Friday, November 26
Milwaukee, Wis.
3:00 PM
Creighton University
29-3,16-2Big East
3
vs
0
DePaul
19-12,12-6Big East
1
2
3
F
DePaul
16
15
18
0
Creighton
25
25
25
3
Norah Sis
Photo by: Steve Woltmann
Volleyball Ties Record With 29th Win; Sweeps DePaul to Reach Final
11/26/2021 4:31:00 PM | Volleyball
Creighton will play Marquette in the BIG EAST final for the fourth time in five years
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Freshman Norah Sis had 15 kills on .448 hitting to lead No. 22 Creighton to the title match of the 2021 BIG EAST Championship, presented by JEEP, with a 3-0 sweep vs. DePaul.
Creighton (29-3) never trailed in the 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 victory while tying a school-record, done three times previously, with its 29th win of the season. DePaul was making its first appearance in the BIG EAST Championship since joining the league in 2005 and fell to 19-12 while losing for the first time in seven matches.
Creighton hit .292 and had 41 kills, five aces, 38 digs and 14 blocks for the match. Abby Bottomley had a match-high 14 digs and Annika Welty had seven kills and a match-leading seven blocks for CU.
DePaul was paced by 11 kills from Jill Pressly, though the all-conference performer also had nine errors and hit .053 in 38 swings. Rachel Krasowski topped the Blue Demons with 11 digs. DePaul hit .088 and had 33 kills, no aces, 37 digs and five blocks overall.
The Bluejays will face second-seeded Marquette in Saturday's BIG EAST Championship final at 1 p.m. after the host Golden Eagles swept UConn in the first semifinal of the day.
"They serve so well," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth about Marquette. "We have to make sure we're passing well because they can just really disrupt things. They've got Taylor Wolf who can kind of do it all, and [Savannah] Rennie is back on the outside and she's just got a cannon for an arm. They're still really good. That's the power of depth. Obviously losing Hope Werch and [Hannah] Vanden Berg are huge losses for them, but they have the luxury of having a team of great players so people are getting an opportunity to step up and they'll be ready to go no doubt."
Creighton opened the match with a kill from Keeley Davis that was immediately challenged by DePaul coach Marie Zidek. The original call was upheld and DePaul followed with a kill from Hanna Karl. Little did DePaul know it would not lead or tie the Bluejays again, as CU immediately reeled off a 4-0 run to go up 5-1. The lead ballooned to 16-7 on a kill from Kendra Wait and 21-10 a short time later after Wait and Welty stuffed Pressly. A kill from Davis finished off the set. Sis had nine kills on .571 hitting in the first set.
Sis opened the second set with her 10th kill of the match and later helped serve CU to a 9-3 lead. Zimmerman authored a 6-0 flurry that included an ace and three straight blocks by the Bluejays to push the lead to 21-8. A DePaul service error finished off the set in CU's favor, 25-15. Creighton had 10 blocks in the second set, including four each from Schmitt and Welty, while holding DePaul to -050 hitting.
The Bluejays maintained their mojo coming out of the locker room, bolting to a 6-0 lead in the third set on Davis' serve. A Welty kill made it 11-3 and CU led by as much as 20-10 before a late DePaul rally. CU clinched the match on a service error by DePaul's Avery Horejsi. Sis had four kills in the final set to pace the Bluejays.
NOTES: Creighton has won 19 straight meetings vs. DePaul, tied for its second-longest streak against one school (21, Xavier) ... Creighton's 29 wins tie a school record first done in 2012, 2016 and 2018 ... Creighton's 12 straight wins are tied for the fifth-longest win streak in program history ... Creighton improved to 7-0 on neutral floors this fall ... Creighton improved to 14-2 all-time at the BIG EAST Championship, and 8-1 in the semifinal round ... Creighton will play in a league tournament final for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons ... Creighton won both regular-season meetings vs. Marquette in four sets, which helped CU earn the No. 1 seed in the league tournament after both squads finished with identical 16-2 league records ... Norah Sis' nine kills in the opening frame tied the second-most in a set in school history during a BIG EAST Tournament match. Only 10 kills in the first set by Jaali Winters of a 2015 semifinal win vs. Marquette has had more. Ironically enough, that, too, was Winters' first career set in BIG EAST Tournament play as it was for Sis ... Keeley Davis served up her league-leading 48th ace of the season early in the third set, which also ranks third-most in program history for one season ... Annika Welty's six block assists and seven total blocks were both Creighton records for a three-set match in the BIG EAST Championship ... Abby Bottomley moved into sole possession of 10th place in NCAA history in career digs with 2,670 ... Creighton had more aces than service errors for the 13th time in 31 matches this fall, and fifth time in the past six matches ... DePaul did not have an ace in either of its last two meetings vs. Creighton .. Creighton has swept four straight meetings vs. DePaul ... Creighton has dropped just two sets during its 12-match win streak ... Creighton's 29 wins and 90 set wins are both tied with Ball State for the NCAA lead.
Creighton (29-3) never trailed in the 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 victory while tying a school-record, done three times previously, with its 29th win of the season. DePaul was making its first appearance in the BIG EAST Championship since joining the league in 2005 and fell to 19-12 while losing for the first time in seven matches.
Creighton hit .292 and had 41 kills, five aces, 38 digs and 14 blocks for the match. Abby Bottomley had a match-high 14 digs and Annika Welty had seven kills and a match-leading seven blocks for CU.
DePaul was paced by 11 kills from Jill Pressly, though the all-conference performer also had nine errors and hit .053 in 38 swings. Rachel Krasowski topped the Blue Demons with 11 digs. DePaul hit .088 and had 33 kills, no aces, 37 digs and five blocks overall.
The Bluejays will face second-seeded Marquette in Saturday's BIG EAST Championship final at 1 p.m. after the host Golden Eagles swept UConn in the first semifinal of the day.
"They serve so well," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth about Marquette. "We have to make sure we're passing well because they can just really disrupt things. They've got Taylor Wolf who can kind of do it all, and [Savannah] Rennie is back on the outside and she's just got a cannon for an arm. They're still really good. That's the power of depth. Obviously losing Hope Werch and [Hannah] Vanden Berg are huge losses for them, but they have the luxury of having a team of great players so people are getting an opportunity to step up and they'll be ready to go no doubt."
Creighton opened the match with a kill from Keeley Davis that was immediately challenged by DePaul coach Marie Zidek. The original call was upheld and DePaul followed with a kill from Hanna Karl. Little did DePaul know it would not lead or tie the Bluejays again, as CU immediately reeled off a 4-0 run to go up 5-1. The lead ballooned to 16-7 on a kill from Kendra Wait and 21-10 a short time later after Wait and Welty stuffed Pressly. A kill from Davis finished off the set. Sis had nine kills on .571 hitting in the first set.
Sis opened the second set with her 10th kill of the match and later helped serve CU to a 9-3 lead. Zimmerman authored a 6-0 flurry that included an ace and three straight blocks by the Bluejays to push the lead to 21-8. A DePaul service error finished off the set in CU's favor, 25-15. Creighton had 10 blocks in the second set, including four each from Schmitt and Welty, while holding DePaul to -050 hitting.
The Bluejays maintained their mojo coming out of the locker room, bolting to a 6-0 lead in the third set on Davis' serve. A Welty kill made it 11-3 and CU led by as much as 20-10 before a late DePaul rally. CU clinched the match on a service error by DePaul's Avery Horejsi. Sis had four kills in the final set to pace the Bluejays.
NOTES: Creighton has won 19 straight meetings vs. DePaul, tied for its second-longest streak against one school (21, Xavier) ... Creighton's 29 wins tie a school record first done in 2012, 2016 and 2018 ... Creighton's 12 straight wins are tied for the fifth-longest win streak in program history ... Creighton improved to 7-0 on neutral floors this fall ... Creighton improved to 14-2 all-time at the BIG EAST Championship, and 8-1 in the semifinal round ... Creighton will play in a league tournament final for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons ... Creighton won both regular-season meetings vs. Marquette in four sets, which helped CU earn the No. 1 seed in the league tournament after both squads finished with identical 16-2 league records ... Norah Sis' nine kills in the opening frame tied the second-most in a set in school history during a BIG EAST Tournament match. Only 10 kills in the first set by Jaali Winters of a 2015 semifinal win vs. Marquette has had more. Ironically enough, that, too, was Winters' first career set in BIG EAST Tournament play as it was for Sis ... Keeley Davis served up her league-leading 48th ace of the season early in the third set, which also ranks third-most in program history for one season ... Annika Welty's six block assists and seven total blocks were both Creighton records for a three-set match in the BIG EAST Championship ... Abby Bottomley moved into sole possession of 10th place in NCAA history in career digs with 2,670 ... Creighton had more aces than service errors for the 13th time in 31 matches this fall, and fifth time in the past six matches ... DePaul did not have an ace in either of its last two meetings vs. Creighton .. Creighton has swept four straight meetings vs. DePaul ... Creighton has dropped just two sets during its 12-match win streak ... Creighton's 29 wins and 90 set wins are both tied with Ball State for the NCAA lead.
Team Stats
DePaul
CU
Kills
33
41
Errors
24
13
Attempts
102
96
Hitting %
.088
.292
Points
38.0
60.0
Assists
30
37
Aces
0
5
Blocks
5.0
14.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
7
Kills
6
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballS
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ Volleyball#18 Creighton Volleyball vs. #1 Nebraska Highlights - 9/16/25
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