Sunday, September 18
Houston, Texas
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Creighton University
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Rice
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#17 Creighton
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Rice
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Volleyball Closes Non-Conference Play With Five Set Loss at Rice
9/18/2022 4:11:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejays now 8-3 heading into BIG EAST play
HOUSTON, Texas -- The No. 17 Creighton Volleyball team closed non-conference play with a five-set loss on Sunday against Rice in the championship match of the Rice Adidas Invitational II in Houston, Texas. The Owls entered the day with a 9-1 record and were the top team "also receiving votes" in last week's AVCA Top 25 poll.
Scores of the match in favor of Rice (10-1) were 25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14.
"It was a good non-conference and if we win today, it's a great non-conference," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "The Rice loss isn't going to hurt us, but it could have helped us a lot. I think we played a solid non-con for sure, fought our tails off, and now season one is done. We're ready to get better in the gym and go after our two goals in the BIG EAST. To win the BIG EAST regular-season and win the conference tournament so all of our eyes shift to that at this point."
Rice never trailed in the first set. CU fell behind by five early and appeared to have tied the set at 23-all, only to have a challenge overturn a Bluejay point and instead give the hosts a pair of set point opportunities. Kiara Reinhardt and Norah Sis both had four kills in the opening frame, while the Bluejay defense was paced by seven digs from Allison Whitten and six more by Sis. Kendra Wait had 15 assists, four digs and a pair of kills for CU, which hit .191 in the opener. Rice was led by six kills from Anota Adekunle. The Owls hit .311 in the first game thanks to 17 kills on 45 swings.
Creighton (8-3) fell behind 16-11 and still trailed 21-17 late in the second set before closing with an 8-1 run to even the match at intermission. Jazz Schmidt had seven kills in the second set, including one on game point, to fuel the Bluejay rally. Wait dished 13 assists and Whitten dug seven balls as Creighton owned a 22-16 dig advantage in set two. Ellie Bichelmeyer, the daughter of former Creighton Baseball player John Bichelmeyer, led the Owls with four kills in the second set.
The Bluejays surrendered an 8-0 run and were down 10-5 early in the third set, only to use a 16-5 flurry to take command of the match. The Owls would use a 5-0 run to get within one, but never tied CU down the stretch. The Bluejays won the set when an attack from Keeley Davis was ruled out, only to be overturned after a challenge. Creighton had 19 kills and hit .294 in the third set as both teams mustered 25 digs. Davis had six kills in the third set to lead CU, offsetting nine kills from Adekunle in the game.
Rice used a 6-0 run in the fourth set to build a 16-11 advantage. CU trimmed the Owls lead to 19-18 after an ace by Wait and stuffed the Rice attack to knot the score at 19. CU appeared to go ahead 20-19, only to have a five minute challenge review be overturned to give Rice a lead back at 20-19. The Owls held on to the lead the rest of the set in the 25-21 victory to force a fifth set. Rice hit .375 in the fourth set with 18 kills in 40 swings while holding the Bluejay attack to .171 hitting on 12 kills in 41 swings.
The Bluejays scored the first two points to help catapult themselves to a 5-2 lead in the fifth set. CU led 8-5 at the midpoint of the fifth set on a play that saw Whitten reach 2,000 career digs. Rice used a 5-0 run to take its first lead at 12-10 before Wait's eighth kill provided a badly-needed Bluejay sideout. The Jays retook the lead at 13-12 after kills by Davis and Reinhardt, but gave up the lead on a service error. Rice earned a match point after a Bluejay attack error made it 14-13, but a kill from Davis kept CU's hopes alive. Rice's 12th block of the afternoon gave the hosts a second match point chance at 15-14, and this time the Owls converted on a kill from Danyle Courtley to snap CU's eight match win streak in true road matches. Courtley had four of her 10 kills in the final set after hitting -.031 in the first four sets.
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"Both teams battled hard. There were strings of great volleyball from both teams, but I'm disappointed that we came up short," said Booth. "I thought we did go for it at the end, which has been a huge thing that we've been talking about, but we gave up too many runs all weekend. Almost in every game we gave up significant runs, including the fifth game, so we're going to need to get back to Sokol and see what's happening in those moments."
Five Bluejays finished the afternoon with double-digit kills, led by a season-high 17 from Schmidt and a career-high 15 by Reinhardt. Three Bluejays had double-doubles as Wait (56 assists, 24 digs), Davis (13 kills, 22 digs) and Sis (11 kills, 19 digs) each did so for the fourth time in the last five matches. Whitten ended her milestone day with 24 digs and now owns 2,002 in her career. Creighton hit .196 and had 76 kills, five aces, 108 digs and four blocks.
Adekunle provided a season-best 23 kills to pace Rice, and Carly Graham distributed 57 assists to go with her 14 digs. Three-time Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week Nia McCardell added 32 digs for the Owls, which finished with team totals of 71 kills, two aces, 107 digs and 12 blocks on .252 hitting.
Creighton will begin defense of its eight straight BIG EAST regular-season titles on Friday when it hosts Georgetown at D.J. Sokol Arena, with first serve scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
NOTES: Kendra Wait had her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season ... Jazz Schmidt made her first start as a Bluejay, and delivered a season-high with kills ... Four of Creighton's last five matches have gone five sets ... Creighton is now 2-2 in five set matches this season, and 64-35 all-time under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... Creighton's streak of starting a freshman was snapped after 70 straight contests ... Keeley Davis served three aces and passed JoDe Cieloha for fourth in program history with 115 in her career.
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Scores of the match in favor of Rice (10-1) were 25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-14.
"It was a good non-conference and if we win today, it's a great non-conference," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "The Rice loss isn't going to hurt us, but it could have helped us a lot. I think we played a solid non-con for sure, fought our tails off, and now season one is done. We're ready to get better in the gym and go after our two goals in the BIG EAST. To win the BIG EAST regular-season and win the conference tournament so all of our eyes shift to that at this point."
Rice never trailed in the first set. CU fell behind by five early and appeared to have tied the set at 23-all, only to have a challenge overturn a Bluejay point and instead give the hosts a pair of set point opportunities. Kiara Reinhardt and Norah Sis both had four kills in the opening frame, while the Bluejay defense was paced by seven digs from Allison Whitten and six more by Sis. Kendra Wait had 15 assists, four digs and a pair of kills for CU, which hit .191 in the opener. Rice was led by six kills from Anota Adekunle. The Owls hit .311 in the first game thanks to 17 kills on 45 swings.
Creighton (8-3) fell behind 16-11 and still trailed 21-17 late in the second set before closing with an 8-1 run to even the match at intermission. Jazz Schmidt had seven kills in the second set, including one on game point, to fuel the Bluejay rally. Wait dished 13 assists and Whitten dug seven balls as Creighton owned a 22-16 dig advantage in set two. Ellie Bichelmeyer, the daughter of former Creighton Baseball player John Bichelmeyer, led the Owls with four kills in the second set.
The Bluejays surrendered an 8-0 run and were down 10-5 early in the third set, only to use a 16-5 flurry to take command of the match. The Owls would use a 5-0 run to get within one, but never tied CU down the stretch. The Bluejays won the set when an attack from Keeley Davis was ruled out, only to be overturned after a challenge. Creighton had 19 kills and hit .294 in the third set as both teams mustered 25 digs. Davis had six kills in the third set to lead CU, offsetting nine kills from Adekunle in the game.
Rice used a 6-0 run in the fourth set to build a 16-11 advantage. CU trimmed the Owls lead to 19-18 after an ace by Wait and stuffed the Rice attack to knot the score at 19. CU appeared to go ahead 20-19, only to have a five minute challenge review be overturned to give Rice a lead back at 20-19. The Owls held on to the lead the rest of the set in the 25-21 victory to force a fifth set. Rice hit .375 in the fourth set with 18 kills in 40 swings while holding the Bluejay attack to .171 hitting on 12 kills in 41 swings.
The Bluejays scored the first two points to help catapult themselves to a 5-2 lead in the fifth set. CU led 8-5 at the midpoint of the fifth set on a play that saw Whitten reach 2,000 career digs. Rice used a 5-0 run to take its first lead at 12-10 before Wait's eighth kill provided a badly-needed Bluejay sideout. The Jays retook the lead at 13-12 after kills by Davis and Reinhardt, but gave up the lead on a service error. Rice earned a match point after a Bluejay attack error made it 14-13, but a kill from Davis kept CU's hopes alive. Rice's 12th block of the afternoon gave the hosts a second match point chance at 15-14, and this time the Owls converted on a kill from Danyle Courtley to snap CU's eight match win streak in true road matches. Courtley had four of her 10 kills in the final set after hitting -.031 in the first four sets.
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"Both teams battled hard. There were strings of great volleyball from both teams, but I'm disappointed that we came up short," said Booth. "I thought we did go for it at the end, which has been a huge thing that we've been talking about, but we gave up too many runs all weekend. Almost in every game we gave up significant runs, including the fifth game, so we're going to need to get back to Sokol and see what's happening in those moments."
Five Bluejays finished the afternoon with double-digit kills, led by a season-high 17 from Schmidt and a career-high 15 by Reinhardt. Three Bluejays had double-doubles as Wait (56 assists, 24 digs), Davis (13 kills, 22 digs) and Sis (11 kills, 19 digs) each did so for the fourth time in the last five matches. Whitten ended her milestone day with 24 digs and now owns 2,002 in her career. Creighton hit .196 and had 76 kills, five aces, 108 digs and four blocks.
Adekunle provided a season-best 23 kills to pace Rice, and Carly Graham distributed 57 assists to go with her 14 digs. Three-time Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week Nia McCardell added 32 digs for the Owls, which finished with team totals of 71 kills, two aces, 107 digs and 12 blocks on .252 hitting.
Creighton will begin defense of its eight straight BIG EAST regular-season titles on Friday when it hosts Georgetown at D.J. Sokol Arena, with first serve scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
NOTES: Kendra Wait had her fifth straight double-double and eighth of the season ... Jazz Schmidt made her first start as a Bluejay, and delivered a season-high with kills ... Four of Creighton's last five matches have gone five sets ... Creighton is now 2-2 in five set matches this season, and 64-35 all-time under Kirsten Bernthal Booth ... Creighton's streak of starting a freshman was snapped after 70 straight contests ... Keeley Davis served three aces and passed JoDe Cieloha for fourth in program history with 115 in her career.
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Team Stats
CU
Rice
Kills
76
71
Errors
32
16
Attempts
225
218
Hitting %
.196
.252
Points
85.0
85.0
Assists
74
67
Aces
5
2
Blocks
4.0
12.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
13
Aces
3
Blocks
1
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
OH
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ VolleyballRS/S
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
DS
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