Saturday, September 25
Cincinnati, Ohio
4:00 PM
Creighton University
14-1,2-0Big East
3
at
0
Xavier
6-6,1-1Big East
1
2
3
F
Creighton
25
25
25
3
Xavier
11
22
16
0
Kiana Schmitt
Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann
#16 Volleyball Sweeps Xavier To Open BIG EAST Play 2-0
9/25/2021 5:31:00 PM | Volleyball
Jays improve to 14-1 overall
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The No. 16 Creighton Volleyball team won its eighth straight match with a 3-0 sweep at Xavier on Saturday, Sept. 25. The win was Creighton's 11th victory of September, its most victories in any month in program history.
Scores of the match were 25-11, 25-22, 25-16 as Creighton (14-1, 2-0 BIG EAST) improved to 20-0 all-time against Xavier (6-6, 1-1 BIG EAST).
"I thought in game one we played a fantastic game," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "We were really strong defensively and our offense was good. Then in game two, Xavier started to play a little better and we started to make some back-to-back errors, which is something that we just can't do. We can't let one error fall on to a second error but I thought we made a good push at the end. In game three, our serve really disrupted them and it was good to take control."
Creighton dominated the first set en route to a 25-11 victory as Kiana Schmitt recorded four blocks and Jaela Zimmerman had seven kills. The Jays hit .273 and held XU to -.032 hitting in 31 swings.
Creighton trailed most of the second game, including 20-16 late, before closing the set with a 9-2 run to win 25-22. After getting down 20-16, Megan Skovsende served a 5-0 run to give the Bluejays their first lead of the set on a solo stuff from Norah Sis. The Musketeers tied it at 21 with a sideout, but Annika Welty, Sis and Kendra Wait would earn kills down the stretch to give CU a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
The Bluejays then opened the third set on a 9-2 run and never trailed as it closed out the match with a 25-16 victory. Wait had five kills on five swings, including one on match point, in addition to her 11 assists and four digs in the final frame.
Zimmerman paced Creighton with 14 kills while Wait added 30 assists, nine digs and seven blocks on .700 hitting. Abby Bottomley topped CU with 23 digs and Schmitt topped all blockers with six rejections. Creighton had 43 kills, seven aces, 68 digs and nine blocks on .214 hitting.
Kelly Franxman had seven kills to lead the Xavier offense, and Alyssa Overbeck owned 17 digs. The Musketeers had 29 kills, one ace, 61 digs and five blocks on .081 hitting.
Creighton returns to the court on Friday at 6 p.m. Central when it faces St. John's.
NOTES: Creighton's 20-match win streak over Xavier is its longest ever over any program, breaking a tie of 19 wins in a row vs. Southern Illinois from 2003-2011 ... Creighton is now 11-0 away from home this season with nine sweeps ... Creighton improved to 15-0 all-time when Kiana Schmitt owns six or more kills ... Creighton's eight-match win streak is tied for the program's ninth-longest streak in history .. Naomi Hickman played in her 102nd career win, tied with Melanie Jereb for seventh-most in program history ... Creighton improved to 123-11 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST matches, including eight straight victories ... Creighton has won 178 straight matches against conference teams (including the postseason) when leading 2-0 ... Creighton has won 102 straight matches against BIG EAST teams when winning the third set ... Abby Bottomley has had 10 or more digs in 28 straight matches dating to last season ... Naomi Hickman had two blocks and passed Laurel Sanford for eighth in CU history with 420 career blocks.
Scores of the match were 25-11, 25-22, 25-16 as Creighton (14-1, 2-0 BIG EAST) improved to 20-0 all-time against Xavier (6-6, 1-1 BIG EAST).
"I thought in game one we played a fantastic game," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "We were really strong defensively and our offense was good. Then in game two, Xavier started to play a little better and we started to make some back-to-back errors, which is something that we just can't do. We can't let one error fall on to a second error but I thought we made a good push at the end. In game three, our serve really disrupted them and it was good to take control."
Creighton dominated the first set en route to a 25-11 victory as Kiana Schmitt recorded four blocks and Jaela Zimmerman had seven kills. The Jays hit .273 and held XU to -.032 hitting in 31 swings.
Creighton trailed most of the second game, including 20-16 late, before closing the set with a 9-2 run to win 25-22. After getting down 20-16, Megan Skovsende served a 5-0 run to give the Bluejays their first lead of the set on a solo stuff from Norah Sis. The Musketeers tied it at 21 with a sideout, but Annika Welty, Sis and Kendra Wait would earn kills down the stretch to give CU a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
The Bluejays then opened the third set on a 9-2 run and never trailed as it closed out the match with a 25-16 victory. Wait had five kills on five swings, including one on match point, in addition to her 11 assists and four digs in the final frame.
Zimmerman paced Creighton with 14 kills while Wait added 30 assists, nine digs and seven blocks on .700 hitting. Abby Bottomley topped CU with 23 digs and Schmitt topped all blockers with six rejections. Creighton had 43 kills, seven aces, 68 digs and nine blocks on .214 hitting.
Kelly Franxman had seven kills to lead the Xavier offense, and Alyssa Overbeck owned 17 digs. The Musketeers had 29 kills, one ace, 61 digs and five blocks on .081 hitting.
Creighton returns to the court on Friday at 6 p.m. Central when it faces St. John's.
NOTES: Creighton's 20-match win streak over Xavier is its longest ever over any program, breaking a tie of 19 wins in a row vs. Southern Illinois from 2003-2011 ... Creighton is now 11-0 away from home this season with nine sweeps ... Creighton improved to 15-0 all-time when Kiana Schmitt owns six or more kills ... Creighton's eight-match win streak is tied for the program's ninth-longest streak in history .. Naomi Hickman played in her 102nd career win, tied with Melanie Jereb for seventh-most in program history ... Creighton improved to 123-11 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST matches, including eight straight victories ... Creighton has won 178 straight matches against conference teams (including the postseason) when leading 2-0 ... Creighton has won 102 straight matches against BIG EAST teams when winning the third set ... Abby Bottomley has had 10 or more digs in 28 straight matches dating to last season ... Naomi Hickman had two blocks and passed Laurel Sanford for eighth in CU history with 420 career blocks.
Team Stats
CU
XU
Kills
43
29
Errors
16
19
Attempts
126
123
Hitting %
.214
.081
Points
59.0
35.0
Assists
38
29
Aces
7
1
Blocks
9.0
5.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ Volleyball
OH/DS
/ VolleyballS
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ VolleyballOH
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