#13 Volleyball Takes Over First Place With Win at #10 Marquette

MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- The No. 13 Creighton Volleyball team picked up its eighth straight victory with a 3-2 win at No. 10 Marquette on Saturday night.

Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-21, 25-23, 27-29, 29-31, 15-8.

Creighton (13-3, 6-0 BIG EAST) has now won 25 straight regular-season BIG EAST matches, and six straight contests against No. 10 Marquette (15-3, 5-1 BIG EAST).

Keeley Davis led Creighton with a career-high 31 kills, one shy of Michelle Prorock's school record set in 1996. Also turning in career-high performances were Brittany Witt with 35 digs, Naomi Hickman with 11 blocks and Madelyn Cole with 63 assists to go with 14 digs. Erica Kostelac had a season-high 19 kills for CU as well. CU had 76 kills, 85 digs, 14 blocks, six aces and hit .274. The 14 blocks matched a season-high while the 76 kills were a season-best.

Marquette was led by 23 kills from Allie Barber. The Golden Eagles finished with 66 kills, five aces, 82 digs and 11 blocks on .217 hitting.

After just three blocks in Friday's 3-0 win at DePaul, the Bluejay block was a key factor early. CU had seven rejections in the first set, including six from Hickman, to limit MU to .053 hitting. Davis and Kostelac each had four kills in the opener, with Megan Ballenger and Jaela Zimmerman adding three each.

"We met with Naomi yesterday and thought that her setup was good but discussed getting more blocks," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "Naomi is type of kid that is going to do it. It was awesome that she went out and got it back tonight."

The Bluejays doubled their lead to 2-0 before intermission with a 25-23 victory in set two. CU pushed its lead to 22-18 on an ace by Davis, and a kill by Kostelac on set point helped CU counter five kills from Barber.

The third set saw Creighton respond from a 15-10 hole to fight back and knot the score at 22-all. A 4-0 run on Kostelac's serve got the Jays to match point with a 24-22 lead, but a service error trimmed the margin to 24-23. Davis then hit a ball down the line that was ruled out, but that was challenged by the Bluejay bench. After review, the down official signaled the point to Creighton as the Bluejay bench stormed the court in celebration of another top-10 victory. But several seconds later, the same official would change her signal to Marquette, giving the hosts the point, and the battle of BIG EAST behemoths continued. CU would also squander a match point chance at 26-25 before the Golden Eagles reeled off a 4-1 run to take the 29-27 set and force a fourth set.

"After thinking we won it in game 3, we had to get our composure back," said Booth. "I thought we battled. Game 4 was a battle, and then we came out and played a clean game 5. At the time i was angry that the call didn't go our way (in set 3) but that adversity is good for us and really demonstrated how resilient we are."

After eight kills at the intermission, Davis had 10 kills alone in the third set, while Witt racked up 13 digs to keep plays alive. Cole had 19 of her 63 assists in the third set alone.

The fourth set featured 21 ties and nine lead changes before Marquette emerged with the 31-29 triumph to even the match and force a fifth set. Creighton was unable to convert on three match point chances, and ultimately had back-to-back net violations to end the frame in MU's favor. Hickman had four more blocks in the fourth set, and Davis owned seven kills.

Creighton never trailed in the fifth set, racing to a 10-4 in a 15-8 clincher. Davis had six kills and Witt added six digs in the finale, as CU hit .545 with 12 kills in 22 errorless swings.

"I thought people stepped up at big moments. Keeley hit at a high clip and had ton of kills but everyone around her did the same. Witt is leading our back row. That's her job as our libero and she's a competitor, and we saw that again," said Booth.

Creighton returns home on Friday to host third-place Butler in a 7 p.m. match at D.J. Sokol Arena.

NOTES: Keeley Davis entered the night with a career-high of 14 kills before exploding for 31 on Saturday ... Davis' 31 kills were the most ever by a Creighton freshman, and second-most in program history. Only Melissa Walsh (with 30 on 10/16/98 at Indiana State) had previously owned 30 or more kills in a match as a freshman ... Brittany Witt's previous season-high in digs had been 28, and her 35 digs exceeded her previous career-high of 34 done at Marquette on Nov. 25, 2017 ... Brittany Witt's 35 digs are tied for sixth-most in program history for one match. Tonight was Witt's fourth career contest with 30+ digs ... Madelyn Cole now has at least one ace in nine straight matches, and Keeley Davis now has at least one ace in eight straight matches ... Cole's 63 assists were 10 more than her season-high (vs. Kentucky on Sept. 6) and two more than her career-high done when she played for Marshall at Charlotte on Nov. 6, 2016 ... Naomi Hickman's six blocks in the first set tied her season-high for any full match in 2019, and her 11 blocks overall surpassed her previous career-high of nine done on Nov. 24, 2018 in the team's last meeting vs. Marquette .. Creighton has won six straight meetings against Marquette and 13 of the last 14 ... Creighton has led 2-0 at intermission in nine of the last 14 meetings vs. Marquette ... Creighton is now 4-0 all-time in the fifth set against Marquette ... Brittany Witt now owns 100 matches in her career with 10 or more digs ... The match was the first battle of top-15 volleyball teams in the history of the Al McGuire Center ...Creighton improved to 100-25 all-time when ranked in the top-25, including a 13-17 mark against top-25 foes while ranked ... Creighton improved to 6-31 all-time against top-10 foes, with all six wins coming under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... Creighton is now 17-78 all-time against top-25 teams, including a 12-12 mark since the start of the 2016 NCAA Tournament ... Creighton is now 25-1 all-time on BEDN, including six 3-2 victories ... Since the start of 2018, Marquette is 0-4 against Creighton and 21-0 against all other BIG EAST teams ... Creighton has won 23 straight BIG EAST matches on the back-end of matches on back-to-back nights ... Creighton is now 2-0 this season in five-set matches, and 57-29 all-time in the fifth set under Kirsten Bernthal Booth.

#13 Volleyball Takes Over First Place With Win at #10 Marquette

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Team Stats

Keeley Davis

Erica Kostelac

Jaela Zimmerman

Megan Ballenger

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Madelyn Cole

Keeley Davis

Naomi Hickman

Erica Kostelac

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Madelyn Cole

Keeley Davis

Naomi Hickman

Erica Kostelac

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman