#15 Volleyball Hosts #14 Marquette For BIG EAST Tourney Title

2022 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship • Presented by JEEP
Match #31: #14 Marquette at #15 Creighton • Saturday, Nov. 26 • 5:00 p.m. • Omaha, Neb.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES (PDF) |

• No. 15 Creighton (26-4) will meet No. 14 Marquette (27-2) on Saturday, Nov. 26th at 5 p.m. in the title match of the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship Presented by JEEP.
   The match will take place at D.J. Sokol Arena on the Creighton campus in Omaha, Neb.
   The winner of Saturday's BIG EAST Championship match earns itself an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will start on Thursday or Friday at 16 campus sites.

• Saturday's championship match will be televised nationally on FS2 and can also be viewed on FoxSports.com/live. Bob Brainerd and Jill Dorsey Hall will call the action.
   The game can also be heard in Omaha on KZOT 1180 The Zone, with Jon Schriner and Shannon Smolinski on the call.
   Audio from the match can also be heard at http://GoCreighton.com/listen1180.
   Live stats will be available at https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=437100.

• Creighton is 1-1 this fall against Marquette, as the home team won both meetings.
   Creighton pulled a reverse sweep to win on Oct. 14 in Omaha, 21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16, 15-8. Four Bluejays had double-doubles in the win, Norah Sis (21 kills, 11 digs), Keeley Davis (11 kills, 26 digs), Ava Martin (18 kills, 12 digs) and Kendra Wait (59 assists, 18 digs). Carly Skrabak had 28 digs, while Aubrey Hamilton and Jenna Reitsma each had 13 kills for MU.
   The rematch occurred last Saturday in Milwaukee, where MU won 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 to snap CU's 31-match win streak against BIG EAST teams. Norah Sis led CU with 16 kills, but the Golden Eagles hit .274 as a team and served up nine aces to exact revenge. Jenna Reitsma had 11 kills and 13 digs, while Yadhira Anchante added 34 assists and 12 digs for MU.
   Sis led Creighton with 4.62 kills per set to lead CU, while Wait averaged 11.50 assists and 3.50 digs per set. The Jays hit .255 as a team.
   Reitsma (3.00 kps., 3.75 dps., 0.50 saps.) led the Golden Eagles offensively and Skrabak averaged 5.00 digs per set. MU hit .232 as a team and served up 12 aces in eight sets.

• Creighton is 24-6 all-time against Marquette, and are 20-3 since the start of the 2014 season against MU.
   The Bluejays are 5-1 against the Golden Eagles in BIG EAST Tournament action, and 4-1 in the final.
   CU defeated MU in the 2015 semifinal (3-2), the 2017 final (3-2), the 2018 final (3-1), the 2020 final (3-1) and the 2021 final (3-0), but lost (3-1) in the 2013 final.
   Teams to win the first set are 24-6 in the history of the series, and Creighton has won all six match-ups to go five sets.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 24-6 against Marquette and 20-3 against Ryan Theis.

• Creighton is 16-2 all-time in nine BIG EAST Championship appearances, including seven titles (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021).
   Each of Creighton's last four BIG EAST Tournament titles have come courtesy of a victory over Marquette in the finals.
   Creighton is 9-1 in the semifinal round after Friday's win vs. Xavier and enters Saturday's contest vs. Marquette 7-1 in the finals.

• With a win on Saturday, Creighton will become the sixth different program to win three straight league tournament titles. The others to do it:
3 Straight BIG EAST Tourney Titles
   1988-94   Pittsburgh
   1995-98   Notre Dame
   2000-02   Notre Dame
   2008-10   Louisville
   2014-18   Creighton

• Creighton and Marquette ought to be quite familiar with each other by this point.
   Saturday will mark the ninth meeting between the schools since February 4, 2021, and that doesn't include two other matches that were cancelled due to COVID protocols. Creighton has won six of those eight recent contests.
   Saturday will also be the 17th meeting since Oct. 17, 2017 between the BIG EAST behemoths. CU is 13-3 in the last 16 encounters.

• Creighton and Marquette have shared the BIG EAST regular-season title in each of the last two years.
   Creighton is 36-3 against conference teams in that time, while Marquette is 35-4. All four of MU's losses have come against the Bluejays, compared to a 34-0 mark against everyone else. CU's has lost once each to St. John's, UConn and Marquette.

• Marquette is 237-71 since the start of the 2013 season, but just 6-21 in that time against Creighton.
   In other words, the Golden Eagles own a .222 winning percentage against Creighton (6-21) compared to a .823 mark (232-50) against everyone else.
   No other team has beaten Marquette more than five times in the past decade (2013-22), with in-state rival Wisconsin (5) next-closest. Among BIG EAST teams, Xavier owns four wins to top those schools not named Creighton.
   If you wanted to break it down to just the past five seasons, Marquette is 3-11 against Creighton (.214) and 118-13 (.901) against everyone else.

• Twelve of the last 15 teams to win the first set of the BIG EAST Championship title match have gone on to win the match, and are 32-8 all-time in the finals when taking a 1-0 lead.
   The recent exceptions came in 2017, 2018 and 2020, when Creighton lost the first set but won the match. All three of those victories came vs. Marquette.
   Only two teams in event history have dropped the first two sets of the title match and won (Pittsburgh in 1993, Louisville in 2006).
   Creighton is 22-1 this year when winning the first set, and 4-3 when it doesn't.

• This is the 10th time in Creighton's last 11 seasons that it has reached the conference tournament title match, a stretch that started in 2012 when the Bluejays were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The only exception came in 2019, when CU was upset in the semifinals by St. John's.

• Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 16-2 all-time at the BIG EAST Championship. The rest of the league's active coaches are a combined 17-34.
   With a win on Saturday, Booth would be 17-2 while the rest of the league coaches would also have 17 wins, but also 35 losses.

• With seven titles, Kirsten Bernthal Booth is one of two volleyball coaches in league history to win six or more BIG EAST Championship titles.
   The only other coach with six or more was Notre Dame's Debbie Brown (9).
   With a win on Saturday, Booth will clinch her 12th NCAA Tournament bid as a Bluejay head coach, most in Creighton Athletics history in any sport.
   With a win on Saturday, Booth will have won the BIG EAST's regular-season and Tournament title in the same fall eight times in a nine year span, but been named BIG EAST Coach of the Year just two (2015 & 2016) of those eight seasons where she's led her team to both crowns.

• Creighton is 2-1 all-time in BIG8 EAST Tournament play as the No. 2 seed, and 2-2 in all conference tournaments as a No. 2 seed.
   The Jays have never won a league tournament as a No. 2 seed.
   Creighton is seeking its first conference tournament victory as a lower- (worse) seeded team since the third-seeded Bluejays knocked off second-seeded Wichita State in four sets in the 2010 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

• The BIG EAST Championship has been won by the top seed nine of the last 10 years, and the No. 1 seed has also gone 20-1 in its last 21 matches in the event. Marquette is this year's top seed.
   The last No. 2 seed to win the BIG EAST Tournament was Cincinnati in 2011.

• Eleven members of Creighton's current team were on Creighton's team last fall that won the 2021 BIG EAST Championship with a victory in the finals vs. Marquette.
   Eight of those same women were on the team that defeated Marquette in the 2020 finals (held in April of 2021).
   Both Jaela Zimmerman and Keeley Davis were also on the 2018 tournament champion squad that defeated Marquette in the final, though Davis redshirted that campaign.

• No matter how you slice it, Creighton and Marquette have dominated BIG EAST Volleyball since 2013.
Stat   CU   MU   Everyone Else
BIG EAST Reg.-Season Titles   9   3   0
BIG EAST Play Win Percentage   .917   .830   .408
BIG EAST Tourney TItles   7   1   1
BIG EAST Player of the Year   3   5   3
BIG EAST Libero of the Year   2   0   8
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year   4   3   4
BIG EAST Coach of the Year   3   2   5
AVCA All-Americans*   6   2   0
AVCA H.M. All-Americans   14   7   14
AVCA Region Freshman of Year   3   1   2
AVCA Region Coach of Year   3   0   2
CoSIDA Academic All-Americans   5   3   0
*First/Second/Third Teams only

• Since the reconfiguration of the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013, Creighton, Marquette and St. John's are the only teams to win any sort of BIG EAST volleyball title.
   Marquette won the regular-season and tournament title in 2013, while Creighton swept both titles in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020. CU won the 2019 regular-season crown, while St. John's upset nationally-ranked Creighton and Marquette to bring home the 2019 tournament title. In 2020, Creighton won the Midwest Division regular-season title, while St. John's claimed the East Division crown. In 2021, Creighton and Marquette shared the regular-season title and CU won the tournament title. Both Creighton and Marquette also shared the 2022 regular-season title.
   Below is a look at the record of each BIG EAST team since league realignment in 2013:
BIG EAST VB Standings Since 2013 (thru 11/25)
             BIG EAST only   All   matches
Team (NCAA Bids)   W   L   W   L
Creighton (9)   154   14   253   64
Marquette (8)   137   28   236   71
Xavier   97   69   150   138
Butler   90   78   157   138
Villanova (1)   84   84   155   134
St. John's (1)   79   89   171   138
Seton Hall (1)   71   96   143   156
DePaul   45   123   109   173
Georgetown   35   125   86   186
Connecticut#   27   17   45   32
Providence*   27   125   94   165
*Providence rejoined the league for volleyball in 2014 and
its 2013 overall record (12-20) is not included above.
#Connecticut rejoined the league in 2020 and
its record from 2013-19 (96-121) is not included above.

• Since the start of the 2012 season, Creighton, Texas and Western Kentucky are the nation's only schools to have won nine conference regular-season titles (entering 2022). All but one of Creighton's nine crowns were outright titles, whereas Texas shared one title and WKU shared five.
   Creighton has also won eight conference tournament titles since 2012 (entering 2022), tied for the most in the nation with Dayton and Western Kentucky.
Most Conference Titles 2012-2021
(Doesn't Include 2022)
Regular-Season   League Tournament
9 (1 shared) Creighton   8 Creighton
9 (1) Texas   8 Dayton
9 (5) Western Kentucky   8 Western Kentucky
8 BYU   7 Fairfield
8 (1) Colorado State   6 LIU
8 Fairfield   6 American

• During its nine-year run of BIG EAST regular-season titles from 2014-22, Creighton has just 10 conference losses. In nearly every case, Creighton would avenge that loss with a league tournament victory over the opponent that beat them previously.
   This year's Creighton team owns one league loss, and has a chance for revenge against Marquette in the Saturday's final.
Date   Loss   Tourney Rematch Result
10/10/14   at Seton Hall
11/23/14   Seton Hall   W 3-1
10/30/15   at Villanova   W 3-0
10/05/17   at Marquette   W 3-2
11/17/17   at Villanova   W 3-0
11/08/19   at Villanova   Didn't Meet
02/06/20   Marquette   W 3-1
10/01/21   at St. John's   Didn't Meet
10/16/21   at Connecticut   Didn't Meet
11/19/22   at #16 Marquette   Saturday

• Creighton Volleyball is seeking the school's 10th different BIG EAST Tournament title won by the school since joining the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013.
   All but two of those titles have been won by the volleyball program.
   With a title this weekend, Creighton can join Notre Dame (1996), Louisville (2010) and Marquette (2013) as the only programs to win the BIG EAST Tournament in men's soccer and women's volleyball in the same year.
Creighton's BIG EAST Tournament Titles (9)
Baseball (1): 2019
Men's Soccer (1): 2022
Volleyball (7): 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021

• Jaela Zimmerman has played in three BIG EAST Tournament title match victories.
   If she plays in a win on Saturday, she'll be the fifth Bluejay to play in four conference tournament championship wins, joining Marysa Wilkinson (2014-17), Jaali Winters (2015-18), Taryn Kloth (2015-18) and Naomi Hickman (2017-18, 2020-21).
   Creighton has won each of the past 20 matches that Zimmerman has appeared in.

• Creighton has two players from the Badger State who will be looking to claim bragging rights with another win over Marquette this season.
   Kiana Schmitt hails from Waunakee, and Kiara Reinhardt is from the northern Milwaukee suburb of Cedarburg.
   One of Reinhardt's teammates at Cedarburg High School was current Villanova middle blocker Maddie Barber, who is the sister of former Marquette All-American and 2019 BIG EAST Player of the Year Allie Barber.

• Both Creighton and Marquette have been on a roll since mid-October.
   Creighton has won 30-of-33 sets since October 17th, losing all three sets to Marquette.
   The Golden Eagles have won 36-of-39 sets since October 15th, losing two sets at DePaul and one on Senior Night to Xavier. MU is 12-0 in both the second and third sets since Oct. 15th.

• Creighton is 171-39 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 17-23 all-time against ranked teams when ranked itself. That mark improves to 2-1 when both Creighton and its opponent are ranked in the top 10 and 6-6 when both teams are in the top-15.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, 38 of Creighton's 68 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 262-30 against unranked teams. Creighton has won all but two of its past 93 home matches over unranked teams and all but nine of its last 120 matches at all sites against unranked teams.
   After a total of three total top-25 wins from 1994-2014, Creighton has earned at least one top-25 win each of the last eight seasons (2015-22). That includes a record-tying four top-25 victories in 2019.
   Creighton is 22-84 all-time against ranked teams and 12 of those top 25 wins all-time have come against either Marquette (7) or Kentucky (5).
   The highest ranked teams that Creighton has ever beaten at any site were No. 3 Washington (8/26/17 in Seattle) and No. 3 Kentucky (9/4/21 in Lexington). CU's highest-ranked opponent it has defeated at home was a 3-1 win over then-No. 9 Marquette on Nov. 22, 2019.
Ranked vs. Ranked (CU is 17-23)
Home: 7-9   Away: 5-8    Neutral: 5-6
Date   Winner   Loser   CU Score
11/19/12   #11 Minnesota   #21 Creighton   1-3
08/30/13   #25 Creighton   #13 BYU   3-1
09/14/13   #11 UCLA   #24 Creighton   1-3
09/16/13   #7 Hawaii   #23 Creighton   2-3
08/30/14   #22 Kansas   #23 Creighton   1-3
09/03/16   #23 Kentucky   #22 Creighton   0-3
12/02/16   #21 Creighton   #4 Kansas   3-2
12/09/16   #21 Creighton   #17 Michigan   3-2
12/10/16   #5 Texas   #21 Creighton   0-3
08/26/17   #9 Creighton   #3 Washington   3-1
09/01/17   #7 Creighton   #13 Kentucky   3-0
09/02/17   #18 USC   #7 Creighton   0-3
09/08/17   #17 Purdue   #9 Creighton   1-3
09/09/17   #9 Creighton   #7 Kansas   3-0
09/16/17   #19 Iowa State   #8 Creighton   2-3
12/12/17   #12 Michigan St.   #15 Creighton   1-3
08/24/18   #13 Creighton   #5 Kentucky   3-2
08/25/18   #10 USC   #13 Creighton   2-3
09/06/18   #7 Nebraska   #14 Creighton   2-3
09/15/18   #8 Illinois   #10 Creighton   1-3
09/23/18   #10 Creighton   #21 Marquette   3-0
10/26/18   #10 Creighton   #18 Marquette   3-1
11/24/18   #9 Creighton   #16 Marquette   3-1
12/01/18   #22 Washington   #9 Creighton   0-3
08/30/19   #2 Nebraska   #18 Creighton   1-3
08/31/19   #20 Baylor   #18 Creighton   0-3
09/06/19   #23 Creighton   #12 Kentucky   3-1
09/07/19   #23 Creighton   #15 USC   3-1
09/14/19   #12 Washington   #17 Creighton   1-3
10/12/19   #13 Creighton   #10 Marquette   3-2
11/22/19   #12 Creighton   #9 Marquette   3-1
12/07/19   #7 Minnesota   #15 Creighton   2-3
02/05/21   #19 Creighton   #25 Marquette   3-2
02/06/21   #25 Marquette   #19 Creighton   0-3
09/08/21   #3 Nebraska   #19 Creighton   0-3
09/02/22   #17 Creighton   #25 USC   3-1
09/03/22   #16 Kentucky   #17 Creighton   1-3
09/07/22   #2 Nebraska   #17 Creighton   2-3
10/14/22   #21 Creighton   #16 Marquette   3-2
11/19/22   #16 Marquette   #11 Creighton   0-3

• Creighton has won 12 straight sets in BIG EAST Tournament play since losing the first set in the 2020 final (played in the spring of 2021) to Marquette.
   CU won the final three sets of that match, swept both DePaul and Marquette last November, and then swept Xavier last night.

• Creighton hit a season-best .388 on Friday vs. Xavier. The previous high came in the only previous meeting against the Musketeers, when CU hit .381 on Sept. 28 in a different 3-0 sweep in Omaha.

• Norah Sis and Kendra Wait were two of the nation's best freshmen last year, and showed no sign of a sophomore slump this fall.
   Sis finished last season with 435 kills. With 17 kills yesterday, she now owns 436 kills. That ranks 10th-most in CU single-season history. With 13 or more kills today, she can climb up to seventh in school history for one year.
   Wait had 1,213 assists last season, which ranked 10th most in CU single-season history. This year she owns 1,212 assists, and can move into ninth place with 26 or more on Saturday.

• Creighton has won 11 straight matches inside D.J. Sokol Arena since falling to No. 16 Kentucky on Sept. 3rd.
   The Bluejays have won 32 straight November home matches since losing to Seton Hall on Nov. 23, 2014. Four of those wins have been vs. Marquette.

• Pairings for the 2022 NCAA Tournament will be announced on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPNU.
   Creighton will host a viewing party at DJ's Dugout on 114th & Dodge that is open to the public and media.

#15 Volleyball Hosts #14 Marquette For BIG EAST Tourney Title

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Players Mentioned

Keeley Davis

Ava Martin

Kiara Reinhardt

Kiana Schmitt

Norah Sis

Kendra Wait

Jaela Zimmerman