Photo by: Mark Cornelison
Volleyball Sweeps No. 3 Kentucky as Booth Earns 500th Career Win
9/4/2021 11:15:00 AM | Volleyball
Creighton hands defending champs their first loss of the season.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Creighton Volleyball handed defending national champion its first loss of the season as the Bluejays swept No. 3 Kentucky on Saturday morning at the Bluegrass Battle in Lexington, Ky. The win was Kirsten Bernthal Booth's 500th as a collegiate head coach.
Scores of Creighton's fourth straight victory over Kentucky were 25-19, 25-22, 27-25. The victory also matches Creighton's best start in history (5-0), which was also done in 2006.
The win also matches the highest-ranked team that Creighton has ever beaten, having also won at No. 3 Washington in 2017.
"We really challenged them to play loose and just go for it," said Booth. " I think every match we've played up til now, we've felt the pressure and played like that at some point. We talked that in time, Kentucky would push, and to just stay aggressive because we know they aren't going to lose the match. We have to go and try to win the match."
Creighton dominated the first frame to hand Kentucky its first set loss of the season, hitting .372 while pounding 19 kills in a 25-19 victory in the opener. Keeley Davis authored a 6-0 serving run to put the Jays in front 14-7, and Naomi Hickman was part of three blocks down the stretch as the Jays held off UK. Norah Sis led CU with seven kills, Kendra Wait dished 14 assists and Abby Bottomley added seven digs for the Bluejays.
The second set featured 14 ties before Creighton pulled away late. With the score deadlocked at 21 all, Jaela Zimmerman gave CU the lead with her ninth kill of the day. The Jays went up two on a Reagan Rutherford hitting error that withstood a UK challenge, and Sis pounded her 11th kill to get the Jays to set point. Zimmerman's back row kill gave CU the 25-22 win and 2-0 lead in the match. Creighton had 17 kills and hit .333 in the second frame, and Zimmerman had seven kills in the game.
Creighton blitzed to a 10-3 lead early in the third set, but a 5-0 run late in the frame helped Kentucky retake a 21-19 lead. The Wildcats led 23-20 before the Jays countered with a run of their own starting with a big swing from Annika Welty. Bottomley's ace knotted the score at 23 and forced UK's final timeout. Creighton survived a Kentucky set point on a kill from Zimmerman, then earned its first match point on Zimmerman's match-high 18th kill of the day. Kentucky delayed CU's celebration momentarily with a block to tie it at 25, but kills from Kiana Schmitt and Sis ended the match, as the Jays knocked off a defending national champion for the first time in program history.
"At 20-23 when Annika hit that ball off (Madi) Skinner, that described the attitude and mindset we needed in the match," said Booth. "She didn't get tentative and passive. We have to go for it. and it was huge. Kentucky's a phenomenal team and I thought they did a good job following gameplan. This is another big win for our resume, for sure."
Sis (16 kills, 17 digs) and Zimmerman (18 kills, 11 digs) each posted double-doubles for Creighton in the win, but it took a team effort. Schmitt hit .389 and had eight kills and three blocks, while Bottomley contributed 16 digs, a pair of aces and her first kill as a Bluejay. Wait directed a Bluejay offense that hit .297 with 39 assists, five digs and four kills while hitting .500 herself. As a team, Creighton had 54 kills, three aces, 61 digs and five blocks.
Kentucky was led by 14 kills from Madi Skinner, who also shared Wildcat-best honors with four blocks. All-American Alli Stumler was kept in check by the Bluejay defense and limited to six kills on .059 hitting in 34 swings. Kentucky managed 38 kills, one ace, 61 digs and seven blocks on .197 for the morning.
Creighton returns to the court tonight at 4 p.m. CST when it closes Bluegrass Battle action with a match vs. Northern Iowa.
NOTES: Of Kirsten Bernthal Booth's 500 career wins, she's earned 388 of them at Creighton ... Since the start of 2015, Kentucky is 152-36, but just 1-5 against Creighton. No other program has beaten the Wildcats more than three times ... Creighton improved to 2-5 in the middle match of the UK/UNI/CU/USC Tournament ... Creighton can win the Bluegrass Battle with a win vs. Northern Iowa this evening, which would be its third title in the last four times the event has been held ... First Team All-American Alli Stumler's six kills were her least in a match since she had five on Nov. 8, 2019 at Georgia, which was 39 matches ago ... Creighton had been 0-5 all-time against defending national champions and 1-10 all-time against teams coming off a Final Four appearance, having beaten Kansas in the 2016 NCAA Tournament one year after the Jayhawks reached the semifinals ... Today's match was Creighton's 100th all-time against a top-25 foe, and 20th victory ... The Bluejays have now posted at least one top-25 win each of the seven seasons ... Creighton improved to 8-32 all-time against top-10 teams, but are 3-0 against top-10 Kentucky teams ...    Creighton's 3-0 win snapped a streak of 59 matches in a row for UK without being swept    It also snapped Kentucky's nation-leading win streak of 12 matches    It was Kentucky's first loss at home in 18 straight matches    It was the first home sweep for UK since Nov. 1, 2017 vs. Florida (49 matches).
Scores of Creighton's fourth straight victory over Kentucky were 25-19, 25-22, 27-25. The victory also matches Creighton's best start in history (5-0), which was also done in 2006.
The win also matches the highest-ranked team that Creighton has ever beaten, having also won at No. 3 Washington in 2017.
"We really challenged them to play loose and just go for it," said Booth. " I think every match we've played up til now, we've felt the pressure and played like that at some point. We talked that in time, Kentucky would push, and to just stay aggressive because we know they aren't going to lose the match. We have to go and try to win the match."
Creighton dominated the first frame to hand Kentucky its first set loss of the season, hitting .372 while pounding 19 kills in a 25-19 victory in the opener. Keeley Davis authored a 6-0 serving run to put the Jays in front 14-7, and Naomi Hickman was part of three blocks down the stretch as the Jays held off UK. Norah Sis led CU with seven kills, Kendra Wait dished 14 assists and Abby Bottomley added seven digs for the Bluejays.
The second set featured 14 ties before Creighton pulled away late. With the score deadlocked at 21 all, Jaela Zimmerman gave CU the lead with her ninth kill of the day. The Jays went up two on a Reagan Rutherford hitting error that withstood a UK challenge, and Sis pounded her 11th kill to get the Jays to set point. Zimmerman's back row kill gave CU the 25-22 win and 2-0 lead in the match. Creighton had 17 kills and hit .333 in the second frame, and Zimmerman had seven kills in the game.
Creighton blitzed to a 10-3 lead early in the third set, but a 5-0 run late in the frame helped Kentucky retake a 21-19 lead. The Wildcats led 23-20 before the Jays countered with a run of their own starting with a big swing from Annika Welty. Bottomley's ace knotted the score at 23 and forced UK's final timeout. Creighton survived a Kentucky set point on a kill from Zimmerman, then earned its first match point on Zimmerman's match-high 18th kill of the day. Kentucky delayed CU's celebration momentarily with a block to tie it at 25, but kills from Kiana Schmitt and Sis ended the match, as the Jays knocked off a defending national champion for the first time in program history.
"At 20-23 when Annika hit that ball off (Madi) Skinner, that described the attitude and mindset we needed in the match," said Booth. "She didn't get tentative and passive. We have to go for it. and it was huge. Kentucky's a phenomenal team and I thought they did a good job following gameplan. This is another big win for our resume, for sure."
Sis (16 kills, 17 digs) and Zimmerman (18 kills, 11 digs) each posted double-doubles for Creighton in the win, but it took a team effort. Schmitt hit .389 and had eight kills and three blocks, while Bottomley contributed 16 digs, a pair of aces and her first kill as a Bluejay. Wait directed a Bluejay offense that hit .297 with 39 assists, five digs and four kills while hitting .500 herself. As a team, Creighton had 54 kills, three aces, 61 digs and five blocks.
Kentucky was led by 14 kills from Madi Skinner, who also shared Wildcat-best honors with four blocks. All-American Alli Stumler was kept in check by the Bluejay defense and limited to six kills on .059 hitting in 34 swings. Kentucky managed 38 kills, one ace, 61 digs and seven blocks on .197 for the morning.
Creighton returns to the court tonight at 4 p.m. CST when it closes Bluegrass Battle action with a match vs. Northern Iowa.
NOTES: Of Kirsten Bernthal Booth's 500 career wins, she's earned 388 of them at Creighton ... Since the start of 2015, Kentucky is 152-36, but just 1-5 against Creighton. No other program has beaten the Wildcats more than three times ... Creighton improved to 2-5 in the middle match of the UK/UNI/CU/USC Tournament ... Creighton can win the Bluegrass Battle with a win vs. Northern Iowa this evening, which would be its third title in the last four times the event has been held ... First Team All-American Alli Stumler's six kills were her least in a match since she had five on Nov. 8, 2019 at Georgia, which was 39 matches ago ... Creighton had been 0-5 all-time against defending national champions and 1-10 all-time against teams coming off a Final Four appearance, having beaten Kansas in the 2016 NCAA Tournament one year after the Jayhawks reached the semifinals ... Today's match was Creighton's 100th all-time against a top-25 foe, and 20th victory ... The Bluejays have now posted at least one top-25 win each of the seven seasons ... Creighton improved to 8-32 all-time against top-10 teams, but are 3-0 against top-10 Kentucky teams ...    Creighton's 3-0 win snapped a streak of 59 matches in a row for UK without being swept    It also snapped Kentucky's nation-leading win streak of 12 matches    It was Kentucky's first loss at home in 18 straight matches    It was the first home sweep for UK since Nov. 1, 2017 vs. Florida (49 matches).
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