Friday, October 29
Milwaukee, Wis.
7:00 PM
Creighton University
21-3,9-2Big East
3
at
1
Marquette
18-4,9-2Big East
1
2
3
4
F
Creighton
25
23
25
25
3
Marquette
23
25
12
20
1
Jaela Zimmerman
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
Volleyball Moves Into First Place Tie With Victory at Marquette
10/29/2021 9:02:00 PM | Volleyball
Zimmerman returns with a double-double as Jays continue winning ways
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Senior All-American Jaela Zimmerman returned to the line-up with a double-double to help the No. 24 Creighton Volleyball team to a 3-1 win at Marquette on Friday night. The teams are now tied atop the BIG EAST standings with identical 9-2 league records, though Creighton (20-3 overall) swept the regular-season series.
Scores of the match in Creighton's favor were 25-23, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20.
Zimmerman (16 kills, 17 digs) was one of three Bluejays with a double-double, as Norah Sis (16 kills, 13 digs) and Kendra Wait (40 assists, 21 digs) all had their 11th double-doubles of the fall.
"it was a fun atmosphere with two great teams," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "Both game one and game two could have gone either way. I thought in sets three and four we played cleaner and were focused and did a lot of good things. I thought our first contacts were good which was a really high priority for us tonight."
Creighton won a tight 25-23 first set to take an early lead in the match, as Norah Sis had four kills and Naomi Hickman added three blocks. The first set featured eight ties and five lead changes, but none after the Bluejays went ahead 18-17 on a kill from Zimmerman. A double-block on Savannah Rennie by Hickman and Zimmerman finished the game.
The Golden Eagles rallied from a 16-11 deficit in the second set to even the match with a 25-23 victory. Creighton hit just .111 in the second set and were outblocked 4-2. CU led most of the second set before MU took the lead for good at 22-21. Ellie Koontz came off the bench and provided a lift for the Golden Eagles with four kills and two blocks. Abby Bottomley had back-to-back aces early in the set and contributed four of CU's 20 digs in the set for CU.
Creighton controlled the third set, hitting .323 and limiting the Golden Eagles to .031 hitting while never trailing. Creighton served up three aces and recorded three blocks in the third set, and Zimmerman had five kills in the set. Annika Welty had three blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs, to key the Bluejay defense that limited MU to seven kills.
In the fourth frame Creighton surged to a 12-7 lead and won the match going away, hitting .386 in the final set as Zimmerman had eight kills in 15 errorless swings. A kill from Keeley Davis finished off the hosts. Davis had four kills and Wait had 13 assists, six digs and two kills in the final set.
After the match, Booth was quick to compliment the play of Zimmerman, who had missed the previous three matches.
"The exciting thing is she got better and her numbers went up throughout the day," said Booth of Zimmerman. "There's a rhythm that she's working into, and she was at a different position than she's played all year. All those things play a factor but I thought she was particularly impressive from a serve receive and defensive standpoint."
Creighton finished with 59 kills, six aces, 85 digs and 11.0 blocks on .245 hitting. Hickman's six blocks led CU and Bottomley had three aces for the Jays. Davis finished with 10 kills, eight digs and two aces, Welty tied her season-high with nine kills and contributed five blocks on .381 hitting and Ellie Bolton had 10 digs. Wait's 40 assists and 21 digs made her the first Bluejay with at least 20 assists and 20 digs in a match since Lydia Dimke had 41 assists and 20 digs vs. Wichita State on Aug. 27, 2016.
Marquette (18-4, 9-2 BIG EAST) owned 50 kills, six aces, 75 digs and 9.0 blocks and but hit just .146. Taylor Wolf had a triple-double for the second time this fall against CU with 19 assists, 19 digs and 13 kills and Rennie contributed 11 kills and six blocks. Also picking up a double-double was Claire Mosher (22 assists, 12 digs). Carly Skrabak topped all Golden Eagles with 23 digs.
Creighton returns to the court on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when it plays at DePaul in a match that will air on FloSports.
NOTES: Naomi Hickman made her 75th consecutive start, and 125th in her career ... Jaela Zimmerman made her return after missing the previous three matches ... Abby Bottomley had 15 digs and moved from 16th to 14th in NCAA history with 2,551 career digs ... Creighton improved to 22-5 all-time against Marquette, including an 18-2 mark since the start of the 2014 season ... Creighton is 21-3 or better after 24 matches for just the second time ever, joining the 2012 team ... Keeley Davis leads the BIG EAST with 36 aces and has 29 aces in her past 15 contests after two more tonight ... Creighton snapped Marquette's 10-match home win streak in BIG EAST play, which came on the heels of CU snapping Marquette's 11-match home win streak in BIG EAST play in 2019 ... Creighton has won each of the last 12 meetings with Marquette to go four sets or longer ... Creighton improved to 130-13 all-time in BIG EAST play ... Jaela Zimmerman now owns 119 of her 905 career kills vs. Marquette (13.1 percent), having done that in nine (of 93) career matches ... Creighton improved to 21-0 this season when winning the first set ... Marquette's four losses this season have come vs. No. 24 Creighton (twice), No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 5 Kentucky ... Kendra Wait's 21 digs were a season- and career-high ... Naomi Hickman played in her 109th career victory, tied for second-most in Creighton history with Taryn Kloth and Brittany Witt. Only Jaali Winters (111) has more.
Scores of the match in Creighton's favor were 25-23, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20.
Zimmerman (16 kills, 17 digs) was one of three Bluejays with a double-double, as Norah Sis (16 kills, 13 digs) and Kendra Wait (40 assists, 21 digs) all had their 11th double-doubles of the fall.
"it was a fun atmosphere with two great teams," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "Both game one and game two could have gone either way. I thought in sets three and four we played cleaner and were focused and did a lot of good things. I thought our first contacts were good which was a really high priority for us tonight."
Creighton won a tight 25-23 first set to take an early lead in the match, as Norah Sis had four kills and Naomi Hickman added three blocks. The first set featured eight ties and five lead changes, but none after the Bluejays went ahead 18-17 on a kill from Zimmerman. A double-block on Savannah Rennie by Hickman and Zimmerman finished the game.
The Golden Eagles rallied from a 16-11 deficit in the second set to even the match with a 25-23 victory. Creighton hit just .111 in the second set and were outblocked 4-2. CU led most of the second set before MU took the lead for good at 22-21. Ellie Koontz came off the bench and provided a lift for the Golden Eagles with four kills and two blocks. Abby Bottomley had back-to-back aces early in the set and contributed four of CU's 20 digs in the set for CU.
Creighton controlled the third set, hitting .323 and limiting the Golden Eagles to .031 hitting while never trailing. Creighton served up three aces and recorded three blocks in the third set, and Zimmerman had five kills in the set. Annika Welty had three blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs, to key the Bluejay defense that limited MU to seven kills.
In the fourth frame Creighton surged to a 12-7 lead and won the match going away, hitting .386 in the final set as Zimmerman had eight kills in 15 errorless swings. A kill from Keeley Davis finished off the hosts. Davis had four kills and Wait had 13 assists, six digs and two kills in the final set.
After the match, Booth was quick to compliment the play of Zimmerman, who had missed the previous three matches.
"The exciting thing is she got better and her numbers went up throughout the day," said Booth of Zimmerman. "There's a rhythm that she's working into, and she was at a different position than she's played all year. All those things play a factor but I thought she was particularly impressive from a serve receive and defensive standpoint."
Creighton finished with 59 kills, six aces, 85 digs and 11.0 blocks on .245 hitting. Hickman's six blocks led CU and Bottomley had three aces for the Jays. Davis finished with 10 kills, eight digs and two aces, Welty tied her season-high with nine kills and contributed five blocks on .381 hitting and Ellie Bolton had 10 digs. Wait's 40 assists and 21 digs made her the first Bluejay with at least 20 assists and 20 digs in a match since Lydia Dimke had 41 assists and 20 digs vs. Wichita State on Aug. 27, 2016.
Marquette (18-4, 9-2 BIG EAST) owned 50 kills, six aces, 75 digs and 9.0 blocks and but hit just .146. Taylor Wolf had a triple-double for the second time this fall against CU with 19 assists, 19 digs and 13 kills and Rennie contributed 11 kills and six blocks. Also picking up a double-double was Claire Mosher (22 assists, 12 digs). Carly Skrabak topped all Golden Eagles with 23 digs.
Creighton returns to the court on Saturday night at 6 p.m. when it plays at DePaul in a match that will air on FloSports.
NOTES: Naomi Hickman made her 75th consecutive start, and 125th in her career ... Jaela Zimmerman made her return after missing the previous three matches ... Abby Bottomley had 15 digs and moved from 16th to 14th in NCAA history with 2,551 career digs ... Creighton improved to 22-5 all-time against Marquette, including an 18-2 mark since the start of the 2014 season ... Creighton is 21-3 or better after 24 matches for just the second time ever, joining the 2012 team ... Keeley Davis leads the BIG EAST with 36 aces and has 29 aces in her past 15 contests after two more tonight ... Creighton snapped Marquette's 10-match home win streak in BIG EAST play, which came on the heels of CU snapping Marquette's 11-match home win streak in BIG EAST play in 2019 ... Creighton has won each of the last 12 meetings with Marquette to go four sets or longer ... Creighton improved to 130-13 all-time in BIG EAST play ... Jaela Zimmerman now owns 119 of her 905 career kills vs. Marquette (13.1 percent), having done that in nine (of 93) career matches ... Creighton improved to 21-0 this season when winning the first set ... Marquette's four losses this season have come vs. No. 24 Creighton (twice), No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 5 Kentucky ... Kendra Wait's 21 digs were a season- and career-high ... Naomi Hickman played in her 109th career victory, tied for second-most in Creighton history with Taryn Kloth and Brittany Witt. Only Jaali Winters (111) has more.
Team Stats
CU
MU
Kills
59
50
Errors
19
25
Attempts
163
171
Hitting %
.245
.146
Points
76.0
65.0
Assists
56
46
Aces
6
6
Blocks
11.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
10
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballOH
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