#14 Volleyball Sweeps Butler in Final BIG EAST Road Match, Marquette Showdown Next

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Keeley Davis had 16 kills as the No. 14 Creighton Volleyball team swept Butler on Sunday afternoon at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to improve to 22-4 on the season.

Scores of the match were 25-21, 25-22, 25-17.

Creighton (22-4, 15-1 BIG EAST) hit .168 in the match, finishing with 45 kills, 58 digs, three aces and three blocks. In addition to 16 kills from Davis, both Madelyn Cole (34 assists, 11 digs) and Jaela Zimmerman (11 kills, 10 digs) finished with double-doubles. Senior libero Brittany Witt led all players with 19 digs in the contest.

Butler (12-16, 9-7 BIG EAST) hit .119 and had 30 kills, 48 digs and 14 blocks but did not record an ace. Brooke Gregory topped BU with 11 kills on .350 hitting, and Elizabeth Labue paced the Bulldogs with 13 digs. Melody Davison had seven blocks, one more than Gregory.

"I didn't think we hit as well as we need to hit, and Butler outhit us in two of the three games," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I thought the difference was that we served and passed well. We played great defense, and Brittany Witt particularly was all over the place."

Creighton trailed for much of the first set before finally regaining the lead at 18-17 following a 3-0 run on Davis' serve. The Bluejays would close out the set on a 10-4 run. Zimmerman had five digs and three kills in the first set to help CU win despite being outhit by the Bulldogs.

The Bluejays pulled away midway through the second set, stretching its lead to 19-14 on Witt's serve and eventually wrapping up a 25-22 victory to take a 2-0 lead at the break. The Bluejays won despite being outblocked 8-0 in the set thanks to 23 digs, as four different women owned at least four.

CU never trailed in the final frame. A 6-0 run on Witt's serve made it 15-8 and CU would lead by as much as 23-13 before closing out the 25-17 triumph. Davis had seven kills and Witt added eight digs in the final set as Creighton pounded 18 kills.

Creighton returns to the court on Friday at 6 p.m. when it hosts No. 9 Marquette. The winner will guarantee itself at least a share of the 2019 BIG EAST regular-season title. Creighton won the first meeting between the teams in Milwaukee in five sets on October 12th.

"Marquette is an awesome team," added Booth. "It was a battle when we played at their place. As a player and coach those are fun matches to prepare for and get to play, and I'm anticipating another great match."

NOTES: Makenna Krause served her first career ace in the first set ... Creighton has won 13 straight matches against Butler since losing the first meeting ever in 2013 ... The team with more kills and more digs has won all 14 match-ups between Creighton and Butler ... Creighton has clinched a top-two seed at the 2019 BIG EAST Championships and will play in the second (5:30 p.m.) semifinal on Nov. 29, regardless of its seed ... Creighton improved to 32-2 in its last 34 matches in the Eastern time zone and is 18-2 in its last 20 true road contests ... Brittany Witt has now played in 106 victories in her career, tied with Marysa Wilkinson (2014-17) for third-most in program history and just five behind Jaali Winters (2015-18) school record of 111.

#14 Volleyball Sweeps Butler in Final BIG EAST Road Match, Marquette Showdown Next

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Team Stats

Keeley Davis

Jaela Zimmerman

Naomi Hickman

Megan Ballenger

Players Mentioned

Madelyn Cole

Keeley Davis

Makenna Krause

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman

Players Mentioned

Madelyn Cole

Keeley Davis

Makenna Krause

Jaali Winters

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman