Photo by: Justin Kreutzian
#15 Volleyball Rallies To Win at St. John's; Secures BIG EAST Quarterfinal Bye
11/11/2023 5:59:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejays serve up 12 aces in 11th straight win
QUEENS, N.Y. -- No. 15 Creighton's 30-set win streak was snapped, but the Bluejays responded by taking the next three sets to post a 3-1 victory at third-place St. John's on Saturday inside Carnesecca Arena. The victory secures a bye to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament Presented by Jeep in two weeks.
Scores of Creighton's 11th straight victory were 23-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-10.
"St. John's is a good team and I thought they played really well the first couple sets and then I thought our serving took over in the match," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I told the team this was so good for us to have to respond, so I'm pleased with what we put together tonight."
Creighton (23-4, 14-2 BIG EAST) was paced by six kills from Ava Martin on .417 in the opener, while Lucrezia Lodi had SJU's final five kills in the opener, part of an effort that saw her hit .778 in nine swings. The score was tied at 22-all before a couple kills from Lodi and a Bluejay attack error helped SJU take the early lead.
The Bluejays seemed in control with a 21-17 lead in the second before a 4-0 run featuring three Red Storm blocks tied the set at 21-all. Undaunted, the Jays capitalized on three straight attack errors from SJU, then converted its third set point chance on Martin's 12th kill of the contest. Martin had six kills in 11 swings and CU had four blocks as a squad to limit SJU to .132 hitting. Lodi had five kills, but also five errors in the second frame for the Red Storm.
Creighton rolled to a 9-2 lead out of the gates to open the third set, including a pair of aces from Kendra Wait during a 6-0 serving run. After burning its second timeout St. John's countered with a 5-0 serving run before a service error from Bree Martin ended that momentum. Kiara Reinhardt authored a 4-0 run with a pair of aces to push the lead to 15-8. Creighton would hit .276 in the third set to earn the 25-17 victory. The Bluejays once again had four blocks in the set, including three from Kiana Schmitt, and got a huge boost from Destiny Ndam-Simpson, who provided three kills and a block down the stretch.
The Bluejays dominated the final set, hitting .650 with 13 kills in 20 errorless swings, not to mention six more aces, en route to a 25-10 victory.
Martin led the Bluejays with 18 kills and hit .405, while Sis closed with 14 kills and added eight digs. Wait had another solid match with 41 assists, five kills, seven digs, four blocks and two aces. The Bluejays finished with 12 service aces, including four from Reinhardt and three by Sydney Breissinger. Creighton finished the contest hitting .283 with 51 kills, 12 aces, 43 digs and 13.0 blocks.
St. John's was led by a career-high 19 kills by Lodi, while Erin Jones had 20 assists, 13 kills and eight digs. The Johnnies had 49 kills, five aces, 45 digs and 10 blocks while hitting .185 for the contest.
Creighton closes out the regular-season next weekend with home matches vs. Xavier (Friday, 6 pm) and Butler (Sunday, 1 pm).
NOTES: Creighton's 30-set win streak had been one longer than its previous mark of 29 set last year, and had been the nation's longest active streak ... Creighton has had at least one block in 898 contests in a row ... Creighton has won 21 straight matches when owning a better hitting percentage and 13 matches in a row when it has more service aces than errors ... Creighton has won seven straight matches when serving 10 or more aces ... Creighton improved to 20-0 when winning the second set this year ... Creighton's 11-match win streak is tied for the program's eighth-longest ever ... Creighton has won 11 straight conference matches, tied for its sixth-longest streak ever ... Creighton has won seven straight road matches, tied for its fifth-longest streak ever ... Creighton finished BIG EAST play 8-2 on the road this year, hitting .282 in those contests ... Creighton had played 41 straight contests against BIG EAST competition since its last match to end in exactly four sets, which dated back to Nov. 7, 2021 in a home win vs. Butler ... Kendra Wait moved into a tie for 15th place with 1,053 career digs ... Creighton improved to 15-1 this year with Norah Sis playing ... The victory was Creighton's first this season when losing the first set and first time since beating Marquette on Nov. 26, 2022 in the BIG EAST Tournament final.
Scores of Creighton's 11th straight victory were 23-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-10.
"St. John's is a good team and I thought they played really well the first couple sets and then I thought our serving took over in the match," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I told the team this was so good for us to have to respond, so I'm pleased with what we put together tonight."
Creighton (23-4, 14-2 BIG EAST) was paced by six kills from Ava Martin on .417 in the opener, while Lucrezia Lodi had SJU's final five kills in the opener, part of an effort that saw her hit .778 in nine swings. The score was tied at 22-all before a couple kills from Lodi and a Bluejay attack error helped SJU take the early lead.
The Bluejays seemed in control with a 21-17 lead in the second before a 4-0 run featuring three Red Storm blocks tied the set at 21-all. Undaunted, the Jays capitalized on three straight attack errors from SJU, then converted its third set point chance on Martin's 12th kill of the contest. Martin had six kills in 11 swings and CU had four blocks as a squad to limit SJU to .132 hitting. Lodi had five kills, but also five errors in the second frame for the Red Storm.
Creighton rolled to a 9-2 lead out of the gates to open the third set, including a pair of aces from Kendra Wait during a 6-0 serving run. After burning its second timeout St. John's countered with a 5-0 serving run before a service error from Bree Martin ended that momentum. Kiara Reinhardt authored a 4-0 run with a pair of aces to push the lead to 15-8. Creighton would hit .276 in the third set to earn the 25-17 victory. The Bluejays once again had four blocks in the set, including three from Kiana Schmitt, and got a huge boost from Destiny Ndam-Simpson, who provided three kills and a block down the stretch.
The Bluejays dominated the final set, hitting .650 with 13 kills in 20 errorless swings, not to mention six more aces, en route to a 25-10 victory.
Martin led the Bluejays with 18 kills and hit .405, while Sis closed with 14 kills and added eight digs. Wait had another solid match with 41 assists, five kills, seven digs, four blocks and two aces. The Bluejays finished with 12 service aces, including four from Reinhardt and three by Sydney Breissinger. Creighton finished the contest hitting .283 with 51 kills, 12 aces, 43 digs and 13.0 blocks.
St. John's was led by a career-high 19 kills by Lodi, while Erin Jones had 20 assists, 13 kills and eight digs. The Johnnies had 49 kills, five aces, 45 digs and 10 blocks while hitting .185 for the contest.
Creighton closes out the regular-season next weekend with home matches vs. Xavier (Friday, 6 pm) and Butler (Sunday, 1 pm).
NOTES: Creighton's 30-set win streak had been one longer than its previous mark of 29 set last year, and had been the nation's longest active streak ... Creighton has had at least one block in 898 contests in a row ... Creighton has won 21 straight matches when owning a better hitting percentage and 13 matches in a row when it has more service aces than errors ... Creighton has won seven straight matches when serving 10 or more aces ... Creighton improved to 20-0 when winning the second set this year ... Creighton's 11-match win streak is tied for the program's eighth-longest ever ... Creighton has won 11 straight conference matches, tied for its sixth-longest streak ever ... Creighton has won seven straight road matches, tied for its fifth-longest streak ever ... Creighton finished BIG EAST play 8-2 on the road this year, hitting .282 in those contests ... Creighton had played 41 straight contests against BIG EAST competition since its last match to end in exactly four sets, which dated back to Nov. 7, 2021 in a home win vs. Butler ... Kendra Wait moved into a tie for 15th place with 1,053 career digs ... Creighton improved to 15-1 this year with Norah Sis playing ... The victory was Creighton's first this season when losing the first set and first time since beating Marquette on Nov. 26, 2022 in the BIG EAST Tournament final.
Team Stats
CU
SJU
Kills
51
49
Errors
17
25
Attempts
120
130
Hitting %
.283
.185
Points
76.0
64.0
Assists
46
49
Aces
12
5
Blocks
13.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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