton never trailed in the final three sets to complete the comeback. Samantha Bohnet helped serve CU to a 6-1 lead in the third set that was aided by five straight Musketeer errors. Creighton led by as much as 21-9 before cruising to the 25-17 victory. Winters had five kills and Alexa Roumeliotis seven digs in the third inning.
Creighton used a 10-2 run in the fourth set to move ahead 18-9. XU closed within 19-15 before another 4-0 serving run by Bohnet that featured consecutive aces. Zumach had four kills in the fourth set and Madelyn Cole dished 13 assists.
The fifth set was tied for the only time at 5-5 before Witt went on a 4-0 run at the service line. CU's 9-5 lead quickly dropped to 9-8, but a 5-1 run gave CU four match point chances. Xavier survived the first three times before Ballenger's 15th kill closed out the victory. Creighton hit .321 in the final set, with six different individuals owning at least one kill.
Creighton hosts Butler on Saturday at 5 p.m. at D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 15-0 all-time over Xavier. The 15 straight wins over Xavier are the third-most in program history, trailing only streaks over Southern Illinois (19) and Indiana State (16) ... Tonight was the first time in Creighton's last 49 matches that the team with more digs did not win the match, as Xavier won that battle, 80-75 ... Xavier is now 1-2 this year in five-set matches, while Creighton is 3-2 ... Creighton is now 55-29 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, and 12-3 at D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton is 9-0 at the midpoint of league play for the third time ever, having also done it in 2015 and 2016 ... Creighton has won 71 straight matches against BIG EAST teams when winning the third set, owns 41 straight home matches against unranked teams, has 32 straight regular-season BIG EAST home wins and won 28 straight at home in October ...Jaali Winters had her 100th career match with 10 or more kills, finishing with a match-high 17 ... Madelyn Cole had her ninth double-double of the fall, finishing with 50 assists and 12 digs ... Jaali Winters now has 1,676 career kills, 17th in BIG EAST history. Tonight was her 125th career start ... Creighton's 10 straight regular-season BIG EAST wins (dating to last year) is the program's sixth-longest conference win streak in history ... Creighton's seniors are now 34-0 at D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST competition ... Creighton improved to 47-2 all-time in regular-season league play at D.J. Sokol Arena, and 78-7 all-time in regular-season conference matches ... Creighton improved to 14-193 all-time (12-95 under Booth) when trailing a match 0-2. Tonight was just the fourth such comeback at home, all of which have occurred in the last four seasons ... Creighton is 4-2 in its last six BIG EAST matches when trailing 2-0 ... Creighton improved to 15-0 when winning the third set this season, while Xavier dropped to 0-13 when losing the third set.
The Musketeers took a 2-0 lead into intermission after wins of 25-23 and 25-21 before Creighton rallied to take the match with 25-17, 25-17 and 15-13 decisions to close it out. The match featured just two lead changes, both in the first set.
Creighton (17-4, 9-0 BIG EAST) won its ninth straight match and hung onto its one-game lead in the league standings over No. 18 Marquette with the victory. Xavier dropped to 6-15 and is 4-6 in BIG EAST action.
Jaali Winters led Creighton with 17 kills, while fellow Ankeny native Megan Ballenger added 15 kills. Taryn Kloth collected 11 kills and freshman Kari Zumach provided a season-best nine kills on .471 hitting to lead the offense. Brittany Witt, who led the Bluejays with 18 digs, also tied a Creighton record for aces in a five-set match with five. Creighton finished with 63 kills, 75 digs, eight blocks and hit .168. The Bluejays also had 10 aces against just five service errors.
Morgan Finn led Xavier with 15 kills, and reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week Laura Grossman added 12 kills and 16 digs for the double-double. Nadia Dieudonne had a double-double with 24 assists and 13 digs, and Meredith Klare posted a match-best 29 digs. The Musketeers finished with 52 kills, seven aces, 80 digs and 15.0 blocks on .131 hitting.
Xavier had lost 24 straight sets against Creighton entering the match, but you never would have known it at the break. The Musketeers overcame an early 10-4 hole in the opening frame thanks to a 7-0 serving run by McKena Estes to take a 14-12 lead. Creighton tied the score at 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 before kills from Grossman and Finn paved the way for the Xavier win.
The Musketeers then rolled to a 10-1 lead to open the second set. Creighton would recover and tie the score at 19-all after an ace by Taryn Kloth, but the Musketeers closed out the set on a 6-2 spurt, including an ace by Ryan Shannon on set point.
Creighton never trailed in the final three sets to complete the comeback. Samantha Bohnet helped serve CU to a 6-1 lead in the third set that was aided by five straight Musketeer errors. Creighton led by as much as 21-9 before cruising to the 25-17 victory. Winters had five kills and Alexa Roumeliotis seven digs in the third inning.
Creighton used a 10-2 run in the fourth set to move ahead 18-9. XU closed within 19-15 before another 4-0 serving run by Bohnet that featured consecutive aces. Zumach had four kills in the fourth set and Madelyn Cole dished 13 assists.
The fifth set was tied for the only time at 5-5 before Witt went on a 4-0 run at the service line. CU's 9-5 lead quickly dropped to 9-8, but a 5-1 run gave CU four match point chances. Xavier survived the first three times before Ballenger's 15th kill closed out the victory. Creighton hit .321 in the final set, with six different individuals owning at least one kill.
Creighton hosts Butler on Saturday at 5 p.m. at D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 15-0 all-time over Xavier. The 15 straight wins over Xavier are the third-most in program history, trailing only streaks over Southern Illinois (19) and Indiana State (16) ... Tonight was the first time in Creighton's last 49 matches that the team with more digs did not win the match, as Xavier won that battle, 80-75 ... Xavier is now 1-2 this year in five-set matches, while Creighton is 3-2 ... Creighton is now 55-29 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, and 12-3 at D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton is 9-0 at the midpoint of league play for the third time ever, having also done it in 2015 and 2016 ... Creighton has won 71 straight matches against BIG EAST teams when winning the third set, owns 41 straight home matches against unranked teams, has 32 straight regular-season BIG EAST home wins and won 28 straight at home in October ...Jaali Winters had her 100th career match with 10 or more kills, finishing with a match-high 17 ... Madelyn Cole had her ninth double-double of the fall, finishing with 50 assists and 12 digs ... Jaali Winters now has 1,676 career kills, 17th in BIG EAST history. Tonight was her 125th career start ... Creighton's 10 straight regular-season BIG EAST wins (dating to last year) is the program's sixth-longest conference win streak in history ... Creighton's seniors are now 34-0 at D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST competition ... Creighton improved to 47-2 all-time in regular-season league play at D.J. Sokol Arena, and 78-7 all-time in regular-season conference matches ... Creighton improved to 14-193 all-time (12-95 under Booth) when trailing a match 0-2. Tonight was just the fourth such comeback at home, all of which have occurred in the last four seasons ... Creighton is 4-2 in its last six BIG EAST matches when trailing 2-0 ... Creighton improved to 15-0 when winning the third set this season, while Xavier dropped to 0-13 when losing the third set.
Team Stats
XU
CU
Kills
52
63
Errors
29
32
Attempts
175
185
Hitting %
.131
.168
Points
74.0
81.0
Assists
51
57
Aces
7
10
Blocks
15.0
8.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballRS
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