Saturday, September 15
Champaign, Ill.
10:00 AM
Creighton University
8-3
3
vs
0
Northern Iowa
6-6
1
2
3
F
#10 Creighton
25
25
25
3
Northern Iowa
16
21
11
0
Annika Welty had five aces on Saturday vs. UNI.
Photo by: Steve Branscombe
No. 10 Volleyball Wins Fourth Straight; Avenging Earlier Loss to UNI
9/15/2018 11:30:00 AM | Volleyball
Creighton sweeps UNI, meets #8 Illinois tonight
OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 10 Creighton Volleyball team avenged a loss from 22 days ago with a 3-0 victory over Missouri Valley Conference preseason favorite Northern Iowa on Saturday morning at the Illini Classic in Champaign, Ill.
Scores of Creighton's fourth all-time sweep in 52 meetings with UNI were 25-16, 25-21, 25-11. The win was Creighton's fourth straight win this fall.
Creighton (8-3) never trailed in the first set, hitting .290 while limiting the Panthers to .000 hitting. The Bluejays rolled to an 11-3 start to the contest and held Panther star Karlie Taylor without a kill in the opening frame. Jaela Zimmerman had three kills, three digs and a pair of blocks to help the Bluejays take a 1-0 lead.
CU hit .390 in the second set to win a 25-21 frame and take a 2-0 lead. The set was tied at 14s before two kills by Kari Zumach and another by Taryn Kloth pushed the margin to three. The differential grew to 22-17 on Madelyn Cole's serve, and an ace by Annika Welty closed out the set.
Welty served up three more aces in the final set to help clinch the 25-11 frame, finishing with five service winners on the day after entering the season with three all fall.
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth noticed her team's intensity prior to the match, and was pleased with outcome.
"Our warm-up was much more focused," said Booth. "We were much more locked in today than yesterday and need to have that expectation every time we step onto the court. I thought we played probably the best we've played in the last couple matches. It was clean, and it wasn't anything we can't do night in and night out. We kept the pressure on against a good UNI team. It's a big win against a team that is really difficult to play and we should feel good about it going into tonight."
Kloth led CU with nine kills on .368 hitting, while Zimmerman (8) and Megan Ballenger (7) combined for 15 kills on 34 errorless swings. Brittany Witt led CU with 16 digs and Cole had 29 assists to go with a pair of aces. CU finished with 41 kills, eight aces, five blocks, 54 digs and a .364 hitting percentage with just five errors in 99 swings.
UNI was paced by 11 kills from Piper Thomas, while Taylor was limited to seven kills. Kendyl Sorge led all players with 17 digs. The Panthers finished with 30 kills, four aces, 51 digs and one block on .112 hitting overall.
Creighton returns to action later tonight at 7 p.m. when it takes on No. 8 Illinois.
NOTES: Creighton's last six wins over UNI have come in six different states (Iowa, Kentucky, California, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois) ... Brittany Witt has had 10 or more digs in all 11 matches this season and 14 straight contests dating to last fall ... Jaali Winters streak of four straight double-doubles was snapped, but she does have nine straight matches of 10+ digs .. Creighton's eight wins so far are its most before conference play since 2013 ... Creighton's 52 meetings with UNI are its most against any foe ... Creighton's five attack errors were its fewest since five vs. Belmont on Sept. 8, 2017.
Scores of Creighton's fourth all-time sweep in 52 meetings with UNI were 25-16, 25-21, 25-11. The win was Creighton's fourth straight win this fall.
Creighton (8-3) never trailed in the first set, hitting .290 while limiting the Panthers to .000 hitting. The Bluejays rolled to an 11-3 start to the contest and held Panther star Karlie Taylor without a kill in the opening frame. Jaela Zimmerman had three kills, three digs and a pair of blocks to help the Bluejays take a 1-0 lead.
CU hit .390 in the second set to win a 25-21 frame and take a 2-0 lead. The set was tied at 14s before two kills by Kari Zumach and another by Taryn Kloth pushed the margin to three. The differential grew to 22-17 on Madelyn Cole's serve, and an ace by Annika Welty closed out the set.
Welty served up three more aces in the final set to help clinch the 25-11 frame, finishing with five service winners on the day after entering the season with three all fall.
Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth noticed her team's intensity prior to the match, and was pleased with outcome.
"Our warm-up was much more focused," said Booth. "We were much more locked in today than yesterday and need to have that expectation every time we step onto the court. I thought we played probably the best we've played in the last couple matches. It was clean, and it wasn't anything we can't do night in and night out. We kept the pressure on against a good UNI team. It's a big win against a team that is really difficult to play and we should feel good about it going into tonight."
Kloth led CU with nine kills on .368 hitting, while Zimmerman (8) and Megan Ballenger (7) combined for 15 kills on 34 errorless swings. Brittany Witt led CU with 16 digs and Cole had 29 assists to go with a pair of aces. CU finished with 41 kills, eight aces, five blocks, 54 digs and a .364 hitting percentage with just five errors in 99 swings.
UNI was paced by 11 kills from Piper Thomas, while Taylor was limited to seven kills. Kendyl Sorge led all players with 17 digs. The Panthers finished with 30 kills, four aces, 51 digs and one block on .112 hitting overall.
Creighton returns to action later tonight at 7 p.m. when it takes on No. 8 Illinois.
NOTES: Creighton's last six wins over UNI have come in six different states (Iowa, Kentucky, California, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois) ... Brittany Witt has had 10 or more digs in all 11 matches this season and 14 straight contests dating to last fall ... Jaali Winters streak of four straight double-doubles was snapped, but she does have nine straight matches of 10+ digs .. Creighton's eight wins so far are its most before conference play since 2013 ... Creighton's 52 meetings with UNI are its most against any foe ... Creighton's five attack errors were its fewest since five vs. Belmont on Sept. 8, 2017.
Team Stats
CU
UNI
Kills
41
30
Errors
5
18
Attempts
99
107
Hitting %
.364
.112
Points
54.0
35.0
Assists
38
28
Aces
8
4
Blocks
5.0
1.0
Game Leaders
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
RS
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