Friday, December 3
Omaha, Neb.
7:00 PM
Creighton University
31-4,16-2Big East
1
vs
3
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Kansas
18-11,8-8Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Kansas
25
26
19
25
3
Creighton
13
24
25
22
1
Photo by: Chelsea Nicholson
#20 Volleyball Ends Season With Second Round Loss to Kansas
12/3/2021 9:10:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejays lead nation with 31 victories but had 14-match win streak snapped
OMAHA, Neb. -- The 20th-ranked and 14th-seeded Creighton Volleyball team had its season come to an abrupt end in the Second Round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, falling 3-1 to Kansas before a sellout crowd of 2,389 at D.J. Sokol Arena on Friday, Dec. 3.
Scores in favor of the visiting Jayhawks were 25-13, 26-24, 19-25, 25-22, who improved to 9-3 all-time against Creighton and advanced to the program's third Sweet 16 ever.
Kansas dominated the first set to post a 25-13 victory, snapping Creighton's streak of 22 straight set victories that dated to Nov. 7. KU hit .440 and had five blocks to limit the Bluejay attack to .100 hitting. In a battle of Conference Freshmen of the Year, both Norah SIs (CU) and Caroline Bien (KU) had five kills.
The second set included nine ties and a pair of lead changes before Kansas emerged with a 26-24 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match. CU owned a lead as large as 10-6 before Kansas cut into the margin and eventually tied the score at 18-all. CU saved a pair of set point chances to tie the score at 24-all before Bien had a solo block followed by a kill for the 26-24 win. The Jayhawks had 20 kills in the second set despite the best efforts of a Bluejay defense that had 27 digs, including 11 from Abby Bottomley. Bien provided eight of those kills for a Jayhawk offense that hit .315.
Creighton steadily built a 15-10 lead in the third set, only to let KU get within one at 18-17. The Jays would regroup to pull away for the 25-19 victory, winning the set on a 4-0 serving run from Norah Sis that included a powerful back row kill on set point by Sis.
The Bluejays built a 15-11 lead in the fourth set, only to see Bien serve a 6-0 run to put the Jayhawks back in front 17-15. The KU lead grew to 19-16 and later 24-20. The Bluejays staved off two match points before KU ended it with a kill from Caroline Crawford.
Bien led all players with 21 kills while Jenny Mosser added 16 kills and 15 digs on .333 hitting. Camryn Turner finished with 51 assists and 13 digs while setting an offense that hit .302. The Jayhawks finished with 64 kills, six aces, 61 digs and 12 blocks for the day.
Creighton was paced by 17 kills from Sis, who also had 10 digs. Keeley Davis had 11 kills and a season-best 16 digs, while Kendra Wait contributed 45 assists and 15 digs. Creighton had 55 kills, six aces, six blocks and 67 digs and hit .245 for the day.
With the win, Kansas advances to face the winner of Saturday's match between Penn State and Pittsburgh next Thursday in the Regional semifinals. A time, location and broadcast coverage will be announced for that on Saturday evening.
NOTES: Creighton All-American Jaela Zimmerman, the 2020 AVCA East Region Player of the Year, missed the match with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee that was suffered in CU's First Round win vs. Ole Miss ... Abby Bottomley finished her career seventh in NCAA history with 2,711 career digs ... Freshman Kendra Wait had her team-leading 17th double-double of the season, and third straight ... Norah Sis had her 15th double-double and third straight while Keeley Davis collected her third double-double of the fall and first since Oct. 16 ... Kansas hit .302 for the match, the best hitting percentage against the Bluejays all season. CU entered the match allowing teams to hit a nation-low .118, a figure that climbed to .124 ... Creighton fell to 19-1 all-time when Kiana Schmitt owns six or more kills ... Creighton falls to 12-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 2-7 record in the Second Round and a 3-3 home record ... Creighton had its 14-match win streak snapped, as well as its 18-match win streak inside D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton fell to 7-2 this season against teams that qualified for the 2021 NCAA Tournament ... Creighton still leads the nation with 31 victories and sets won (97). CU's 31 wins set a school record ... Creighton fell to 15-1 this season in tournament play ... Creighton had won 24 straight matches when owning more aces than serving errors before today ... Norah Sis ended up leading CU with 435 kills for the season (T-10th in CU history), Kendra Wait owned a team-lead with 1,213 assists (10th in CU history), Keeley Davis owned a CU-best 50 digs (3rd in CU history), Abby Bottomley led CU with 553 digs (5th in CU history) and Naomi Hickman paced the Bluejays with 130 blocks ... Creighton's 192 aces rank third-most in CU single-season history.
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Scores in favor of the visiting Jayhawks were 25-13, 26-24, 19-25, 25-22, who improved to 9-3 all-time against Creighton and advanced to the program's third Sweet 16 ever.
Kansas dominated the first set to post a 25-13 victory, snapping Creighton's streak of 22 straight set victories that dated to Nov. 7. KU hit .440 and had five blocks to limit the Bluejay attack to .100 hitting. In a battle of Conference Freshmen of the Year, both Norah SIs (CU) and Caroline Bien (KU) had five kills.
The second set included nine ties and a pair of lead changes before Kansas emerged with a 26-24 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match. CU owned a lead as large as 10-6 before Kansas cut into the margin and eventually tied the score at 18-all. CU saved a pair of set point chances to tie the score at 24-all before Bien had a solo block followed by a kill for the 26-24 win. The Jayhawks had 20 kills in the second set despite the best efforts of a Bluejay defense that had 27 digs, including 11 from Abby Bottomley. Bien provided eight of those kills for a Jayhawk offense that hit .315.
Creighton steadily built a 15-10 lead in the third set, only to let KU get within one at 18-17. The Jays would regroup to pull away for the 25-19 victory, winning the set on a 4-0 serving run from Norah Sis that included a powerful back row kill on set point by Sis.
The Bluejays built a 15-11 lead in the fourth set, only to see Bien serve a 6-0 run to put the Jayhawks back in front 17-15. The KU lead grew to 19-16 and later 24-20. The Bluejays staved off two match points before KU ended it with a kill from Caroline Crawford.
Bien led all players with 21 kills while Jenny Mosser added 16 kills and 15 digs on .333 hitting. Camryn Turner finished with 51 assists and 13 digs while setting an offense that hit .302. The Jayhawks finished with 64 kills, six aces, 61 digs and 12 blocks for the day.
Creighton was paced by 17 kills from Sis, who also had 10 digs. Keeley Davis had 11 kills and a season-best 16 digs, while Kendra Wait contributed 45 assists and 15 digs. Creighton had 55 kills, six aces, six blocks and 67 digs and hit .245 for the day.
With the win, Kansas advances to face the winner of Saturday's match between Penn State and Pittsburgh next Thursday in the Regional semifinals. A time, location and broadcast coverage will be announced for that on Saturday evening.
NOTES: Creighton All-American Jaela Zimmerman, the 2020 AVCA East Region Player of the Year, missed the match with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee that was suffered in CU's First Round win vs. Ole Miss ... Abby Bottomley finished her career seventh in NCAA history with 2,711 career digs ... Freshman Kendra Wait had her team-leading 17th double-double of the season, and third straight ... Norah Sis had her 15th double-double and third straight while Keeley Davis collected her third double-double of the fall and first since Oct. 16 ... Kansas hit .302 for the match, the best hitting percentage against the Bluejays all season. CU entered the match allowing teams to hit a nation-low .118, a figure that climbed to .124 ... Creighton fell to 19-1 all-time when Kiana Schmitt owns six or more kills ... Creighton falls to 12-11 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 2-7 record in the Second Round and a 3-3 home record ... Creighton had its 14-match win streak snapped, as well as its 18-match win streak inside D.J. Sokol Arena ... Creighton fell to 7-2 this season against teams that qualified for the 2021 NCAA Tournament ... Creighton still leads the nation with 31 victories and sets won (97). CU's 31 wins set a school record ... Creighton fell to 15-1 this season in tournament play ... Creighton had won 24 straight matches when owning more aces than serving errors before today ... Norah Sis ended up leading CU with 435 kills for the season (T-10th in CU history), Kendra Wait owned a team-lead with 1,213 assists (10th in CU history), Keeley Davis owned a CU-best 50 digs (3rd in CU history), Abby Bottomley led CU with 553 digs (5th in CU history) and Naomi Hickman paced the Bluejays with 130 blocks ... Creighton's 192 aces rank third-most in CU single-season history.
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Team Stats
KU
CU
Kills
64
55
Errors
16
20
Attempts
159
143
Hitting %
.302
.245
Points
82.0
67.0
Assists
57
54
Aces
6
6
Blocks
12.0
6.0
Game Leaders
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballMB/RS
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/ Volleyball
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