Friday, October 1
Queens, N.Y.
6:00 PM
Creighton University
14-2,2-1Big East
1
at
3
St. John's
11-6,2-1Big East
1
2
3
4
F
Creighton
18
25
25
20
1
St. John's (NY)
25
23
27
25
3
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Volleyball Upset at St. John's
10/1/2021 8:25:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejay fall in four sets in Queens
QUEENS, N.Y. -- Jaela Zimmerman and Norah Sis had double-doubles but it wasn't enough to extend No. 16 Creighton Volleyball's eight-match winning streak on Friday night in a 3-1 loss at St. John's.
Scores of the match in St. John's favor were 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 25-20 as Creighton fell to 14-2 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST play. St. John's improved to 11-6 overall and is also 2-1 in league play.
St. John's led the entire first set, establishing an early 10-4 lead and maintaining a margin of at least four the rest of the way. Rachele Rastelli's ace ended the first set with the Red Storm victorious, 25-18. Rastelli led all players with eight kills in the first set and Ariadni Kathariou had a hand in three blocks. CU hit just .056 in the first set, led by three kills each from Naomi Hickman, Sis and Zimmerman.
The Bluejays played from behind for much of the second set before rallying late to topple the Red Storm. CU trailed 22-19 late in the second set before calling timeout. Two straight kills by Hickman and another from Zimmerman evened the score, and CU took its first lead of the match after a Red Storm attack error. SJU got a sideout to even the score at 23-all before the Jays took the second on consecutive kills by Keeley Davis and Sis. Creighton had 17 kills in the second set, including five from Zimmerman, to get back in the match.
Both teams had set point chances in the third set before SJU took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 27-25 victory. Creighton fell behind 17-10 before embarking on an 11-2 run to move ahead 22-19. The Jays had a set point chance with a 24-23 lead before a Rastelli kill evened the score at 24-all. A Zimmerman kill helped CU survive a Red Storm set point at 25-24, but the Johnnies responded with a Rastelli kill and a block by Giorgia Walther and Eleonora Tosi to close out the set. Walther owned three blocks and six kills in the third frame, which helped overcome six kills by Zimmerman.
St. John's clinched its biggest win of the year with a 25-20 fourth set triumph, getting five kills each by Rastelli and Walther. The Jays were aced three times in the fourth frame and surrendered 15 kills by the Red Storm.
"I thought first contacts are what we talk about a lot and ours struggled a lot tonight," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "SJU was in system an obscene amount of the time and then we missed serves at critical moments. They put pressure on us at the serving line and our passing wasn't as good as it's been. I thought we struggled blocking, but there were a lot of pieces that struggled."
Zimmerman had 17 kills and 13 digs while Sis had 12 kills and 12 digs, but the duo hit a combined .140 on 92 swings. Abby Bottomley paced CU with 13 digs and Sis contributed a team-leading and career-high five blocks. The Bluejays managed 49 kills, three aces, 57 digs and 10 blocks on .133 hitting overall.
St. John's was paced by 22 kills from Rastelli, who also added 10 digs. Sheena Yoshioka owned 20 digs and Walther had 16 kills on .314 hitting. The Red Storm had 56 kills, five aces, 66 digs and 13.5 blocks.
Creighton is back in action on Saturday at 5 p.m. Central with a match at Seton Hall that will be carried on FloSports.
"We're a good team but a championship team needs to play consistently well night in and night out," said Booth. "Now it's gut-check. How do we respond to this? We're going to get everyone's best effort every single time."
NOTES: Abby Bottomley had 13 digs and moved from 24th to 22nd in NCAA history with 2,450 career digs ... St. John's became just the second team to hit .200 or better against CU this year, joining USC ... Creighton's eight victories had stood as the ninth-longest streak in program history, and its eight straight league wins ranked as the 10th-longest streak in program history ... The Red Storm played without Efrosini Alexakou, the 2020 BIG EAST Player of the Year ... Creighton lost for the first time in 12 matches away from home this season ... Jaela Zimmerman had her seventh double-double of the year (22nd career) and Norah Sis had her sixth ... Creighton was tied 1-1 at intermission for the first time all season ... Creighton had won 29 straight matches against BIG EAST teams in matches to last exactly four sets ... Abby Bottomley had her 29th straight match with 10 or more digs dating to last season at High Point. Her 16 straight matches with 10 or more digs is the ninth-longest streak in CU history ... Creighton fell to 123-12 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play ... Naomi Hickman had two blocks to surpass Marysa Wilkinson (421) for seventh and tie Megan Bober (422) in Creighton history with 422 career blocks.
Scores of the match in St. John's favor were 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 25-20 as Creighton fell to 14-2 overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST play. St. John's improved to 11-6 overall and is also 2-1 in league play.
St. John's led the entire first set, establishing an early 10-4 lead and maintaining a margin of at least four the rest of the way. Rachele Rastelli's ace ended the first set with the Red Storm victorious, 25-18. Rastelli led all players with eight kills in the first set and Ariadni Kathariou had a hand in three blocks. CU hit just .056 in the first set, led by three kills each from Naomi Hickman, Sis and Zimmerman.
The Bluejays played from behind for much of the second set before rallying late to topple the Red Storm. CU trailed 22-19 late in the second set before calling timeout. Two straight kills by Hickman and another from Zimmerman evened the score, and CU took its first lead of the match after a Red Storm attack error. SJU got a sideout to even the score at 23-all before the Jays took the second on consecutive kills by Keeley Davis and Sis. Creighton had 17 kills in the second set, including five from Zimmerman, to get back in the match.
Both teams had set point chances in the third set before SJU took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 27-25 victory. Creighton fell behind 17-10 before embarking on an 11-2 run to move ahead 22-19. The Jays had a set point chance with a 24-23 lead before a Rastelli kill evened the score at 24-all. A Zimmerman kill helped CU survive a Red Storm set point at 25-24, but the Johnnies responded with a Rastelli kill and a block by Giorgia Walther and Eleonora Tosi to close out the set. Walther owned three blocks and six kills in the third frame, which helped overcome six kills by Zimmerman.
St. John's clinched its biggest win of the year with a 25-20 fourth set triumph, getting five kills each by Rastelli and Walther. The Jays were aced three times in the fourth frame and surrendered 15 kills by the Red Storm.
"I thought first contacts are what we talk about a lot and ours struggled a lot tonight," said CU head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "SJU was in system an obscene amount of the time and then we missed serves at critical moments. They put pressure on us at the serving line and our passing wasn't as good as it's been. I thought we struggled blocking, but there were a lot of pieces that struggled."
Zimmerman had 17 kills and 13 digs while Sis had 12 kills and 12 digs, but the duo hit a combined .140 on 92 swings. Abby Bottomley paced CU with 13 digs and Sis contributed a team-leading and career-high five blocks. The Bluejays managed 49 kills, three aces, 57 digs and 10 blocks on .133 hitting overall.
St. John's was paced by 22 kills from Rastelli, who also added 10 digs. Sheena Yoshioka owned 20 digs and Walther had 16 kills on .314 hitting. The Red Storm had 56 kills, five aces, 66 digs and 13.5 blocks.
Creighton is back in action on Saturday at 5 p.m. Central with a match at Seton Hall that will be carried on FloSports.
"We're a good team but a championship team needs to play consistently well night in and night out," said Booth. "Now it's gut-check. How do we respond to this? We're going to get everyone's best effort every single time."
NOTES: Abby Bottomley had 13 digs and moved from 24th to 22nd in NCAA history with 2,450 career digs ... St. John's became just the second team to hit .200 or better against CU this year, joining USC ... Creighton's eight victories had stood as the ninth-longest streak in program history, and its eight straight league wins ranked as the 10th-longest streak in program history ... The Red Storm played without Efrosini Alexakou, the 2020 BIG EAST Player of the Year ... Creighton lost for the first time in 12 matches away from home this season ... Jaela Zimmerman had her seventh double-double of the year (22nd career) and Norah Sis had her sixth ... Creighton was tied 1-1 at intermission for the first time all season ... Creighton had won 29 straight matches against BIG EAST teams in matches to last exactly four sets ... Abby Bottomley had her 29th straight match with 10 or more digs dating to last season at High Point. Her 16 straight matches with 10 or more digs is the ninth-longest streak in CU history ... Creighton fell to 123-12 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play ... Naomi Hickman had two blocks to surpass Marysa Wilkinson (421) for seventh and tie Megan Bober (422) in Creighton history with 422 career blocks.
Team Stats
CU
SJU
Kills
49
56
Errors
28
23
Attempts
158
143
Hitting %
.133
.231
Points
62.0
75.0
Assists
46
54
Aces
3
5
Blocks
10.0
14.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball#18 Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. Rice - 9/13/25
Saturday, September 13
Creighton Volleyball Postgame vs. Rice, 9/13/25
Saturday, September 13
#18 Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. #4 Louisville - 9/12/25
Saturday, September 13
Creighton Volleyball Press Conference vs. Louisville
Saturday, September 13
