#15 Volleyball Bounces Back With 3-0 Win at DePaul
10/7/2023 8:03:00 PM | Volleyball
Creighton improves to 13-4 on the season
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Freshman Destiny Ndam-Simpson had a season-high 16 kills to lead the No. 15 Creighton Volleyball team to a 3-0 victory at DePaul on Saturday night.
Scores of the Bluejay win were 25-22, 28-26, 25-20.
Kiana Schmitt added 10 kills, including one to end all three sets, for the Bluejays (13-4, 4-2 BIG EAST). The victory improved Creighton to 22-1 all-time against the Blue Demons.
DePaul standout Jill Pressly had 12 kills to add to her league-leading total, but also had 16 attack errors to hit -.095 in 42 swings. The Blue Demons fell to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in league play after their second loss in a row.
"All three games could have gone the other direction," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I thought we did a really good job containing Pressly...she's such a key cog for them."
Less than 24 hours after struggling with end-game production in a loss at Marquette, Creighton showed vast improvement in that area on Saturday night just 90 miles south of Milwaukee.
In the first set CU trailed 20-18 before battling back to tie the score at 22-all on a kill from Ndam-Simpson. Freshman Audrey Clark then checked in to serve CU's next three points, including a kill from Schmitt to close out the win. Ndam-Simpson (5), Schmitt (4) and Ava Martin (4) combined for 13 kills in the opener while Ellie Bolton and Kendra Wait both added six digs for the visitors.
Wait had 12 assists and 10 digs alone in the second set to quarterback a Bluejay club that had 18 kills, 27 digs and four blocks. CU would need every point. The Bluejays trailed 25-24 before DePaul appeared to win the set, only to have the call challenged and then overturned to knot the score at 25-all. CU saved another set point from DePaul at 26-25 before scoring the final three points on back-to-back-to-back kills by Schmitt.
Creighton trailed 7-2 early in the third set and were behind 16-10 before Ava Martin served up a 10-0 run that flipped the momentum in CU's favor and ultimately keyed the sweep. With Martin's serve forcing the Blue Demons out-of-system, Pressly had five errors during the Bluejay surge. Creighton hit .292 in the finale, while DePaul had 11 kills but just as many errors to hit .000 in 31 swings.
"I thought the big difference in the third set was Ava's serving run," continued Booth. "Ava got them out of system every single time almost. She found Pressly as they moved Pressly around, she'd move and get her there. So then all of the sudden when they're out of system Kiara and everyone knows where they're probably going, and we're able to put four hands up."
Ndam-Simpson's 16 kills and seven digs were both season-highs for the freshman, while Wait finished with 29 assists and 19 digs. Kiara Reinhardt also provided six kills and a season-best six blocks on .385 hitting while making a difference at the net. CU hit .191 and finished with 44 kills, two aces, 51 digs and nine blocks overall.
DePaul closed the evening with 32 kills, eight aces, 44 digs and 10 blocks on .050 hitting thanks in part to 26 attack errors. Besides Pressly's 12 kills, no other Blue Demon owned more than six kills. Rachel Krasowski collected a team-high 15 digs for the Blue Demons.
Creighton returns to the court next Friday when it hosts Georgetown at 6 p.m. as part of the program's annual Pink Out.
NOTES: Creighton has won 23 straight sets played at DePaul dating to Nov. 7, 2015 and is 10-0 all-time in Chicago against the Blue Demons ... Creighton has won 65 straight matches when taking a 2-0 lead and 199 straight regular-season league contests when up 2-0 ... The second set today was the third time this season CU has won a set after saving a set point ... Creighton has won 22 straight times following a loss ... The Bluejays avoided back-to-back losses for the first time since August of 2019, the nation's longest streak without back-to-back setbacks ... Creighton still hasn't lost back-to-back conference matches since 2011 ... Creighton's 22 straight victories over DePaul are its second-longest streak over another team in program history (Xavier, 23) ... Creighton is 10-0 this year when winning the second set ... All seven of DePaul's losses this season have been 3-0 sweeps ... Creighton improved to 11-5 this season in sets decided by exactly two points ... Jill Pressly's 16 attack errors made her the first Bluejay opponent with 15 or more since Tulsa's Tyler Henderson on Sept. 8, 2012 ... Creighton has started 13-4 or better after 17 matches in each of the last five fall seasons it has played ... Ellie Bolton has had at least one ace in 15 of the last 16 matches.
Scores of the Bluejay win were 25-22, 28-26, 25-20.
Kiana Schmitt added 10 kills, including one to end all three sets, for the Bluejays (13-4, 4-2 BIG EAST). The victory improved Creighton to 22-1 all-time against the Blue Demons.
DePaul standout Jill Pressly had 12 kills to add to her league-leading total, but also had 16 attack errors to hit -.095 in 42 swings. The Blue Demons fell to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in league play after their second loss in a row.
"All three games could have gone the other direction," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I thought we did a really good job containing Pressly...she's such a key cog for them."
Less than 24 hours after struggling with end-game production in a loss at Marquette, Creighton showed vast improvement in that area on Saturday night just 90 miles south of Milwaukee.
In the first set CU trailed 20-18 before battling back to tie the score at 22-all on a kill from Ndam-Simpson. Freshman Audrey Clark then checked in to serve CU's next three points, including a kill from Schmitt to close out the win. Ndam-Simpson (5), Schmitt (4) and Ava Martin (4) combined for 13 kills in the opener while Ellie Bolton and Kendra Wait both added six digs for the visitors.
Wait had 12 assists and 10 digs alone in the second set to quarterback a Bluejay club that had 18 kills, 27 digs and four blocks. CU would need every point. The Bluejays trailed 25-24 before DePaul appeared to win the set, only to have the call challenged and then overturned to knot the score at 25-all. CU saved another set point from DePaul at 26-25 before scoring the final three points on back-to-back-to-back kills by Schmitt.
Creighton trailed 7-2 early in the third set and were behind 16-10 before Ava Martin served up a 10-0 run that flipped the momentum in CU's favor and ultimately keyed the sweep. With Martin's serve forcing the Blue Demons out-of-system, Pressly had five errors during the Bluejay surge. Creighton hit .292 in the finale, while DePaul had 11 kills but just as many errors to hit .000 in 31 swings.
"I thought the big difference in the third set was Ava's serving run," continued Booth. "Ava got them out of system every single time almost. She found Pressly as they moved Pressly around, she'd move and get her there. So then all of the sudden when they're out of system Kiara and everyone knows where they're probably going, and we're able to put four hands up."
Ndam-Simpson's 16 kills and seven digs were both season-highs for the freshman, while Wait finished with 29 assists and 19 digs. Kiara Reinhardt also provided six kills and a season-best six blocks on .385 hitting while making a difference at the net. CU hit .191 and finished with 44 kills, two aces, 51 digs and nine blocks overall.
DePaul closed the evening with 32 kills, eight aces, 44 digs and 10 blocks on .050 hitting thanks in part to 26 attack errors. Besides Pressly's 12 kills, no other Blue Demon owned more than six kills. Rachel Krasowski collected a team-high 15 digs for the Blue Demons.
Creighton returns to the court next Friday when it hosts Georgetown at 6 p.m. as part of the program's annual Pink Out.
NOTES: Creighton has won 23 straight sets played at DePaul dating to Nov. 7, 2015 and is 10-0 all-time in Chicago against the Blue Demons ... Creighton has won 65 straight matches when taking a 2-0 lead and 199 straight regular-season league contests when up 2-0 ... The second set today was the third time this season CU has won a set after saving a set point ... Creighton has won 22 straight times following a loss ... The Bluejays avoided back-to-back losses for the first time since August of 2019, the nation's longest streak without back-to-back setbacks ... Creighton still hasn't lost back-to-back conference matches since 2011 ... Creighton's 22 straight victories over DePaul are its second-longest streak over another team in program history (Xavier, 23) ... Creighton is 10-0 this year when winning the second set ... All seven of DePaul's losses this season have been 3-0 sweeps ... Creighton improved to 11-5 this season in sets decided by exactly two points ... Jill Pressly's 16 attack errors made her the first Bluejay opponent with 15 or more since Tulsa's Tyler Henderson on Sept. 8, 2012 ... Creighton has started 13-4 or better after 17 matches in each of the last five fall seasons it has played ... Ellie Bolton has had at least one ace in 15 of the last 16 matches.
Team Stats
CU
DePaul
Kills
44
32
Errors
22
26
Attempts
115
119
Hitting %
.191
.050
Points
55.0
50.0
Assists
41
31
Aces
2
8
Blocks
9.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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