Wednesday, September 7
Omaha, Neb.
5:00 PM
Creighton University
vs
Nebraska
Record Crowd Expected as #17 Volleyball Hosts #2 Nebraska on Wednesday
9/5/2022 4:15:00 PM | Volleyball
More than 14,000 tickets already sold for top-20 match-up
Match #7: #2 Nebraska at #17 Creighton • Wednesday, Sept. 7 • 5:00 p.m.
Match played at CHI Health Center Omaha and presented by FNBO
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES (PDF) | NU NOTES (PDF) | STUDENT SHUTTLE/TICKET INFO |
This Week
No. 17 Creighton (5-1) plays three matches in Omaha this week, but none will be at D.J. Sokol Arena. Instead, the Bluejays will play on Wednesday at CHI Health Center Omaha before making their first trek to Baxter Arena on Friday and Saturday.
   The action starts on Wednesday, Sept. 7 when CU hosts No. 2 Nebraska (5-0) at 5:00 p.m. in a match presented by FNBO.
   The match will be hosted at CHI Health Center Omaha (17,352) in Omaha, Neb. With more than 14,000 tickets already out, it's very likely the single-match record for the largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd NCAA history will fall.
Broadcast Information
Wednesday's match vs. Nebraska will be televised nationally on FS1, with Bob Brainerd and Jill Dorsey Hall calling the action. It will also be webcast at http://FoxSports.com/live.
   The match will also be on radio in Omaha on News Talk 1290 AM (KOIL), which can be heard at http://GoCreighton.com/listen1290. Jon Schriner and Shannon Smolinski will announce.
Live Stats Information
All Creighton home matches have free live stats at http://Creighton.StatBroadcast.com. A link is also on the GoCreighton.com volleyball schedule page.
Scouting #17 Creighton
Ranked 17th nationally, Creighton is 5-1 this season with the lone loss coming to then-No. 16 Kentucky. Creighton defeated Iowa State, Wichita State and Wyoming in Laramie to win the season-opening Rumble in the Rockies before picking up wins in Omaha last weekend over then-No. 25 USC and Northern Iowa..
   Keeley Davis (2.59 kps., 2.41 dps., 0.50 saps.) and Kendra Wait (10.27 aps., 2.68 dps., 1.18 kps., .500%) have both been named to the All-Tournament Team after each event thus far.
   Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis (4.09 kps., 2.18 dps.) was named MVP of the Rumble in the Rockies and has led CU in kills in all but one match to date.
   Creighton returns four starters from last season's 31-4 squad that reached a 10th straight NCAA Tournament and saw the Bluejays win an eighth straight BIG EAST regular-season title. Having added four freshmen and three graduate transfers in the off-season, CU is favored by league coaches to win an ninth straight title in 2022.
   Creighton averages 13.41 kills, 1.73 aces, 14.59 digs and 1.91 blocks per set while hitting .242 as a team.
Scouting #2 Nebraska
Nebraska is 5-0 this season and has not dropped a set in wins over Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Tulsa, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Ole Miss.
   The Cornhuskers, who reached the final of the 2021 NCAA Tournament before losing to Big Ten rival Wisconsin, started the year as the nation's top-ranked team and are ranked second in the country in this week's poll.
   Madi Kubik (3.80 kps.), and Whitney Lauenstein (3.27 kps., 1.27 bps.) headline an attack that features six women averaging 1.67 kills per set or more.
   Kennedi Orr (6.44 aps.), Anni Evans (7.00 aps.) and Nicklin Hames (2.73 aps.) have all set the NU offense this fall as the Cornhuskers have run both a 5-1 and 6-2 offense at various times.
   Lexi Rodriguez (4.13 dps.) was named National Freshman of the Year by the AVCA last season and anchors one of the nation's best back rows.
   Nebraska averages 13.80 kills, 15.13 digs, 2.90 blocks and 1.20 aces per set on .293 hitting.
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Creighton Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 419-180 record entering her 20th season with the Bluejays. She's led Creighton to eight straight BIG EAST titles (2014-21), and nine league crowns in the last 10 years. Booth led the Bluejays to their first two Sweet 16's (2015, 2016) and first Elite Eight (2016) in program history. In 2016 she was recognized as VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Coach of the Year and AVCA East Region Coach of the Year. Booth was tabbed BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the third time in 2019.
   The winningest coach in school history, Booth has taken Creighton to its only 11 NCAA Tournament bids in the program's modern history. She's also coached CU into the top-25 each of the last 11 seasons (including 2022), another program first.
   Booth came to Creighton after going 112-41 in three years at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A native of Lincoln, Neb., Booth played volleyball at Truman State, where she was named conference MVP, an Academic All-American and Missouri's 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year. She ranked third in Division II history with 6,077 assists when she graduated.
   Booth is assisted by Angie Oxley Behrens, Brian Rosen and Elise Fulcher.
Series History vs. Nebraska
Since restarting its volleyball program in 1994, Creighton is 0-18 all-time against Nebraska in the fall. Eleven of those 18 meetings have come in Lincoln.
   Nebraska has been ranked in the top-11 of every meeting, and ranked No. 1 nationally at match time on six occasions.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-14 all-time against the Huskers, and 0-14 against John Cook. Cook is 17-0 against Creighton.
   Creighton has won the first set in meetings in 2006, 2014 and 2016, while in 2018 CU took a 2-0 lead over the Cornhuskers.
   Creighton did defeat Nebraska on April 12, 2013 (25-17, 22-25, 27-25, 20-25, 15-13) in a spring contest that was the final scheduled match at the NU Coliseum. Leah McNary had 15 kills to pace CU, while Katie Neisler had 13 kills in 48 swings to lead CU.
Getting Better & Better
Wednesday will be Creighton's 600th match under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, and it continues to thrive under her direction.
   Below is a look at Creighton's record under Booth in 50-match segments.
Match #   W-L   Opponent   Date   Result
50   25-25   Missouri State   10/22/04   L 0-3
100   56-44   Southern Illinois   09/16/06   W 3-1
150   88-62   vs. So. Illinois   11/23/07   W 3-1
200   115-85   at Missouri State   10/30/09   L 0-3
250   143-107   at #11 Nebraska   09/08/11   L 0-3
300   182-118   Illinois State   11/10/12   W 3-1
350   215-135   South Dakota   09/20/14   L 2-3
400   255-145   at DePaul   11/07/15   W 3-1
450   296-154   Northern Iowa   09/02/17   W 3-0
500   336-164   at #18 Marquette   10/26/18   W 3-1
550   377-173   DePaul   03/06/21   W 3-0
600  419-180 so far #2 Nebraska   Wednesday   TBD
Historically Speaking
Here's a look at the top volleyball-only regular-season crowds in NCAA history. Of note, each of the 12 figures of 11,000 or more have been in the state of Nebraska.
   Last season's crowd of 11,279 far outdistanced the nation's second-largest regular-season crowd (8,362 for Utah at Nebraska).
Largest Regular-Season Volleyball-Only Crowds in NCAA History
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU Result   Site
   14,022   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-2   9/6/18   Omaha, NE
   13,870   UCLA def. Nebraska, 3-2   9/13/09   Lincoln, NE
   13,412   Nebraska def. LSU, 3-0   9/12/08   Lincoln, NE
   13,396   Nebraska def. Hawai'i, 3-0   10/21/07   Lincoln, NE
   13,081   Cal Poly def. Creighton, 3-0   9/2/07   Omaha, NE
      Nebraska def. Penn State, 3-0  Â
   12,504   Nebraska def. Colorado, 3-0   11/4/00   Lincoln, NE
   12,112   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-1   9/24/06   Omaha, NE
   11,892   Dayton def. W. Michigan, 3-0   9/11/10   Lincoln, NE
      Nebraska def. Illinois, 3-2  Â
   11,529   Nebraska def. Colorado, 3-0   10/22/95   Lincoln, NE
   11,279   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-0   09/08/21   Omaha, NE
   11,076   Nebraska def. UCLA, 3-1   8/25/07   Omaha, NE
      Tennessee def. Utah, 3-2  Â
   11,032   UCLA def. Nebraska, 3-1   9/14/91   Lincoln, NE
   10,927   Minnesota def. Illinois, 3-1   10/16/04   Minneapolis, MN
   10,645   Purdue def. W. Michigan, 3-1   10/29/85   W. Lafayette, IN
   10,576   Penn St. def. Hawai'i, 3-0   8/27/05   Omaha, NE
      Nebraska def. Stanford, 3-0
   10,570   Purdue def. Wisconsin, 3-2   10/17/08   W. Lafayette, IN
Largest Crowds To See The Jays
More than 14,000 fans are expected for Wednesday's tilt at CHI Health Center Omaha. It would mark the seventh time in Creighton's history that more than 5,000 fans attended a home volleyball match.
   In six previous volleyball matches at CHI Health Center Omaha, Creighton has played before an average of 11,444 fans. That includes 14,022 fans in 2018 for a match vs. Nebraska, a figure that remains the largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history.
   The largest crowd in the nation this season was 8,157 on Aug. 26 when Nebraska hosted Tulsa in Lincoln.
   Below is a list of the largest crowds (and home crowds) in Creighton Volleyball history:
Creighton's Largest Home Crowds All-Time
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU W-L   Facility
   14,022   #6 Nebraska   09/06/18   L 2-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   13,081   #18 Cal Poly   09/02/07   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   12,112   #1 Nebraska   09/24/06   L 1-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   11,279   #3 Nebraska   09/08/21   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   10,131   #4 Nebraska   09/15/15   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   8,037   #2 Nebraska   10/05/08   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   2,578   #13 Kentucky   09/01/17   W 3-0   Sokol Arena
   2,552   South Dakota   11/30/18   W 3-0   Sokol Arena
   2,517   Coastal Carolina   12/01/17   W 3-1   Sokol Arena
   2,514   #7 Nebraska   08/31/10   L 0-3   Sokol Arena
   2,509   #22 Washington   12/01/18   L 0-3   Sokol Arena
Largest Crowds (All Sites)
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU Result   Facility
   14,022   #6 Nebraska   09/06/18   L 2-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   13,081   #18 Cal Poly   09/02/07   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   12,112   #1 Nebraska   09/24/06   L 1-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   11,279   #3 Nebraska   09/08/21   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   10,131   #4 Nebraska   09/15/15   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   8,627   at #5 Nebraska   09/29/02   L 0-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,450   at #2 Nebraska   08/30/19   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,277   vs. Montana St.   09/16/16   W 3-0   Devaney Ctr.
   8,249   at #1 Nebraska   09/17/16   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,237   vs. #20 Baylor (@NU)   08/31/19   L 0-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,060   at #9 Nebraska   09/17/14   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
Previously At CHI Health Center Omaha
Wednesday will mark Creighton's seventh volleyball match ever at CHI Health Center Omaha, with all seven contests coming against top-20 foes.
   In 2006, Creighton won the first set 30-27 and led the second set 23-22 in a match vs. No. 1 Nebraska before 12,112 fans, eventually losing in four sets.
   In 2007, Creighton was swept by No. 18 Cal Poly before a then-record 13,081 fans. Trailing 1-0 in the match, Creighton led 27-22 in the second set before the fading late and losing 30-28.
   In 2008, Creighton was swept by No. 2 Nebraska before 8,037 fans.
   On September 15, 2015 it was No. 4 Nebraska sweeping Creighton by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 in front of 10,131 fans.
   In 2018, No. 14 Creighton bolted to a 2-0 lead vs. No. 6 Nebraska before the Huskers rallied to win in five sets in front of what remains the largest (14,022) regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history.
   Most recently, No. 3 Nebraska swept No. 19 Creighton last season before 11,279 fans.
Connections To Lincoln/Nebraska
Two members of Creighton's staff have ties to Lincoln or the University of Nebraska.
   Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth went to high school in Lincoln and is a member of the Lincoln East High School Hall of Fame.
   Creighton assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens was a four-year starter for the Huskers from 1997-2000, including Nebraska's unbeaten NCAA champion team in 2000 that was coached by John Cook. Among her teammates was Lindsay (Wischmeier) Peterson, NU's current Director of Operations.
   Creighton senior Jaela Zimmerman hails from Lincoln and was named Nebraska's 2017 Gatorade State Player of the Year at Malcolm High School. While at Malcolm, she was a teammate of former Husker Hayley Densberger.
   Creighton junior Megan Skovsende was a high school teammate of Nebraska's Lindsay Krause for three years at Skutt Catholic. Krause was also listed by Bluejay sophomore Norah Sis in a preseason questionnaire as her best friend on another college volleyball team.
About Schmidt
Creighton grad transfer Jazz Schmidt spent the spring semester in 2018 at the University of Nebraska, where she played beach volleyball for the Cornhuskers.
   Schmidt went 5-13 in the sand for an NU team that finished 4-14. She went 2-3 at No. 4 doubles (2-1 with Allie Havers, 0-1 with Chesney McClellan and 0-1 with Anezka Szabo) and was 3-10 at No. 5 doubles (with Allie Havers).
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U21 National Team Reunion
Wednesday will be a reunion of sorts for the U.S. Women's Volleyball U21 National Team that won a Gold Medal at the Pan American Cup earlier this summer in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
   Creighton's Norah Sis started every match for that team (which went 5-0) and was joined on the roster by current Cornhuskers Lexi Rodriguez and Bekka Allick.
Super Sophomores
Wednesday's match features two of the nation's best sophomores in Creighton outside hitter Norah Sis and Nebraska libero Lexi Rodriguez.
   Sis was named 2021 National Freshman of the Year by VolleyballMag.com, while Rodriguez earned the same honor from the American Volleyball Coaches Association a year ago.
Against The Champs
Creighton is 2-10 all-time against teams the season after a Final Four appearance.
   In 2016 Creighton clinched its second Sweet 16 trip in program history with a 3-2 win at Kansas, and last fall CU swept defending national champion Kentucky in Lexington.
   Nebraska appeared in last year's NCAA championship game, where it lost to Wisconsin.
CU vs. Previous Year Final Four Teams
Date   Result              Previous Year Finish
09/25/01Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/10/05Â Â Â Stanford 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/24/06Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
08/31/07Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/01/09Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â Final Four
09/17/15Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/08/16Â Â Â Kansas 3, CU 2Â Â Â Final Four
12/02/16Â Â Â CU 3, Kansas 2Â Â Â Final Four
12/10/16Â Â Â Texas 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
09/06/18Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 2Â Â Â NCAA Champion
08/30/19Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
09/04/21Â Â Â CU 3, Kentucky 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/07/22   TBD vs. Nebraska   NCAA Runner-Up
Freshmen Phenoms
Either Sky McCune or Ava Martin has started every match this season for the Bluejays.
   Creighton has started a true freshman in each of its last 57 matches, and a true or redshirt freshman of any kind in each of its past 66 contests.
   Keeley Davis started the final nine contests of 2019 as a redshirt freshman before Kiara Reinhardt started all 16 matches during the 2020 season. Last year Norah Sis and Kendra Wait each started all 35 matches.
   Creighton is 54-12 in the past 66 matches, and 48-9 in the last 57 contests during these streaks.
Sis Races Past 500
Sophomore Norah Sis reached 500 career kills in Saturday's match vs. #16 Kentucky. It came in her 40th career match, and 132nd career set.
   The only other players in CU history to reach 500 kills in fewer matches are Jaali Winters and Melissa Walsh, both of whom graduated with the CU career record for kills. Winters reached 500 kills in 124 sets, while Walsh did so in 133 sets.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 500 Kills (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Jaali Winters   34   12/04/15   vs. Coastal Carolina
Melissa Walsh   37   09/25/99   Indiana State
Norah Sis   40   09/03/22   #16 Kentucky
JoDe Cieloha   43   10/15/95   at Indiana State
Keeley Davis   43   03/28/21   Xavier
Amanda Cvejdlik   44   10/13/06   at Wichita State
Tournament Tested
Creighton has played in 10 tournaments since the start of the 2021 calendar year, and won seven of them.
   The only events that CU has not won were the '2020' NCAA Tournament (won by Kentucky) , the 2022 Bluejay Invitational (won by Kentucky) and the 2021 NCAA Tournament (won by Wisconsin). Kentucky and Wisconsin are the last two NCAA champions.
   Let's take a closer look:
Creighton Tournaments Since Jan. 1, 2021
Year   Event   CU Record (Place)
2021   BIG EAST Tournament   2-0 (1st)
2021   NCAA Tournament   0-1 (T-25th)
2021   Mizzou Invitational   3-0 (1st)
2021   Bluegrass Battle   3-0 (1st)
2021   Bluejay Invitational   3-0 (1st)
2021   Shocker Volleyball Classic   3-0 (1st)
2021   BIG EAST Tournament   2-0 (1st)
2021   NCAA Tournament   1-1 (T-17th)
2022   Rumble in the Rockies   3-0 (1st)
2022   Bluejay Invitational   2-1 (2nd)
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Top 25 History
Creighton is 150-36 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 16-21 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.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, 36 of Creighton's 65 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 242-29 against unranked teams. Creighton has won all but two of its past 83 home matches over unranked teams and all but eight of its last 99 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.
   Eleven of Creighton's top 25 wins all-time have come against either Marquette (6) 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.
   Creighton is ranked 17th in this week's poll, while Nebraska is ranked second.
Ranked vs. Ranked (CU is 16-21)
Home: 6-8Â Â Â Away: 5-7 Â Â Â 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 at #17 Creighton   5 p.m.
On A Roll
Creighton is 21-2 in its last 23 matches, with the only setbacks in that span being a 3-1 loss to Kansas in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and last Saturday's loss to No. 16 Kentucky.
   The Bluejays are 65-11 in sets played in those 23 matches, and 14 of the victories have been 3-0 sweeps.
Two Of The Best
Few teams in the country have been as successful in the last decade as Creighton and Nebraska.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, Nebraska ranks fourth nationally with 274 wins while Creighton is eighth with 261 victories.
   If you base success only by win percentage, Nebraska is sixth with an .825 win percentage since 2012, while Creighton is 10th by winning at an .801 clip.
   If you're curious, Western Kentucky leads the nation with 292 wins since 2012, while Texas owns an NCAA-best .889 win percentage in that span.
MVP Sis Also Picks Up BIG EAST Honor
In addition to being named MVP of the Rumble in the Rockies, Norah Sis also brought home BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week accolades on Aug. 29th.
   The Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year averaged 5.23 points, 4.91 kills, 2.27 digs and 0.36 blocks per set on .250 hitting.
   The Papillion, Neb., product started her season with near-identical double-doubles on Friday in wins over Iowa State (17 kills, 10 digs, 1 assist) and Wichita State (15 kills, 10 digs, 1 block). The reigning VolleyballMag.com National Freshman of the Year then slammed 22 kills while adding five digs, three blocks and an ace in a 3-1 win at Wyoming to clinch the tournament title. Her 25.0 points against the Cowgirls were a career-best effort and helped her earned Tournament MVP honors for the second time in her young career.
   Sis was honored as BIG EAST Freshman of the Week six times last season, when she was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, but this is her first BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week accolade.
Hall Call
Megan (Bober) Varasteh has been announced as part of the 2022 class for the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame, McCormick Endowed Athletic Director Marcus Blossom announced on Friday, August 26th.
   Varasteh is part of the 54th class of inductees (along with Renae Sinkler-O'Gorman and Carol Ketcham) and will give the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame 94 inductees, plus the 1991 Creighton Baseball Team. The Athletics Hall of Fame started in 1968 with the induction of Bluejay great Bob Gibson.
   Varasteh starred as a member of the Creighton Volleyball program from 2008-12, becoming the program's first player in earn AVCA All-America honors multiple times. She became the volleyball program's first woman named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as well as MVC Tournament MVP, helping the Bluejays to their first regular-season and conference tournament titles and a then-record 29 victories. She closed her career with a school-record 15 triple-doubles (second in MVC history) and as the only player in league history with at least 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 800 kills and 400 blocks.
   In addition to being named Creighton's Female Athlete of the Year, she was also recognized as the Carl M. Reinert, S.J., Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, repeated her spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American Second Team selection as a senior.
    The 2022 Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame banquet will be held on Saturday, October 15 at Hilton Omaha.
Poll Road Ahead
Creighton has been ranked in each of the last 17 AVCA Top 25 polls. With little movement from week-to-week, however, CU is one of 20 teams to be ranked each of those polls, a group that includes Baylor, BYU, Creighton, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, Washington, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin.
   Creighton has been ranked in all but six of the past 86 weeks the AVCA has put out a Top 25 poll.
Year-By-Year In Non-Conference Play
Despite annually facing one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules, Creighton has continued to excel against elite competition.
   Creighton is 8-11 against ranked non-conference foes over the last five seasons after going 2-43 all-time vs. ranked teams in regular-season non-conference matches.
   Creighton owned 12 non-conference wins last season to set a program record for a regular-season. It's actually also the first season with 10 wins prior to league play.
Non-Conference Records, By Year, Under Booth
Year   Non-Con W-L   vs. Ranked Non-Con   Final W-L
2003Â Â Â 3-8Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 12-18
2004Â Â Â 8-2Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 18-11
2005Â Â Â 6-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 16-14
2006Â Â Â 8-3Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 21-10
2007Â Â Â 6-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 21-10
2008Â Â Â 3-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 18-9
2009Â Â Â 3-8Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 14-17
2010Â Â Â 5-5Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 21-12
2011Â Â Â 5-7Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 17-14
2012Â Â Â 9-2Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 29-4
2013Â Â Â 9-3Â Â Â 1-2Â Â Â 23-9
2014Â Â Â 7-6Â Â Â 0-5Â Â Â 25-9
2015Â Â Â 6-7Â Â Â 1-4Â Â Â 27-9
2016Â Â Â 6-6Â Â Â 0-4Â Â Â 29-7
2017Â Â Â 7-4Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 26-7
2018Â Â Â 8-4Â Â Â 1-3Â Â Â 29-5
2019Â Â Â 7-3Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 25-6
2020Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 12-4
2021Â Â Â 12-1Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 31-4
2022   5-1 so far   1-1 so far   TBD
Schmitt A Ki Player
Kiana Schmitt entered the 2022 season with three career matches (of 60 played) with 10 or more kills, then started her senior campaign with a pair of double-figure kill performances at the Rumble in the Rockies.
   Schmitt had 10 kills on Aug. 26 vs. Wichita State, then tied her career-high with 12 kills one night later win at Wyoming.
   Creighton is 24-2 all-time when Schmitt has six or more kills.
Preseason Ranking
Creighton was ranked 18th in the AVCA preseason poll. It's the eighth time in the past 10 years that the Jays have been ranked in the preseason.
   The No. 18 slotting was tied for the fourth-best preseason ranking in program history.
   Over the previous 14 seasons, 255-of-350 teams (72.9 percent) of teams have been in both the preseason and final polls, and since 2008 318-of-350 teams (90.9 percent) in the preseason top-25 polls would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament.
   This year marks the 11th straight season that CU has been ranked at least one week, extending a program record.
   Year   Preseason Rank   Final W-L   Final Rank
   2013   25th   23-9   NR
   2014   23rd   25-9   NR
   2016   18th   27-9   9th
   2017   9th   26-7   16th
   2018   13th   29-5   13th
   2019   18th   25-6   16th
   2020   16th   12-4   NR
   2022   18th   TBD   TBD
Some Fab Freshmen
Including Sky McCune on Aug. 26 vs. Iowa State, Creighton has started 15 different true freshmen in its season opener since 2009, and 19 such players since 2000.
   Since 2000, the only true freshmen to start CU's season-opener have been Brittany Coleman (2003), Carolyn Decker (2004), Korie Lebeda (2005), Allie Oelke (2007), Brooke Boggs (2009), Heather Thorson (2009), Julianne Mandolfo (2010), Katie Neisler (2011), Michelle Sicner (2011), Melanie Jereb (2012), Ashley Jansen (2012), Jess Bird (2013), Jaali Winters (2015), Naomi Hickman (2017), Emily Bressman (2019), Kiara Reinhardt (2020), Kendra Wait (2021), Norah Sis (2021) and Sky McCune (2022), with Coleman, Lebeda and Wait the only freshmen to start at setter in the season-opener.
   In addition, CU also started redshirt freshmen Lauren Smith (2013) and Brittany Lawrence (2015), as well as transfers Maggie Baumert (2014), Lydia Dimke (2016), Madelyn Cole (2018), Erica Kostelac (2019) and Mahina Pua'a (2020) in season-openers.
   Ten of those women (Sis, Wait, Reinhardt, Coleman, Decker, Lebeda, Oelke, Mandolfo, Sicner and Jereb) went on to land a spot on the MVC or BIG EAST's All-Freshman Team (though the BIG EAST had no such team from 2013-19). Winters was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2015, Dimke was named BIG EAST Player of the Year in 2016, Davis was BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2019 and Sis recognized as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2022.
   Last year marked the first time that Creighton started multiple true freshmen in a season-opener since 2012, when Ashley Jansen and Melanie Jereb both earning a starting nod. The 2012 and 2021 teams are the two winningest single-season teams in program history.
Believe The Hype
Creighton's recruiting class of freshmen Morgan Colangelo, Ava Martin, Sky McCune and Ann Marie Remmes was recognized as the nation's No. 24 class by PrepVolleyball.
   Martin was listed as the nation's No. 47 recruit, while McCune was tabbed 52nd-best. Creighton now owns eight players on its 2022 roster who were Top 100 recruits.
Top-100 PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces
(list started in 2004)
Rank   Year   Player
68Â Â Â 2004Â Â Â Carolyn Decker
55Â Â Â 2008Â Â Â Laurel Sanford
60Â Â Â 2011Â Â Â Michelle Sicner
73Â Â Â 2013Â Â Â Jess Bird
50Â Â Â 2014Â Â Â Lydia Dimke*
18Â Â Â 2015Â Â Â Taryn Kloth
41Â Â Â 2015Â Â Â Jaali Winters
77Â Â Â 2016Â Â Â Erica Kostelac#
98Â Â Â 2017Â Â Â Naomi Hickman
99Â Â Â 2017Â Â Â Steph Gaston
49Â Â Â 2018Â Â Â Jaela Zimmerman
42Â Â Â 2018Â Â Â Keeley Davis
46Â Â Â 2020Â Â Â Kiara Reinhardt
97Â Â Â 2020Â Â Â Ellie Bolton
7Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Kendra Wait
28Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Norah Sis
31Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Eve Magill
47Â Â Â 2022Â Â Â Ava Martin
52Â Â Â 2022Â Â Â Sky McCune
* signed with Purdue and later transferred to Creighton
# signed with Cincinnati and later transferred to Creighton
PrepVolleyball.com Recruiting Rankings
(list started in 2004)
Year   Rank   Freshman Recruits
2004   Best of the Rest   (Baumann, Decker, Goc, Lahm, Mehal)
2005   Honorable-Mention   (Cvejdlik, Houts, Lebeda)
2006   None   (Bloemke, Schulze, Workman)
2007   None   (Feldman, Oelke, Vrbicky)
2008   Highest Honorable-Mention   (Almgren, Bober, Sanford)
2009Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â Boggs, Greisch, Moon, Templeton, Thorson)
2010Â Â Â High HMÂ Â Â (Fliss, Hackbarth, Malm, Mandolfo, S. Smith)
2011Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â (Browning, McNary, Neisler, Sicner, Stivers)
2012   High Honorable-Mention   (Elman, Jansen, Jereb, L. Smith)
2013   None   (Bird, Crawford, Foje)
2014   Highest Honorable-Mention   (Lawrence, Tupper, Wilkinson)
2015   11th   (Ballenger, Bohnet, Kloth, O'Connell, Winters)
2016   High Honorable-Mention   (Conlon, Taylor, Witt)
2017   25th   (Gaston, Hickman, Roumeliotis)
2018   10th   (Davis, Welty, Zimmerman, Zumach)
2019Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â (Bressman, Krause, Schmitt, Van Eekeren)
2020   27th   (Bolton, Maser, Reinhardt, Skovsende)
2021   5th   (Magill, Milner, Sis, Wait)
2022   24th   (Colangelo, Martin, McCune, Remmes)
Production Returns
Creighton returns 11-of-16 letterwinners to the court from last season, including four starters
   From last year's team, only Abby Bottomley, Naomi Hickman, Eve Magill, Ally Van Eekeren, Annika Welty are not back.
   All told, of the seven categories listed below, Creighton returns 511.8 of a possible 700% back (73.1 percent).
   Below is a breakdown of the production that is back:
Stat   Returners   Departures
Assists   1,331 (87.4%)   192 (12.6%)
Kills   1,307 (80.2%)   323 (19.8%)
Points   1,627.0 (75.6%)   526.0 (24.4%)
Matches Started   154 (73.3%)   56 (26.7%)
Digs   1,460 (70.6%)   607 (29.4%)
Aces   128 (66.7%)   64 (33.3%)
Blocks   192 (58.0%)   139.0 (42.0%)
10 Straight NCAA's
Creighton Volleyball has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 10 seasons. They are the first women's team in any sport at Creighton to make 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
   The only other sport in Creighton history to make 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the men's soccer program, which qualified in 17 straight seasons from 1992-2008.
   Creighton is one of nine teams nationally to have appeared in each of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments (2012-21). That group features BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State, San Diego, Texas and Washington.
   There are also 13 schools that have appeared in 11 of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments, a group that includes Creighton, Florida State, Hawai'i, Minnesota, Purdue and Stanford.
   Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State, San Diego, Texas and Washington have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since at least 2010.
Jae-Z Plays The Hits
Jaela Zimmerman owns 997 kills, good for 15th in Creighton history. She stands just three kills of becoming the 15th Bluejay ever to reach the 1,000 kill milestone. Zimmerman has played in 103 career matches.
Career Kills
      Name   Sets   No.   Years
   1.   Jaali Winters   494   1,843   2015-18
   2.   Leah Ratzlaff   409   1,622   2002-05
   3.   Melissa Walsh   394   1,596   1998-01
   4.   Taryn Kloth   462   1,427   2015-18
   5.   Kelly Goc   394   1,414   2004-07
   6.   Jessica Houts   451   1,385   2005-09
   7.   JoDe Cieloha   398   1,375   1994-97
   8.   Leah McNary   458   1,257   2011-14
   9.   Marysa Wilkinson   499   1,183   2014-17
   10.   Lauren Smith   511   1,160   2013-16
   11.   Allie Oelke   445   1,126   2007-10
   12.   Kelli Browning   424   1,104   2011-14
   13.   Amanda Cvejdlik   343   1,029   2005-08
   14.   Shelly Kapler   388   1,000   1996-99
   15.   Jaela Zimmerman   342   997   2018-Pr.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 1,000 Career Kills
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Melissa Walsh   70   10/15/00   Eastern Illinois
Jaali Winters   73   08/25/17   vs. Saint Mary's
Leah Ratzlaff   76   10/22/04   Missouri State
JoDe Cieloha   83   09/13/97   at Drake
Kelly Goc   87   11/24/06   vs Northern Iowa
Jessica Houts   90   11/08/08   Illinois State
Leah McNary   96   09/12/14   Pepperdine
Amanda Cvejdlik   99   11/15/08   at Evansville
Shelly Kapler   103   11/18/99   vs. Missouri St.
Taryn Kloth   103   08/31/18   vs. NC State
Allie Oelke   107   10/09/10   Wichita State
Kelli Browning   110   10/26/14   DePaul
Lauren Smith   119   10/07/16   at Villanova
Marysa Wilkinson   120   09/30/17   at St. John's
Dealing Up Aces
Keeley Davis had six aces on the opening weekend of the season, becoming the eighth player in CU history to reach century mark for her career.
   Davis reached 100 career aces in her 82nd career contest, which ranks third-fastest in Bluejay history.
   It's also worth noting that three of Davis' teammates entered the year having owned more than 100 career aces, though they've done so at other schools. Bethany Clapp owned 103 aces in 97 matches at Incarnate Word, Jazz Schmidt had 103 aces in 96 matches at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic and Allison Whitten had 103 aces in 115 contests at Morehead State.
Service Aces, Career
      Name   Sets   No.   Years
   1.   Molly Moran   341   145   1998-01
   2.   Melissa Weisensee   411   125   1994-97
   3.   Brittany Witt   471   122   2016-19
   4.   JoDe Cieloha   398   113   1994-97
   5.   Keeley Davis   300   109   2019-Pr.
   6.   Kate Elman   464   105   2012-15
   7.   Shelly Kapler   388   104   1996-99
   8.   Jaali Winters   494   101   2015-18
   9.   Madelyn Cole   225   93   2018-19
   10.   Carolyn Decker   300   89   2004-08
Creighton's Quickest Players To 100 Aces (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Molly Moran   73   08/31/01   vs. DePaul
Melissa Weisensee   77   11/01/96   Southern Illinois
Keeley Davis   82   08/26/22   vs. Wichita St.
JoDe Cieloha   85   09/06/97   at UNLV
Shelly Kapler   95   10/15/99   Bradley
Brittany Witt   107   10/05/19   Seton Hall
Kate Elman   120   11/15/15   Butler
Jaali Winters   135   11/17/18   Providence
Put It In Neutral
Creighton is 9-0 on neutral floors the past two seasons (7-0 last year, 2-0 this year), improving to 73-34 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in neutral site matches.
   The streak will be put to the test on Friday when CU meets Florida State at Baxter Arena.
   Creighton's nine consecutive wins on neutral floors is tied for the nation's third-longest active win streak at a neutral site:
Longest Active Neutral Site Win Streaks
   Rank   Streak   School
   1.   32   Michigan State
   2.   12   Western Kentucky
   3.   9   Creighton
      9   UNLV
      9   Kentucky  Â
      9   Providence
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won nine matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point, including season-opening wins over No. 5 Kentucky in 2018 and vs. UTSA in 2011. Three of those other comeback wins have come against Wichita State.
   On the other hand, Creighton is 419-3 under Booth when it reaches a match point opportunity, falling only when it wasted two match points on Sept. 4, 2010 to Iowa, two match points on Nov. 1, 2013 in a loss to St. John's, and two match points on Dec. 7, 2019 in an NCAA Tournament loss at No. 7 Minnesota.
Surviving Match Points, Under Booth
Date   Opponent   MP(s) Faced   Final Set 5
08/30/03   vs. McNeese State   13-14, 15-16   18-16
10/10/03   Wichita State   13-14   16-14
10/13/06   at Wichita State   12-14, 13-14, 14-15   17-15
09/11/07   at Drake   13-14, 14-15   17-15
08/26/11Â Â Â vs. UTSAÂ Â Â 12-14, 13-14Â Â Â 16-14
11/16/12   at Wichita State   13-14   16-14
09/20/15   Kansas State   23-24 (4th set)   15-13
11/20/15   at Georgetown   23-24, 26-27 (4th set)   15-7
08/24/18   vs. #5 Kentucky   16-15, 19-18   22-20
Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 62-33 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
   Creighton has won 16 of its last 22 true road matches to go five sets, including wins in 2012 over league rivals Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Missouri State, wins in 2013 at Denver and at Wichita State, wins in 2014 at Butler and at St. John's, a win at Georgetown in 2015, an NCAA Tournament win at No. 4 Kansas in 2016, 2017 victories at Butler, Georgetown and Marquette, a 2018 win at Butler, wins at UNI and No. 10 Marquette in 2019 and at South Dakota in the 2020 campaign.
   It's also worth noting that Creighton is 15-4 all-time in five-set home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena.
   Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-set matches on a yearly basis:
Year   Set 5 W-L   Total W-L
1994Â Â Â 0-2Â Â Â 5-20
1995Â Â Â 0-2Â Â Â 11-19
1996Â Â Â 2-6Â Â Â 9-19
1997Â Â Â 3-5Â Â Â 15-13
1998Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 7-18
1999Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 13-15
2000Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 16-12
2001Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 14-13
2002Â Â Â 1-3Â Â Â 3-23
2003Â Â Â 5-1Â Â Â 12-18
2004Â Â Â 4-0Â Â Â 18-11
2005Â Â Â 3-1Â Â Â 16-14
2006Â Â Â 4-2Â Â Â 21-10
2007Â Â Â 2-0Â Â Â 21-10
2008Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 18-9
2009Â Â Â 1-4Â Â Â 14-17
2010Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 21-12
2011Â Â Â 5-2Â Â Â 17-14
2012Â Â Â 4-1Â Â Â 29-4
2013Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 23-9
2014Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 25-9
2015Â Â Â 5-2Â Â Â 27-9
2016Â Â Â 4-3Â Â Â 29-7
2017Â Â Â 4-1Â Â Â 26-7
2018Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 29-5
2019Â Â Â 2-1Â Â Â 25-6
2020Â Â Â 4-2Â Â Â 12-4
2021Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 31-4
2022Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 5-1
Total   77-61   512-332
Champions Among Champions
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. 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, tied for the most in the nation with Dayton and Western Kentucky.
Most Conference Titles 2012-2021
Regular-Season   League Tournament
9 (1 shared) Creighton   8 Creighton
9 (1) Texas   8 Dayton
9 (5) Western Kentucky   8 Western Kentucky
8 BYUÂ Â Â 7 Fairfield
8 (1) Colorado State   6 LIU
8 Fairfield   6 American
Home Sweet Home
Creighton enters its 10th season as a member of the BIG EAST since joining the league in the summer of 2013.
   Since then, the Bluejays are 80-4 in home matches against BIG EAST teams (73-3 in the regular-season, 7-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament).
   Since November of 2014, Creighton is 64-1 inside D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST teams, which includes a 58-1 league mark and a 6-0 mark in the conference tournament. The only setback (on Feb. 6, 2021 vs. Marquette) was played as a non-conference match, only to be flipped to a league contest 19 days later.
   Put another way, since enrolling at Creighton in 2018, Bluejay fifth-year senior Jaela Zimmerman is 35-1 in home matches against BIG EAST teams, winning 105-of-123 sets played.
BIG EAST Preseason Poll
Creighton Volleyball has been picked to win the BIG EAST in a preseason poll of league coaches.
   Creighton earned 9-of-11 first place votes and 99 of a possible 100 points. That was just ahead of Marquette's 90 points and the other two votes for first place.
   DePaul (72) was picked third, just ahead of UConn (71) and St. John's (66). Rounding out the bottom half of the poll were Villanova (54), Butler (47), Xavier (42), Georgetown (25), Providence (25) and Seton Hall (14).
   Creighton also had three women among the 12 members on the BIG EAST's preseason all-conference team in Jaela Zimmerman and Kendra Wait as well as unanimous selection Norah Sis. Sis was also tabbed the BIG EAST's Preseason Player of the Year.
   Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of it or better in the preseason poll in 17 of 19 years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, including nine years where it's finished exactly where it was picked.
Year   Preseason Pick   Finish   Move
1994   11th   9th   #2
1995   9th   7th   #2
1996   9th   6th   #3
1997   8th   3rd   #5
1998   6th   8th   i2
1999   T-7th   5th   #2
2000   4th   T-4th   - -
2001   2nd   4th   i2
2002   7th   9th   i2
2003   9th   T-5th   #4
2004   5th   5th   - -
2005   5th   5th   - -
2006   4th   4th   - -
2007   3rd   T-2nd   #1
2008   3rd   2nd   #1
2009   4th   T-4th   - -
2010   4th   3rd   #1
2011   3rd   4th   i1
2012   4th   1st   #3
2013   1st   T-2nd   i1
2014   1st   1st   - -
2015   1st   1st   - -
2016   1st   1st   - -
2017   1st   1st   - -
2018   2nd   1st   #1
2019   2nd   1st   #1
2020Â Â Â 1st (MW)Â Â Â 1st (MW)Â Â Â - -
2021   1st   1st   - -
2022   1st   ???   ???
BIG EAST'S Best
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.
   Below is a look at the record of each BIG EAST team since the league's realignment in 2013:
BIG EAST VB Standings Since 2013 (thru 9/4)
           BIG EAST only   All   matches
Team (NCAA Bids)Â Â Â WÂ Â Â LÂ Â Â WÂ Â Â L
Creighton (9)Â Â Â 137Â Â Â 13Â Â Â 232Â Â Â 61
Marquette (8)Â Â Â 120Â Â Â 27Â Â Â 212Â Â Â 70
Xavier   84   64   134   130
Butler   81   69   146   124
Villanova (1)Â Â Â 77Â Â Â 73Â Â Â 147Â Â Â 118
St. John's (1)Â Â Â 71Â Â Â 79Â Â Â 157Â Â Â 126
Seton Hall (1)Â Â Â 66Â Â Â 83Â Â Â 134Â Â Â 141
DePaul   40   110   100   158
Georgetown   33   109   83   166
Providence*Â Â Â 22Â Â Â 112Â Â Â 85Â Â Â 150
Connecticut#Â Â Â 17Â Â Â 9Â Â Â 30Â Â Â 21
*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.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 349-11 (.969) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 292-5 mark (.983) under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. CU is 218-3 when up 2-0 dating to September of 2009, and 111-1 all-time at D.J. Sokol Arena when up 2-0 at the break.
   Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that won the first two sets won 95.0 percent of their matches from 2009-18.
   Conversely, the Jays are 15-202 (.069) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, and 13-103 (.112) under Booth. Those 15 comebacks in program history from down 0-2 are listed below.
Date   Opponent   Sets 3-5 scores   Coach
09/19/97   at Bradley   15-11, 15-13, 15-8   Wallace
10/01/99   at Drake   15-6, 17-15, 15-11   Wallace
09/03/04   vs. Montana   30-20, 30-21, 15-11   Booth
10/15/04   at Bradley   30-22, 30-23, 15-11   Booth
10/15/05   at So. Illinois   30-25, 30-24, 15-8   Booth
09/21/07   at No. Iowa   31-29, 30-26, 15-12   Booth
11/16/12   at Wichita St.   25-16, 25-20, 16-14   Booth
09/05/14   vs. No. Iowa   25-16, 25-22, 15-5   Booth
11/08/14   at Butler   25-16, 25-20, 15-13   Booth
09/20/15   Kansas State   25-23, 26-24, 15-13   Booth
10/09/15   DePaul   25-21, 25-12, 15-11   Booth
11/20/15   at Georgetown   30-28, 26-24, 15-7   Booth
10/13/17   Butler   25-21, 25-23, 15-9   Booth
10/18/18   Xavier   25-17, 25-17, 15-13   Booth
01/31/21   at So. Dakota   25-20, 25-23, 15-7   Booth
Set 1 Result A Strong Indicator
Creighton is 354-33 (.915) overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when it wins set one. In that same time span, CU is just 65-147 (.307) under Booth when it drops the first set.
   Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that lost the first set in 2018 won just 20.7 percent of their matches that season, and 20.2 percent of their matches from 2009-18.
   Since Aug. 29, 2010, Creighton has gone 126-4 in its last 130 home matches when taking a 1-0 lead, losing only on Sept. 12, 2015 to Pacific, on Sept. 6, 2018 to No. 7 Nebraska and on Jan. 29, 2021 to South Dakota and on Sept. 3, 2022 to No. 16 Kentucky.
   Creighton has gone 86-3 in its last 89 matches at all sites when winning the first set, compared to an 8-13 record in that same span when dropping the opener.
   Creighton has gone 127-2 in its last 129 matches against unranked foes when winning the opening set.
Eleventh Heaven
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is in some select company, as she has directed her team to 11 NCAA Tournaments.
   That puts her in the company of some of the greatest coaches in CU Athletics history, as she's tied former men's soccer coach Bob Warming atop that list.
Name   Sport   NCAA's @CU
Bob Warming   Men's Soccer   11
Kirsten Bernthal Booth   Volleyball   11
Dana Altman   Men's Basketball   7
Greg McDermott   Men's Basketball   7
Brent Vigness   Softball   7
Elmar Bolowich   Men's Soccer   6
Against NCAA Tournament Qualifiers
Last season Creighton played four matches against 2020 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, going 3-1 against such teams.
   This year's team owns eight matches (Iowa State, Kentucky, Nebraska, Florida State, Kansas State, Rice and Marquette) scheduled against teams that made the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and CU is 1-1 against those foes to date.
   After going 3-35 against teams coming off NCAA Tournament bids prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the Jays are 90-102 since.
Year   W-L vs. Previous Season NCAA Teams
1994Â Â Â 0-4
1995Â Â Â 0-2
1996Â Â Â 0-2
1997Â Â Â 0-3
1998Â Â Â 0-5
1999Â Â Â 2-4
2000Â Â Â 0-4
2001Â Â Â 1-6
2002Â Â Â 0-5
2003Â Â Â 0-3
2004Â Â Â 2-2
2005Â Â Â 0-6
2006Â Â Â 4-6
2007Â Â Â 4-9
2008Â Â Â 6-8
2009Â Â Â 1-11
2010Â Â Â 4-7
2011Â Â Â 2-6
2012Â Â Â 8-3
2013Â Â Â 6-6
2014Â Â Â 4-5
2015Â Â Â 11-5
2016Â Â Â 10-7
2017Â Â Â 8-6
2018Â Â Â 8-5
2019Â Â Â 5-4
2020Â Â Â 3-1
2021Â Â Â 3-1
2022Â Â Â 1-1 so far
TOTALÂ Â Â 93-137
TOTAL Under Booth   90-102
Marian Pipeline
This is the 20th straight season that Creighton Volleyball had at least one product of Omaha Marian High School on the roster, as senior Emily Bressman keeps the streak alive.
   Interestingly, the Bluejays had never had a volleyball player from Marian between 1994-2002. Here's a look at Creighton's pipeline of players from Marian.
2022: Emily Bressman
2021: Emily Bressman
2020: Emily Bressman
2019: Emily Bressman, Brittany Witt
2018: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2017: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2016: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2015: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen, Kelsey O'Connell
2014: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2013: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2012: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2011: Julianne Mandolfo
2010: Lisa Greisch, Julianne Mandolfo
2009: Lisa Greisch
2008: Emily Crowley, Korie Lebeda
2007: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2006: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2005: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2004: Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2003: Emily Greisch
8 Straight BIG EAST Regular-Season Titles
With its 2021 title, Creighton became the first team in BIG EAST volleyball history to win eight straight regular-season titles.      The previous record had been seven by Notre Dame from 1999-2005.
   The Bluejay volleyball team is also the first Creighton program in any sport to win eight or more straight league titles, surpassing the five in a row by the men's soccer program (1992-96).
Climbing The List
Kirsten Bernthal Booth became Creighton Volleyball's winningest coach in the program's modern history on August 26, 2007, and hasn't let up. Booth owns 419 victories on the Bluejay sideline to rank fifth in school history across all sports.
Coach, Sport   Victories (thru 9/6)
Brent Vigness, Softball   819
Ed Servais, Baseball   618*
Mary Higgins, Softball   564
Tom Lilly, Men's & Women's Tennis   498*
Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Volleyball   419*
Jim Flanery, Women's Basketball   387*
Ed Hubbs, Men's & Women's Tennis   347
Dana Altman, Men's Basketball   327
*still active coaching at Creighton
Against The BIG EAST
Since the BIG EAST was restructured in 2013, Creighton owns a .500 record or better against each of the other teams currently in the BIG EAST.
   The Bluejays own 152 wins against BIG EAST competition (including BIG EAST Championship play) since 2013, 27 more wins than Marquette for most in the league.
   CU still has not lost to four league foes (DePaul, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier) since joining the BIG EAST, and Seton Hall (3), Marquette (4), Villanova (3) and St. John's (3) are the only BIG EAST programs to top the Bluejays multiple times since 2013.
Opponent   Reg. Season   BE Tourney   Total
Butler   17-1   -   17-1
Connecticut   0-1   1-0   1-1
DePaul   18-0   1-0   19-0
Georgetown   16-0   -   16-0
Marquette   15-3   5-1   20-4
Providence   13-0   -   13-0
Seton Hall   13-3   2-0   15-3
St. John's   14-2   0-1   14-3
Villanova   13-3   3-0   16-3
Xavier   18-0   3-0   21-0
Total   137-13   15-2   152-15
Last Season Summary
Creighton went 31-4 last season, won an eighth straight BIG EAST regular-season title and reached the Second Round while playing in its 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament.
   Norah Sis was named a Third Team All-American by the AVCA and the National Freshman of the Year by VolleyballMag.com. Also named Honorable Mention All-American were Jaela Zimmerman and Kendra Wait.
   CU's 31 victories were a school-record and included five tournament titles.
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Match played at CHI Health Center Omaha and presented by FNBO
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES (PDF) | NU NOTES (PDF) | STUDENT SHUTTLE/TICKET INFO |
This Week
No. 17 Creighton (5-1) plays three matches in Omaha this week, but none will be at D.J. Sokol Arena. Instead, the Bluejays will play on Wednesday at CHI Health Center Omaha before making their first trek to Baxter Arena on Friday and Saturday.
   The action starts on Wednesday, Sept. 7 when CU hosts No. 2 Nebraska (5-0) at 5:00 p.m. in a match presented by FNBO.
   The match will be hosted at CHI Health Center Omaha (17,352) in Omaha, Neb. With more than 14,000 tickets already out, it's very likely the single-match record for the largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd NCAA history will fall.
Broadcast Information
Wednesday's match vs. Nebraska will be televised nationally on FS1, with Bob Brainerd and Jill Dorsey Hall calling the action. It will also be webcast at http://FoxSports.com/live.
   The match will also be on radio in Omaha on News Talk 1290 AM (KOIL), which can be heard at http://GoCreighton.com/listen1290. Jon Schriner and Shannon Smolinski will announce.
Live Stats Information
All Creighton home matches have free live stats at http://Creighton.StatBroadcast.com. A link is also on the GoCreighton.com volleyball schedule page.
Scouting #17 Creighton
Ranked 17th nationally, Creighton is 5-1 this season with the lone loss coming to then-No. 16 Kentucky. Creighton defeated Iowa State, Wichita State and Wyoming in Laramie to win the season-opening Rumble in the Rockies before picking up wins in Omaha last weekend over then-No. 25 USC and Northern Iowa..
   Keeley Davis (2.59 kps., 2.41 dps., 0.50 saps.) and Kendra Wait (10.27 aps., 2.68 dps., 1.18 kps., .500%) have both been named to the All-Tournament Team after each event thus far.
   Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis (4.09 kps., 2.18 dps.) was named MVP of the Rumble in the Rockies and has led CU in kills in all but one match to date.
   Creighton returns four starters from last season's 31-4 squad that reached a 10th straight NCAA Tournament and saw the Bluejays win an eighth straight BIG EAST regular-season title. Having added four freshmen and three graduate transfers in the off-season, CU is favored by league coaches to win an ninth straight title in 2022.
   Creighton averages 13.41 kills, 1.73 aces, 14.59 digs and 1.91 blocks per set while hitting .242 as a team.
Scouting #2 Nebraska
Nebraska is 5-0 this season and has not dropped a set in wins over Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Tulsa, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Ole Miss.
   The Cornhuskers, who reached the final of the 2021 NCAA Tournament before losing to Big Ten rival Wisconsin, started the year as the nation's top-ranked team and are ranked second in the country in this week's poll.
   Madi Kubik (3.80 kps.), and Whitney Lauenstein (3.27 kps., 1.27 bps.) headline an attack that features six women averaging 1.67 kills per set or more.
   Kennedi Orr (6.44 aps.), Anni Evans (7.00 aps.) and Nicklin Hames (2.73 aps.) have all set the NU offense this fall as the Cornhuskers have run both a 5-1 and 6-2 offense at various times.
   Lexi Rodriguez (4.13 dps.) was named National Freshman of the Year by the AVCA last season and anchors one of the nation's best back rows.
   Nebraska averages 13.80 kills, 15.13 digs, 2.90 blocks and 1.20 aces per set on .293 hitting.
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Creighton Coaches
Creighton is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Truman State, 1997), who owns a 419-180 record entering her 20th season with the Bluejays. She's led Creighton to eight straight BIG EAST titles (2014-21), and nine league crowns in the last 10 years. Booth led the Bluejays to their first two Sweet 16's (2015, 2016) and first Elite Eight (2016) in program history. In 2016 she was recognized as VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Coach of the Year and AVCA East Region Coach of the Year. Booth was tabbed BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the third time in 2019.
   The winningest coach in school history, Booth has taken Creighton to its only 11 NCAA Tournament bids in the program's modern history. She's also coached CU into the top-25 each of the last 11 seasons (including 2022), another program first.
   Booth came to Creighton after going 112-41 in three years at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A native of Lincoln, Neb., Booth played volleyball at Truman State, where she was named conference MVP, an Academic All-American and Missouri's 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year. She ranked third in Division II history with 6,077 assists when she graduated.
   Booth is assisted by Angie Oxley Behrens, Brian Rosen and Elise Fulcher.
Series History vs. Nebraska
Since restarting its volleyball program in 1994, Creighton is 0-18 all-time against Nebraska in the fall. Eleven of those 18 meetings have come in Lincoln.
   Nebraska has been ranked in the top-11 of every meeting, and ranked No. 1 nationally at match time on six occasions.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 0-14 all-time against the Huskers, and 0-14 against John Cook. Cook is 17-0 against Creighton.
   Creighton has won the first set in meetings in 2006, 2014 and 2016, while in 2018 CU took a 2-0 lead over the Cornhuskers.
   Creighton did defeat Nebraska on April 12, 2013 (25-17, 22-25, 27-25, 20-25, 15-13) in a spring contest that was the final scheduled match at the NU Coliseum. Leah McNary had 15 kills to pace CU, while Katie Neisler had 13 kills in 48 swings to lead CU.
Getting Better & Better
Wednesday will be Creighton's 600th match under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, and it continues to thrive under her direction.
   Below is a look at Creighton's record under Booth in 50-match segments.
Match #   W-L   Opponent   Date   Result
50   25-25   Missouri State   10/22/04   L 0-3
100   56-44   Southern Illinois   09/16/06   W 3-1
150   88-62   vs. So. Illinois   11/23/07   W 3-1
200   115-85   at Missouri State   10/30/09   L 0-3
250   143-107   at #11 Nebraska   09/08/11   L 0-3
300   182-118   Illinois State   11/10/12   W 3-1
350   215-135   South Dakota   09/20/14   L 2-3
400   255-145   at DePaul   11/07/15   W 3-1
450   296-154   Northern Iowa   09/02/17   W 3-0
500   336-164   at #18 Marquette   10/26/18   W 3-1
550   377-173   DePaul   03/06/21   W 3-0
600  419-180 so far #2 Nebraska   Wednesday   TBD
Historically Speaking
Here's a look at the top volleyball-only regular-season crowds in NCAA history. Of note, each of the 12 figures of 11,000 or more have been in the state of Nebraska.
   Last season's crowd of 11,279 far outdistanced the nation's second-largest regular-season crowd (8,362 for Utah at Nebraska).
Largest Regular-Season Volleyball-Only Crowds in NCAA History
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU Result   Site
   14,022   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-2   9/6/18   Omaha, NE
   13,870   UCLA def. Nebraska, 3-2   9/13/09   Lincoln, NE
   13,412   Nebraska def. LSU, 3-0   9/12/08   Lincoln, NE
   13,396   Nebraska def. Hawai'i, 3-0   10/21/07   Lincoln, NE
   13,081   Cal Poly def. Creighton, 3-0   9/2/07   Omaha, NE
      Nebraska def. Penn State, 3-0  Â
   12,504   Nebraska def. Colorado, 3-0   11/4/00   Lincoln, NE
   12,112   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-1   9/24/06   Omaha, NE
   11,892   Dayton def. W. Michigan, 3-0   9/11/10   Lincoln, NE
      Nebraska def. Illinois, 3-2  Â
   11,529   Nebraska def. Colorado, 3-0   10/22/95   Lincoln, NE
   11,279   Nebraska def. Creighton, 3-0   09/08/21   Omaha, NE
   11,076   Nebraska def. UCLA, 3-1   8/25/07   Omaha, NE
      Tennessee def. Utah, 3-2  Â
   11,032   UCLA def. Nebraska, 3-1   9/14/91   Lincoln, NE
   10,927   Minnesota def. Illinois, 3-1   10/16/04   Minneapolis, MN
   10,645   Purdue def. W. Michigan, 3-1   10/29/85   W. Lafayette, IN
   10,576   Penn St. def. Hawai'i, 3-0   8/27/05   Omaha, NE
      Nebraska def. Stanford, 3-0
   10,570   Purdue def. Wisconsin, 3-2   10/17/08   W. Lafayette, IN
Largest Crowds To See The Jays
More than 14,000 fans are expected for Wednesday's tilt at CHI Health Center Omaha. It would mark the seventh time in Creighton's history that more than 5,000 fans attended a home volleyball match.
   In six previous volleyball matches at CHI Health Center Omaha, Creighton has played before an average of 11,444 fans. That includes 14,022 fans in 2018 for a match vs. Nebraska, a figure that remains the largest regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history.
   The largest crowd in the nation this season was 8,157 on Aug. 26 when Nebraska hosted Tulsa in Lincoln.
   Below is a list of the largest crowds (and home crowds) in Creighton Volleyball history:
Creighton's Largest Home Crowds All-Time
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU W-L   Facility
   14,022   #6 Nebraska   09/06/18   L 2-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   13,081   #18 Cal Poly   09/02/07   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   12,112   #1 Nebraska   09/24/06   L 1-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   11,279   #3 Nebraska   09/08/21   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   10,131   #4 Nebraska   09/15/15   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   8,037   #2 Nebraska   10/05/08   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   2,578   #13 Kentucky   09/01/17   W 3-0   Sokol Arena
   2,552   South Dakota   11/30/18   W 3-0   Sokol Arena
   2,517   Coastal Carolina   12/01/17   W 3-1   Sokol Arena
   2,514   #7 Nebraska   08/31/10   L 0-3   Sokol Arena
   2,509   #22 Washington   12/01/18   L 0-3   Sokol Arena
Largest Crowds (All Sites)
   Att.   Opponent   Date   CU Result   Facility
   14,022   #6 Nebraska   09/06/18   L 2-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   13,081   #18 Cal Poly   09/02/07   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   12,112   #1 Nebraska   09/24/06   L 1-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   11,279   #3 Nebraska   09/08/21   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   10,131   #4 Nebraska   09/15/15   L 0-3   CHI Health Ctr.
   8,627   at #5 Nebraska   09/29/02   L 0-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,450   at #2 Nebraska   08/30/19   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,277   vs. Montana St.   09/16/16   W 3-0   Devaney Ctr.
   8,249   at #1 Nebraska   09/17/16   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,237   vs. #20 Baylor (@NU)   08/31/19   L 0-3   Devaney Ctr.
   8,060   at #9 Nebraska   09/17/14   L 1-3   Devaney Ctr.
Previously At CHI Health Center Omaha
Wednesday will mark Creighton's seventh volleyball match ever at CHI Health Center Omaha, with all seven contests coming against top-20 foes.
   In 2006, Creighton won the first set 30-27 and led the second set 23-22 in a match vs. No. 1 Nebraska before 12,112 fans, eventually losing in four sets.
   In 2007, Creighton was swept by No. 18 Cal Poly before a then-record 13,081 fans. Trailing 1-0 in the match, Creighton led 27-22 in the second set before the fading late and losing 30-28.
   In 2008, Creighton was swept by No. 2 Nebraska before 8,037 fans.
   On September 15, 2015 it was No. 4 Nebraska sweeping Creighton by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 in front of 10,131 fans.
   In 2018, No. 14 Creighton bolted to a 2-0 lead vs. No. 6 Nebraska before the Huskers rallied to win in five sets in front of what remains the largest (14,022) regular-season volleyball-only crowd in NCAA history.
   Most recently, No. 3 Nebraska swept No. 19 Creighton last season before 11,279 fans.
Connections To Lincoln/Nebraska
Two members of Creighton's staff have ties to Lincoln or the University of Nebraska.
   Head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth went to high school in Lincoln and is a member of the Lincoln East High School Hall of Fame.
   Creighton assistant coach Angie Oxley Behrens was a four-year starter for the Huskers from 1997-2000, including Nebraska's unbeaten NCAA champion team in 2000 that was coached by John Cook. Among her teammates was Lindsay (Wischmeier) Peterson, NU's current Director of Operations.
   Creighton senior Jaela Zimmerman hails from Lincoln and was named Nebraska's 2017 Gatorade State Player of the Year at Malcolm High School. While at Malcolm, she was a teammate of former Husker Hayley Densberger.
   Creighton junior Megan Skovsende was a high school teammate of Nebraska's Lindsay Krause for three years at Skutt Catholic. Krause was also listed by Bluejay sophomore Norah Sis in a preseason questionnaire as her best friend on another college volleyball team.
About Schmidt
Creighton grad transfer Jazz Schmidt spent the spring semester in 2018 at the University of Nebraska, where she played beach volleyball for the Cornhuskers.
   Schmidt went 5-13 in the sand for an NU team that finished 4-14. She went 2-3 at No. 4 doubles (2-1 with Allie Havers, 0-1 with Chesney McClellan and 0-1 with Anezka Szabo) and was 3-10 at No. 5 doubles (with Allie Havers).
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U21 National Team Reunion
Wednesday will be a reunion of sorts for the U.S. Women's Volleyball U21 National Team that won a Gold Medal at the Pan American Cup earlier this summer in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
   Creighton's Norah Sis started every match for that team (which went 5-0) and was joined on the roster by current Cornhuskers Lexi Rodriguez and Bekka Allick.
Super Sophomores
Wednesday's match features two of the nation's best sophomores in Creighton outside hitter Norah Sis and Nebraska libero Lexi Rodriguez.
   Sis was named 2021 National Freshman of the Year by VolleyballMag.com, while Rodriguez earned the same honor from the American Volleyball Coaches Association a year ago.
Against The Champs
Creighton is 2-10 all-time against teams the season after a Final Four appearance.
   In 2016 Creighton clinched its second Sweet 16 trip in program history with a 3-2 win at Kansas, and last fall CU swept defending national champion Kentucky in Lexington.
   Nebraska appeared in last year's NCAA championship game, where it lost to Wisconsin.
CU vs. Previous Year Final Four Teams
Date   Result              Previous Year Finish
09/25/01Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/10/05Â Â Â Stanford 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/24/06Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
08/31/07Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/01/09Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 0Â Â Â Final Four
09/17/15Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/08/16Â Â Â Kansas 3, CU 2Â Â Â Final Four
12/02/16Â Â Â CU 3, Kansas 2Â Â Â Final Four
12/10/16Â Â Â Texas 3, CU 0Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
09/06/18Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 2Â Â Â NCAA Champion
08/30/19Â Â Â Nebraska 3, CU 1Â Â Â NCAA Runner-Up
09/04/21Â Â Â CU 3, Kentucky 0Â Â Â NCAA Champion
09/07/22   TBD vs. Nebraska   NCAA Runner-Up
Freshmen Phenoms
Either Sky McCune or Ava Martin has started every match this season for the Bluejays.
   Creighton has started a true freshman in each of its last 57 matches, and a true or redshirt freshman of any kind in each of its past 66 contests.
   Keeley Davis started the final nine contests of 2019 as a redshirt freshman before Kiara Reinhardt started all 16 matches during the 2020 season. Last year Norah Sis and Kendra Wait each started all 35 matches.
   Creighton is 54-12 in the past 66 matches, and 48-9 in the last 57 contests during these streaks.
Sis Races Past 500
Sophomore Norah Sis reached 500 career kills in Saturday's match vs. #16 Kentucky. It came in her 40th career match, and 132nd career set.
   The only other players in CU history to reach 500 kills in fewer matches are Jaali Winters and Melissa Walsh, both of whom graduated with the CU career record for kills. Winters reached 500 kills in 124 sets, while Walsh did so in 133 sets.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 500 Kills (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Jaali Winters   34   12/04/15   vs. Coastal Carolina
Melissa Walsh   37   09/25/99   Indiana State
Norah Sis   40   09/03/22   #16 Kentucky
JoDe Cieloha   43   10/15/95   at Indiana State
Keeley Davis   43   03/28/21   Xavier
Amanda Cvejdlik   44   10/13/06   at Wichita State
Tournament Tested
Creighton has played in 10 tournaments since the start of the 2021 calendar year, and won seven of them.
   The only events that CU has not won were the '2020' NCAA Tournament (won by Kentucky) , the 2022 Bluejay Invitational (won by Kentucky) and the 2021 NCAA Tournament (won by Wisconsin). Kentucky and Wisconsin are the last two NCAA champions.
   Let's take a closer look:
Creighton Tournaments Since Jan. 1, 2021
Year   Event   CU Record (Place)
2021   BIG EAST Tournament   2-0 (1st)
2021   NCAA Tournament   0-1 (T-25th)
2021   Mizzou Invitational   3-0 (1st)
2021   Bluegrass Battle   3-0 (1st)
2021   Bluejay Invitational   3-0 (1st)
2021   Shocker Volleyball Classic   3-0 (1st)
2021   BIG EAST Tournament   2-0 (1st)
2021   NCAA Tournament   1-1 (T-17th)
2022   Rumble in the Rockies   3-0 (1st)
2022   Bluejay Invitational   2-1 (2nd)
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Top 25 History
Creighton is 150-36 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 16-21 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.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, 36 of Creighton's 65 losses have come against ranked teams. In that same period, Creighton is 242-29 against unranked teams. Creighton has won all but two of its past 83 home matches over unranked teams and all but eight of its last 99 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.
   Eleven of Creighton's top 25 wins all-time have come against either Marquette (6) 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.
   Creighton is ranked 17th in this week's poll, while Nebraska is ranked second.
Ranked vs. Ranked (CU is 16-21)
Home: 6-8Â Â Â Away: 5-7 Â Â Â 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 at #17 Creighton   5 p.m.
On A Roll
Creighton is 21-2 in its last 23 matches, with the only setbacks in that span being a 3-1 loss to Kansas in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament and last Saturday's loss to No. 16 Kentucky.
   The Bluejays are 65-11 in sets played in those 23 matches, and 14 of the victories have been 3-0 sweeps.
Two Of The Best
Few teams in the country have been as successful in the last decade as Creighton and Nebraska.
   Since the start of the 2012 season, Nebraska ranks fourth nationally with 274 wins while Creighton is eighth with 261 victories.
   If you base success only by win percentage, Nebraska is sixth with an .825 win percentage since 2012, while Creighton is 10th by winning at an .801 clip.
   If you're curious, Western Kentucky leads the nation with 292 wins since 2012, while Texas owns an NCAA-best .889 win percentage in that span.
MVP Sis Also Picks Up BIG EAST Honor
In addition to being named MVP of the Rumble in the Rockies, Norah Sis also brought home BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week accolades on Aug. 29th.
   The Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year averaged 5.23 points, 4.91 kills, 2.27 digs and 0.36 blocks per set on .250 hitting.
   The Papillion, Neb., product started her season with near-identical double-doubles on Friday in wins over Iowa State (17 kills, 10 digs, 1 assist) and Wichita State (15 kills, 10 digs, 1 block). The reigning VolleyballMag.com National Freshman of the Year then slammed 22 kills while adding five digs, three blocks and an ace in a 3-1 win at Wyoming to clinch the tournament title. Her 25.0 points against the Cowgirls were a career-best effort and helped her earned Tournament MVP honors for the second time in her young career.
   Sis was honored as BIG EAST Freshman of the Week six times last season, when she was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, but this is her first BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week accolade.
Hall Call
Megan (Bober) Varasteh has been announced as part of the 2022 class for the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame, McCormick Endowed Athletic Director Marcus Blossom announced on Friday, August 26th.
   Varasteh is part of the 54th class of inductees (along with Renae Sinkler-O'Gorman and Carol Ketcham) and will give the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame 94 inductees, plus the 1991 Creighton Baseball Team. The Athletics Hall of Fame started in 1968 with the induction of Bluejay great Bob Gibson.
   Varasteh starred as a member of the Creighton Volleyball program from 2008-12, becoming the program's first player in earn AVCA All-America honors multiple times. She became the volleyball program's first woman named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as well as MVC Tournament MVP, helping the Bluejays to their first regular-season and conference tournament titles and a then-record 29 victories. She closed her career with a school-record 15 triple-doubles (second in MVC history) and as the only player in league history with at least 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs, 800 kills and 400 blocks.
   In addition to being named Creighton's Female Athlete of the Year, she was also recognized as the Carl M. Reinert, S.J., Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, repeated her spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American Second Team selection as a senior.
    The 2022 Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame banquet will be held on Saturday, October 15 at Hilton Omaha.
Poll Road Ahead
Creighton has been ranked in each of the last 17 AVCA Top 25 polls. With little movement from week-to-week, however, CU is one of 20 teams to be ranked each of those polls, a group that includes Baylor, BYU, Creighton, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, Washington, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin.
   Creighton has been ranked in all but six of the past 86 weeks the AVCA has put out a Top 25 poll.
Year-By-Year In Non-Conference Play
Despite annually facing one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules, Creighton has continued to excel against elite competition.
   Creighton is 8-11 against ranked non-conference foes over the last five seasons after going 2-43 all-time vs. ranked teams in regular-season non-conference matches.
   Creighton owned 12 non-conference wins last season to set a program record for a regular-season. It's actually also the first season with 10 wins prior to league play.
Non-Conference Records, By Year, Under Booth
Year   Non-Con W-L   vs. Ranked Non-Con   Final W-L
2003Â Â Â 3-8Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 12-18
2004Â Â Â 8-2Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 18-11
2005Â Â Â 6-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 16-14
2006Â Â Â 8-3Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 21-10
2007Â Â Â 6-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 21-10
2008Â Â Â 3-5Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 18-9
2009Â Â Â 3-8Â Â Â 0-3Â Â Â 14-17
2010Â Â Â 5-5Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 21-12
2011Â Â Â 5-7Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 17-14
2012Â Â Â 9-2Â Â Â 0-1Â Â Â 29-4
2013Â Â Â 9-3Â Â Â 1-2Â Â Â 23-9
2014Â Â Â 7-6Â Â Â 0-5Â Â Â 25-9
2015Â Â Â 6-7Â Â Â 1-4Â Â Â 27-9
2016Â Â Â 6-6Â Â Â 0-4Â Â Â 29-7
2017Â Â Â 7-4Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 26-7
2018Â Â Â 8-4Â Â Â 1-3Â Â Â 29-5
2019Â Â Â 7-3Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 25-6
2020Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 12-4
2021Â Â Â 12-1Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 31-4
2022   5-1 so far   1-1 so far   TBD
Schmitt A Ki Player
Kiana Schmitt entered the 2022 season with three career matches (of 60 played) with 10 or more kills, then started her senior campaign with a pair of double-figure kill performances at the Rumble in the Rockies.
   Schmitt had 10 kills on Aug. 26 vs. Wichita State, then tied her career-high with 12 kills one night later win at Wyoming.
   Creighton is 24-2 all-time when Schmitt has six or more kills.
Preseason Ranking
Creighton was ranked 18th in the AVCA preseason poll. It's the eighth time in the past 10 years that the Jays have been ranked in the preseason.
   The No. 18 slotting was tied for the fourth-best preseason ranking in program history.
   Over the previous 14 seasons, 255-of-350 teams (72.9 percent) of teams have been in both the preseason and final polls, and since 2008 318-of-350 teams (90.9 percent) in the preseason top-25 polls would go on to reach the NCAA Tournament.
   This year marks the 11th straight season that CU has been ranked at least one week, extending a program record.
   Year   Preseason Rank   Final W-L   Final Rank
   2013   25th   23-9   NR
   2014   23rd   25-9   NR
   2016   18th   27-9   9th
   2017   9th   26-7   16th
   2018   13th   29-5   13th
   2019   18th   25-6   16th
   2020   16th   12-4   NR
   2022   18th   TBD   TBD
Some Fab Freshmen
Including Sky McCune on Aug. 26 vs. Iowa State, Creighton has started 15 different true freshmen in its season opener since 2009, and 19 such players since 2000.
   Since 2000, the only true freshmen to start CU's season-opener have been Brittany Coleman (2003), Carolyn Decker (2004), Korie Lebeda (2005), Allie Oelke (2007), Brooke Boggs (2009), Heather Thorson (2009), Julianne Mandolfo (2010), Katie Neisler (2011), Michelle Sicner (2011), Melanie Jereb (2012), Ashley Jansen (2012), Jess Bird (2013), Jaali Winters (2015), Naomi Hickman (2017), Emily Bressman (2019), Kiara Reinhardt (2020), Kendra Wait (2021), Norah Sis (2021) and Sky McCune (2022), with Coleman, Lebeda and Wait the only freshmen to start at setter in the season-opener.
   In addition, CU also started redshirt freshmen Lauren Smith (2013) and Brittany Lawrence (2015), as well as transfers Maggie Baumert (2014), Lydia Dimke (2016), Madelyn Cole (2018), Erica Kostelac (2019) and Mahina Pua'a (2020) in season-openers.
   Ten of those women (Sis, Wait, Reinhardt, Coleman, Decker, Lebeda, Oelke, Mandolfo, Sicner and Jereb) went on to land a spot on the MVC or BIG EAST's All-Freshman Team (though the BIG EAST had no such team from 2013-19). Winters was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2015, Dimke was named BIG EAST Player of the Year in 2016, Davis was BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2019 and Sis recognized as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2022.
   Last year marked the first time that Creighton started multiple true freshmen in a season-opener since 2012, when Ashley Jansen and Melanie Jereb both earning a starting nod. The 2012 and 2021 teams are the two winningest single-season teams in program history.
Believe The Hype
Creighton's recruiting class of freshmen Morgan Colangelo, Ava Martin, Sky McCune and Ann Marie Remmes was recognized as the nation's No. 24 class by PrepVolleyball.
   Martin was listed as the nation's No. 47 recruit, while McCune was tabbed 52nd-best. Creighton now owns eight players on its 2022 roster who were Top 100 recruits.
Top-100 PrepVolleyball.com Senior Aces
(list started in 2004)
Rank   Year   Player
68Â Â Â 2004Â Â Â Carolyn Decker
55Â Â Â 2008Â Â Â Laurel Sanford
60Â Â Â 2011Â Â Â Michelle Sicner
73Â Â Â 2013Â Â Â Jess Bird
50Â Â Â 2014Â Â Â Lydia Dimke*
18Â Â Â 2015Â Â Â Taryn Kloth
41Â Â Â 2015Â Â Â Jaali Winters
77Â Â Â 2016Â Â Â Erica Kostelac#
98Â Â Â 2017Â Â Â Naomi Hickman
99Â Â Â 2017Â Â Â Steph Gaston
49Â Â Â 2018Â Â Â Jaela Zimmerman
42Â Â Â 2018Â Â Â Keeley Davis
46Â Â Â 2020Â Â Â Kiara Reinhardt
97Â Â Â 2020Â Â Â Ellie Bolton
7Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Kendra Wait
28Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Norah Sis
31Â Â Â 2021Â Â Â Eve Magill
47Â Â Â 2022Â Â Â Ava Martin
52Â Â Â 2022Â Â Â Sky McCune
* signed with Purdue and later transferred to Creighton
# signed with Cincinnati and later transferred to Creighton
PrepVolleyball.com Recruiting Rankings
(list started in 2004)
Year   Rank   Freshman Recruits
2004   Best of the Rest   (Baumann, Decker, Goc, Lahm, Mehal)
2005   Honorable-Mention   (Cvejdlik, Houts, Lebeda)
2006   None   (Bloemke, Schulze, Workman)
2007   None   (Feldman, Oelke, Vrbicky)
2008   Highest Honorable-Mention   (Almgren, Bober, Sanford)
2009Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â Boggs, Greisch, Moon, Templeton, Thorson)
2010Â Â Â High HMÂ Â Â (Fliss, Hackbarth, Malm, Mandolfo, S. Smith)
2011Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â (Browning, McNary, Neisler, Sicner, Stivers)
2012   High Honorable-Mention   (Elman, Jansen, Jereb, L. Smith)
2013   None   (Bird, Crawford, Foje)
2014   Highest Honorable-Mention   (Lawrence, Tupper, Wilkinson)
2015   11th   (Ballenger, Bohnet, Kloth, O'Connell, Winters)
2016   High Honorable-Mention   (Conlon, Taylor, Witt)
2017   25th   (Gaston, Hickman, Roumeliotis)
2018   10th   (Davis, Welty, Zimmerman, Zumach)
2019Â Â Â Highest HMÂ Â Â (Bressman, Krause, Schmitt, Van Eekeren)
2020   27th   (Bolton, Maser, Reinhardt, Skovsende)
2021   5th   (Magill, Milner, Sis, Wait)
2022   24th   (Colangelo, Martin, McCune, Remmes)
Production Returns
Creighton returns 11-of-16 letterwinners to the court from last season, including four starters
   From last year's team, only Abby Bottomley, Naomi Hickman, Eve Magill, Ally Van Eekeren, Annika Welty are not back.
   All told, of the seven categories listed below, Creighton returns 511.8 of a possible 700% back (73.1 percent).
   Below is a breakdown of the production that is back:
Stat   Returners   Departures
Assists   1,331 (87.4%)   192 (12.6%)
Kills   1,307 (80.2%)   323 (19.8%)
Points   1,627.0 (75.6%)   526.0 (24.4%)
Matches Started   154 (73.3%)   56 (26.7%)
Digs   1,460 (70.6%)   607 (29.4%)
Aces   128 (66.7%)   64 (33.3%)
Blocks   192 (58.0%)   139.0 (42.0%)
10 Straight NCAA's
Creighton Volleyball has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 10 seasons. They are the first women's team in any sport at Creighton to make 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
   The only other sport in Creighton history to make 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances is the men's soccer program, which qualified in 17 straight seasons from 1992-2008.
   Creighton is one of nine teams nationally to have appeared in each of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments (2012-21). That group features BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State, San Diego, Texas and Washington.
   There are also 13 schools that have appeared in 11 of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments, a group that includes Creighton, Florida State, Hawai'i, Minnesota, Purdue and Stanford.
   Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State, San Diego, Texas and Washington have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since at least 2010.
Jae-Z Plays The Hits
Jaela Zimmerman owns 997 kills, good for 15th in Creighton history. She stands just three kills of becoming the 15th Bluejay ever to reach the 1,000 kill milestone. Zimmerman has played in 103 career matches.
Career Kills
      Name   Sets   No.   Years
   1.   Jaali Winters   494   1,843   2015-18
   2.   Leah Ratzlaff   409   1,622   2002-05
   3.   Melissa Walsh   394   1,596   1998-01
   4.   Taryn Kloth   462   1,427   2015-18
   5.   Kelly Goc   394   1,414   2004-07
   6.   Jessica Houts   451   1,385   2005-09
   7.   JoDe Cieloha   398   1,375   1994-97
   8.   Leah McNary   458   1,257   2011-14
   9.   Marysa Wilkinson   499   1,183   2014-17
   10.   Lauren Smith   511   1,160   2013-16
   11.   Allie Oelke   445   1,126   2007-10
   12.   Kelli Browning   424   1,104   2011-14
   13.   Amanda Cvejdlik   343   1,029   2005-08
   14.   Shelly Kapler   388   1,000   1996-99
   15.   Jaela Zimmerman   342   997   2018-Pr.
Creighton's Quickest Players To 1,000 Career Kills
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Melissa Walsh   70   10/15/00   Eastern Illinois
Jaali Winters   73   08/25/17   vs. Saint Mary's
Leah Ratzlaff   76   10/22/04   Missouri State
JoDe Cieloha   83   09/13/97   at Drake
Kelly Goc   87   11/24/06   vs Northern Iowa
Jessica Houts   90   11/08/08   Illinois State
Leah McNary   96   09/12/14   Pepperdine
Amanda Cvejdlik   99   11/15/08   at Evansville
Shelly Kapler   103   11/18/99   vs. Missouri St.
Taryn Kloth   103   08/31/18   vs. NC State
Allie Oelke   107   10/09/10   Wichita State
Kelli Browning   110   10/26/14   DePaul
Lauren Smith   119   10/07/16   at Villanova
Marysa Wilkinson   120   09/30/17   at St. John's
Dealing Up Aces
Keeley Davis had six aces on the opening weekend of the season, becoming the eighth player in CU history to reach century mark for her career.
   Davis reached 100 career aces in her 82nd career contest, which ranks third-fastest in Bluejay history.
   It's also worth noting that three of Davis' teammates entered the year having owned more than 100 career aces, though they've done so at other schools. Bethany Clapp owned 103 aces in 97 matches at Incarnate Word, Jazz Schmidt had 103 aces in 96 matches at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic and Allison Whitten had 103 aces in 115 contests at Morehead State.
Service Aces, Career
      Name   Sets   No.   Years
   1.   Molly Moran   341   145   1998-01
   2.   Melissa Weisensee   411   125   1994-97
   3.   Brittany Witt   471   122   2016-19
   4.   JoDe Cieloha   398   113   1994-97
   5.   Keeley Davis   300   109   2019-Pr.
   6.   Kate Elman   464   105   2012-15
   7.   Shelly Kapler   388   104   1996-99
   8.   Jaali Winters   494   101   2015-18
   9.   Madelyn Cole   225   93   2018-19
   10.   Carolyn Decker   300   89   2004-08
Creighton's Quickest Players To 100 Aces (Career)
Name   MP   Date   Opponent
Molly Moran   73   08/31/01   vs. DePaul
Melissa Weisensee   77   11/01/96   Southern Illinois
Keeley Davis   82   08/26/22   vs. Wichita St.
JoDe Cieloha   85   09/06/97   at UNLV
Shelly Kapler   95   10/15/99   Bradley
Brittany Witt   107   10/05/19   Seton Hall
Kate Elman   120   11/15/15   Butler
Jaali Winters   135   11/17/18   Providence
Put It In Neutral
Creighton is 9-0 on neutral floors the past two seasons (7-0 last year, 2-0 this year), improving to 73-34 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in neutral site matches.
   The streak will be put to the test on Friday when CU meets Florida State at Baxter Arena.
   Creighton's nine consecutive wins on neutral floors is tied for the nation's third-longest active win streak at a neutral site:
Longest Active Neutral Site Win Streaks
   Rank   Streak   School
   1.   32   Michigan State
   2.   12   Western Kentucky
   3.   9   Creighton
      9   UNLV
      9   Kentucky  Â
      9   Providence
Survival of the Fittest
Creighton has won nine matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth after surviving an opponent's match point, including season-opening wins over No. 5 Kentucky in 2018 and vs. UTSA in 2011. Three of those other comeback wins have come against Wichita State.
   On the other hand, Creighton is 419-3 under Booth when it reaches a match point opportunity, falling only when it wasted two match points on Sept. 4, 2010 to Iowa, two match points on Nov. 1, 2013 in a loss to St. John's, and two match points on Dec. 7, 2019 in an NCAA Tournament loss at No. 7 Minnesota.
Surviving Match Points, Under Booth
Date   Opponent   MP(s) Faced   Final Set 5
08/30/03   vs. McNeese State   13-14, 15-16   18-16
10/10/03   Wichita State   13-14   16-14
10/13/06   at Wichita State   12-14, 13-14, 14-15   17-15
09/11/07   at Drake   13-14, 14-15   17-15
08/26/11Â Â Â vs. UTSAÂ Â Â 12-14, 13-14Â Â Â 16-14
11/16/12   at Wichita State   13-14   16-14
09/20/15   Kansas State   23-24 (4th set)   15-13
11/20/15   at Georgetown   23-24, 26-27 (4th set)   15-7
08/24/18   vs. #5 Kentucky   16-15, 19-18   22-20
Taking The Fifth
Creighton is 62-33 in five-set matches under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. That's impressive since Creighton had never finished a season with a winning record in fifth sets prior to Booth's arrival.
   Creighton has won 16 of its last 22 true road matches to go five sets, including wins in 2012 over league rivals Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Missouri State, wins in 2013 at Denver and at Wichita State, wins in 2014 at Butler and at St. John's, a win at Georgetown in 2015, an NCAA Tournament win at No. 4 Kansas in 2016, 2017 victories at Butler, Georgetown and Marquette, a 2018 win at Butler, wins at UNI and No. 10 Marquette in 2019 and at South Dakota in the 2020 campaign.
   It's also worth noting that Creighton is 15-4 all-time in five-set home matches at D.J. Sokol Arena.
   Below is a list of Creighton's record in five-set matches on a yearly basis:
Year   Set 5 W-L   Total W-L
1994Â Â Â 0-2Â Â Â 5-20
1995Â Â Â 0-2Â Â Â 11-19
1996Â Â Â 2-6Â Â Â 9-19
1997Â Â Â 3-5Â Â Â 15-13
1998Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 7-18
1999Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 13-15
2000Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 16-12
2001Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 14-13
2002Â Â Â 1-3Â Â Â 3-23
2003Â Â Â 5-1Â Â Â 12-18
2004Â Â Â 4-0Â Â Â 18-11
2005Â Â Â 3-1Â Â Â 16-14
2006Â Â Â 4-2Â Â Â 21-10
2007Â Â Â 2-0Â Â Â 21-10
2008Â Â Â 2-3Â Â Â 18-9
2009Â Â Â 1-4Â Â Â 14-17
2010Â Â Â 3-3Â Â Â 21-12
2011Â Â Â 5-2Â Â Â 17-14
2012Â Â Â 4-1Â Â Â 29-4
2013Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 23-9
2014Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 25-9
2015Â Â Â 5-2Â Â Â 27-9
2016Â Â Â 4-3Â Â Â 29-7
2017Â Â Â 4-1Â Â Â 26-7
2018Â Â Â 3-2Â Â Â 29-5
2019Â Â Â 2-1Â Â Â 25-6
2020Â Â Â 4-2Â Â Â 12-4
2021Â Â Â 1-1Â Â Â 31-4
2022Â Â Â 0-0Â Â Â 5-1
Total   77-61   512-332
Champions Among Champions
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. 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, tied for the most in the nation with Dayton and Western Kentucky.
Most Conference Titles 2012-2021
Regular-Season   League Tournament
9 (1 shared) Creighton   8 Creighton
9 (1) Texas   8 Dayton
9 (5) Western Kentucky   8 Western Kentucky
8 BYUÂ Â Â 7 Fairfield
8 (1) Colorado State   6 LIU
8 Fairfield   6 American
Home Sweet Home
Creighton enters its 10th season as a member of the BIG EAST since joining the league in the summer of 2013.
   Since then, the Bluejays are 80-4 in home matches against BIG EAST teams (73-3 in the regular-season, 7-1 in the BIG EAST Tournament).
   Since November of 2014, Creighton is 64-1 inside D.J. Sokol Arena against BIG EAST teams, which includes a 58-1 league mark and a 6-0 mark in the conference tournament. The only setback (on Feb. 6, 2021 vs. Marquette) was played as a non-conference match, only to be flipped to a league contest 19 days later.
   Put another way, since enrolling at Creighton in 2018, Bluejay fifth-year senior Jaela Zimmerman is 35-1 in home matches against BIG EAST teams, winning 105-of-123 sets played.
BIG EAST Preseason Poll
Creighton Volleyball has been picked to win the BIG EAST in a preseason poll of league coaches.
   Creighton earned 9-of-11 first place votes and 99 of a possible 100 points. That was just ahead of Marquette's 90 points and the other two votes for first place.
   DePaul (72) was picked third, just ahead of UConn (71) and St. John's (66). Rounding out the bottom half of the poll were Villanova (54), Butler (47), Xavier (42), Georgetown (25), Providence (25) and Seton Hall (14).
   Creighton also had three women among the 12 members on the BIG EAST's preseason all-conference team in Jaela Zimmerman and Kendra Wait as well as unanimous selection Norah Sis. Sis was also tabbed the BIG EAST's Preseason Player of the Year.
   Creighton has finished in the spot predicted of it or better in the preseason poll in 17 of 19 years under Kirsten Bernthal Booth, including nine years where it's finished exactly where it was picked.
Year   Preseason Pick   Finish   Move
1994   11th   9th   #2
1995   9th   7th   #2
1996   9th   6th   #3
1997   8th   3rd   #5
1998   6th   8th   i2
1999   T-7th   5th   #2
2000   4th   T-4th   - -
2001   2nd   4th   i2
2002   7th   9th   i2
2003   9th   T-5th   #4
2004   5th   5th   - -
2005   5th   5th   - -
2006   4th   4th   - -
2007   3rd   T-2nd   #1
2008   3rd   2nd   #1
2009   4th   T-4th   - -
2010   4th   3rd   #1
2011   3rd   4th   i1
2012   4th   1st   #3
2013   1st   T-2nd   i1
2014   1st   1st   - -
2015   1st   1st   - -
2016   1st   1st   - -
2017   1st   1st   - -
2018   2nd   1st   #1
2019   2nd   1st   #1
2020Â Â Â 1st (MW)Â Â Â 1st (MW)Â Â Â - -
2021   1st   1st   - -
2022   1st   ???   ???
BIG EAST'S Best
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.
   Below is a look at the record of each BIG EAST team since the league's realignment in 2013:
BIG EAST VB Standings Since 2013 (thru 9/4)
           BIG EAST only   All   matches
Team (NCAA Bids)Â Â Â WÂ Â Â LÂ Â Â WÂ Â Â L
Creighton (9)Â Â Â 137Â Â Â 13Â Â Â 232Â Â Â 61
Marquette (8)Â Â Â 120Â Â Â 27Â Â Â 212Â Â Â 70
Xavier   84   64   134   130
Butler   81   69   146   124
Villanova (1)Â Â Â 77Â Â Â 73Â Â Â 147Â Â Â 118
St. John's (1)Â Â Â 71Â Â Â 79Â Â Â 157Â Â Â 126
Seton Hall (1)Â Â Â 66Â Â Â 83Â Â Â 134Â Â Â 141
DePaul   40   110   100   158
Georgetown   33   109   83   166
Providence*Â Â Â 22Â Â Â 112Â Â Â 85Â Â Â 150
Connecticut#Â Â Â 17Â Â Â 9Â Â Â 30Â Â Â 21
*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.
2-0 Better Than 0-2
Creighton is 349-11 (.969) all-time when leading a match 2-0, including a 292-5 mark (.983) under Kirsten Bernthal Booth. CU is 218-3 when up 2-0 dating to September of 2009, and 111-1 all-time at D.J. Sokol Arena when up 2-0 at the break.
   Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that won the first two sets won 95.0 percent of their matches from 2009-18.
   Conversely, the Jays are 15-202 (.069) all-time when trailing a match 0-2, and 13-103 (.112) under Booth. Those 15 comebacks in program history from down 0-2 are listed below.
Date   Opponent   Sets 3-5 scores   Coach
09/19/97   at Bradley   15-11, 15-13, 15-8   Wallace
10/01/99   at Drake   15-6, 17-15, 15-11   Wallace
09/03/04   vs. Montana   30-20, 30-21, 15-11   Booth
10/15/04   at Bradley   30-22, 30-23, 15-11   Booth
10/15/05   at So. Illinois   30-25, 30-24, 15-8   Booth
09/21/07   at No. Iowa   31-29, 30-26, 15-12   Booth
11/16/12   at Wichita St.   25-16, 25-20, 16-14   Booth
09/05/14   vs. No. Iowa   25-16, 25-22, 15-5   Booth
11/08/14   at Butler   25-16, 25-20, 15-13   Booth
09/20/15   Kansas State   25-23, 26-24, 15-13   Booth
10/09/15   DePaul   25-21, 25-12, 15-11   Booth
11/20/15   at Georgetown   30-28, 26-24, 15-7   Booth
10/13/17   Butler   25-21, 25-23, 15-9   Booth
10/18/18   Xavier   25-17, 25-17, 15-13   Booth
01/31/21   at So. Dakota   25-20, 25-23, 15-7   Booth
Set 1 Result A Strong Indicator
Creighton is 354-33 (.915) overall under Kirsten Bernthal Booth when it wins set one. In that same time span, CU is just 65-147 (.307) under Booth when it drops the first set.
   Per RichKern.com, Division I teams that lost the first set in 2018 won just 20.7 percent of their matches that season, and 20.2 percent of their matches from 2009-18.
   Since Aug. 29, 2010, Creighton has gone 126-4 in its last 130 home matches when taking a 1-0 lead, losing only on Sept. 12, 2015 to Pacific, on Sept. 6, 2018 to No. 7 Nebraska and on Jan. 29, 2021 to South Dakota and on Sept. 3, 2022 to No. 16 Kentucky.
   Creighton has gone 86-3 in its last 89 matches at all sites when winning the first set, compared to an 8-13 record in that same span when dropping the opener.
   Creighton has gone 127-2 in its last 129 matches against unranked foes when winning the opening set.
Eleventh Heaven
Kirsten Bernthal Booth is in some select company, as she has directed her team to 11 NCAA Tournaments.
   That puts her in the company of some of the greatest coaches in CU Athletics history, as she's tied former men's soccer coach Bob Warming atop that list.
Name   Sport   NCAA's @CU
Bob Warming   Men's Soccer   11
Kirsten Bernthal Booth   Volleyball   11
Dana Altman   Men's Basketball   7
Greg McDermott   Men's Basketball   7
Brent Vigness   Softball   7
Elmar Bolowich   Men's Soccer   6
Against NCAA Tournament Qualifiers
Last season Creighton played four matches against 2020 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, going 3-1 against such teams.
   This year's team owns eight matches (Iowa State, Kentucky, Nebraska, Florida State, Kansas State, Rice and Marquette) scheduled against teams that made the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and CU is 1-1 against those foes to date.
   After going 3-35 against teams coming off NCAA Tournament bids prior to Kirsten Bernthal Booth's arrival, the Jays are 90-102 since.
Year   W-L vs. Previous Season NCAA Teams
1994Â Â Â 0-4
1995Â Â Â 0-2
1996Â Â Â 0-2
1997Â Â Â 0-3
1998Â Â Â 0-5
1999Â Â Â 2-4
2000Â Â Â 0-4
2001Â Â Â 1-6
2002Â Â Â 0-5
2003Â Â Â 0-3
2004Â Â Â 2-2
2005Â Â Â 0-6
2006Â Â Â 4-6
2007Â Â Â 4-9
2008Â Â Â 6-8
2009Â Â Â 1-11
2010Â Â Â 4-7
2011Â Â Â 2-6
2012Â Â Â 8-3
2013Â Â Â 6-6
2014Â Â Â 4-5
2015Â Â Â 11-5
2016Â Â Â 10-7
2017Â Â Â 8-6
2018Â Â Â 8-5
2019Â Â Â 5-4
2020Â Â Â 3-1
2021Â Â Â 3-1
2022Â Â Â 1-1 so far
TOTALÂ Â Â 93-137
TOTAL Under Booth   90-102
Marian Pipeline
This is the 20th straight season that Creighton Volleyball had at least one product of Omaha Marian High School on the roster, as senior Emily Bressman keeps the streak alive.
   Interestingly, the Bluejays had never had a volleyball player from Marian between 1994-2002. Here's a look at Creighton's pipeline of players from Marian.
2022: Emily Bressman
2021: Emily Bressman
2020: Emily Bressman
2019: Emily Bressman, Brittany Witt
2018: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2017: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2016: Kelsey O'Connell, Brittany Witt
2015: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen, Kelsey O'Connell
2014: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2013: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2012: Kate Elman, Ashley Jansen
2011: Julianne Mandolfo
2010: Lisa Greisch, Julianne Mandolfo
2009: Lisa Greisch
2008: Emily Crowley, Korie Lebeda
2007: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2006: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2005: Korie Lebeda, Katie Mehal
2004: Katie Mehal, Emily Greisch
2003: Emily Greisch
8 Straight BIG EAST Regular-Season Titles
With its 2021 title, Creighton became the first team in BIG EAST volleyball history to win eight straight regular-season titles.      The previous record had been seven by Notre Dame from 1999-2005.
   The Bluejay volleyball team is also the first Creighton program in any sport to win eight or more straight league titles, surpassing the five in a row by the men's soccer program (1992-96).
Climbing The List
Kirsten Bernthal Booth became Creighton Volleyball's winningest coach in the program's modern history on August 26, 2007, and hasn't let up. Booth owns 419 victories on the Bluejay sideline to rank fifth in school history across all sports.
Coach, Sport   Victories (thru 9/6)
Brent Vigness, Softball   819
Ed Servais, Baseball   618*
Mary Higgins, Softball   564
Tom Lilly, Men's & Women's Tennis   498*
Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Volleyball   419*
Jim Flanery, Women's Basketball   387*
Ed Hubbs, Men's & Women's Tennis   347
Dana Altman, Men's Basketball   327
*still active coaching at Creighton
Against The BIG EAST
Since the BIG EAST was restructured in 2013, Creighton owns a .500 record or better against each of the other teams currently in the BIG EAST.
   The Bluejays own 152 wins against BIG EAST competition (including BIG EAST Championship play) since 2013, 27 more wins than Marquette for most in the league.
   CU still has not lost to four league foes (DePaul, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier) since joining the BIG EAST, and Seton Hall (3), Marquette (4), Villanova (3) and St. John's (3) are the only BIG EAST programs to top the Bluejays multiple times since 2013.
Opponent   Reg. Season   BE Tourney   Total
Butler   17-1   -   17-1
Connecticut   0-1   1-0   1-1
DePaul   18-0   1-0   19-0
Georgetown   16-0   -   16-0
Marquette   15-3   5-1   20-4
Providence   13-0   -   13-0
Seton Hall   13-3   2-0   15-3
St. John's   14-2   0-1   14-3
Villanova   13-3   3-0   16-3
Xavier   18-0   3-0   21-0
Total   137-13   15-2   152-15
Last Season Summary
Creighton went 31-4 last season, won an eighth straight BIG EAST regular-season title and reached the Second Round while playing in its 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament.
   Norah Sis was named a Third Team All-American by the AVCA and the National Freshman of the Year by VolleyballMag.com. Also named Honorable Mention All-American were Jaela Zimmerman and Kendra Wait.
   CU's 31 victories were a school-record and included five tournament titles.
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Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballCreighton's Ava Martin Highlights - 9/22/25
Monday, September 22
Creighton Volleyball Postgame Press Conference vs. Kansas - 9/21/25
Monday, September 22
Creighton Volleyball Highlights vs. Kansas, 9/21/25
Monday, September 22
Creighton Volleyball vs. South Florida Press Conference - 9/20/25
Saturday, September 20
