Volleyball Sweeps Providence; Reaches Halfway Point 9-0

OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 10 Creighton Volleyball team improved ot 9-0 at the midway point of BIG EAST play for the the fourth time in five seasons with a 3-0 road win at Providence on Friday, Oct. 25.

Scores of the match, which featured 23 ties and 14 lead chances, were 25-23, 27-25, 25-22.

Creighton (16-3, 9-0) has now won 11 matches in a row, and also improved to 11-0 all-time against Providence (5-17, 0-9 BIG EAST). CU's 28 straight regular-season BIG EAST wins ties a program record first done from Oct. 31, 2015 - Sept. 30, 2017.

Erica Kostelac had 14 kills and Brittany Witt contributed 17 digs for the Bluejays. Providence was topped by 13 kills on .391 hitting by Brielle Mullally.

"Hats off to Providence. I thought they played an inspired match," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "Defensively they were outstanding in the backcourt and with their blocking, and I thought they outworked us. I was disappointed with our unforced errors and our defensive tenacity tonight. Normally you don't get the chance to play a team a second time right away, but we'll get that opportunity in 24 hours. The question is what do we learn from it, and are we going to be ready to perform tomorrow."

The first set was tied at 11 different junctures by the time it was 12-12 before Witt gave CU some breathing room with a 6-0 serving run. CU led 24-20 but squandered three set point chances before a service error from PC saw Creighton escape with the 25-23 victory in the opener. Megan Ballenger joined Kostelac with four kills in the opening game for CU, and Madelyn Cole had 14 assists to become the seventh Creighton player to surpass the 2,000 assist milestone as a Bluejay.

The Bluejays bolted to leads of 7-2 and 14-8 in the second set but would have to withstand a pair of set points to emerge with a 27-25 decision. PC would battle back to move ahead 18-17 and owned chances to even the match at 24-23 and 25-24, only to have the Bluejays answer with a kill each time. With CU down 25-24, Kostelac sandwiched a pair of kills around a block as the Jays took a 2-0 lead into the locker room for its 18th straight BIG EAST contest. Jaela Zimmerman had six of her nine kills in the second set.

CU built an 11-6 lead in the third set but once again could not shake the host Friars.Trailing 18-17, CU embarked on a timely 7-2 run to earn four match point chances. CU would convert on its third try on Kostelac's sixth kill of the frame.

The teams will meet again on Saturday at 5 p.m. Central in Providence.

NOTES: Brittany Witt became the seventh player in Creighton history to appear in 100 victories. The program record is 111 by Jaali Winters (2015-18) ... Creighton is one of six teams with 100 or more wins since the start of the 2016 season, joining Nebraska, Stanford, BYU, Western Kentucky and Pitt ... Creighton has won six straight road matches and is 14-1 in its last 15 true road contests ... Creighton has won 33-of-34 sets all-time against Providence, including 14 in a row ... Creighton's 11 match win streak is tied for its fifth-longest in program history ... Madelyn Cole had an ace for the 12th straight match, the second-longest streak in program history (Amanda Cvejdlik had 15 in 2006) ... Creighton improved to 106-9 all-time in BIG EAST play with 66 sweeps ... Madelyn Cole's 42 assists were her season-high for any three set match ... Creighton improved to 97-2 in its last 99 matches against unranked opponents.

Volleyball Sweeps Providence; Reaches Halfway Point 9-0

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Team Stats

Erica Kostelac

Jaela Zimmerman

Megan Ballenger

Naomi Hickman

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Madelyn Cole

Erica Kostelac

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman

Players Mentioned

Megan Ballenger

Madelyn Cole

Erica Kostelac

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman