#17 Volleyball Seeks Sweet 16 Berth With Match vs. Minnesota

2023 NCAA Tournament Second Round
Match #33: Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-12) at #17 Creighton Bluejays (28-4)
Omaha, Neb. • D.J. Sokol Arena • Saturday, December 2, 2023 • 6:30 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES | MINN NOTES |

• Creighton (28-4) hosts Second Round NCAA Tournament action on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when it takes on Minnesota (17-12) with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. The action will take place inside D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb.
   Both teams advanced after a 3-0 victory on Friday. The Golden Gophers dispatched Utah State (25-17, 25-14, 25-23) before the Bluejays eliminated Colgate (25-19, 25-23, 25-20).

• The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ (http://www.watchespn.com), with Jon Schriner, Shannon Smolinski and Ana Bellinghausen on the call.
   An audio-only version of the webcast can be heard at http://GoCreighton.com/watch.
   Live stats will be available at http://www.ncaa.com/mediastats.

• Last night's win improved Creighton to 13-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, including a 10-3 mark in the First Round and a 4-4 record in home matches.
   Creighton is 2-7 all-time in the Second Round, including an 0-3 mark in matches against Minnesota (losses in 2010, 2012 and 2019).

• With a win on Saturday, Creighton would...
   - Advance to its third Sweet 16 in program history (2015, 2016), advancing out of Omaha for the first time in five tries as a host.
   - Improve to 29-4 this season, tied for the second-most wins in program history.
   - Stretch its win streak to 17 in a row, tied for the third-longest win streak in program history.
   - Finish the season 13-0 inside D.J. Sokol Arena.
   - Win its 13th straight home match, the nation's eighth-longest home win streak, and tied for the second-longest home win streak in program history.

• Saturday, Dec. 2 marks the seventh anniversary of arguably the most memorable win in program history a 3-2 victory at No. 4 Kansas that clinched CU's most recent trip to the Sweet 16. Creighton won the fifth set of that match 20-18, beating a Jayhawk team that was coming off a Final Four appearance in 2015 and featured libero Cassie Wait, sister of current CU setter Kendra Wait.
   Saturday is also the two-year anniversary of Creighton's last NCAA Tournament win (before last night), a 3-0 sweep over Ole Miss. Four current Bluejays (Ellie Bolton, Kiana Schmitt, Norah Sis, Kendra Wait) played in that match.

• Creighton has lost just one set in its last 16 matches, dropping the first set at St. John's (25-23) on Nov. 11, 2023.
   In those 16 matches, CU has averaged 15.27 kills per set, 15.35 digs per set, 2.41 blocks per set, 1.96 aces per set and hit .353.
   Creighton's 16-match win streak is the nation's fourth-longest active streak, trailing only Dayton (27), Western Kentucky (25) and Kentucky (18).

• Friday's crowd of 2,563 was the third-largest crowd in D.J. Sokol Arena history. The only larger crowds were last season's NCAA Tournament opener vs. Auburn (2,653) and a 2017 home opener vs. No. 13 Kentucky (2,578).
   The crowd of 2,563 was the 11th-largest of any First Round site, ahead of Purdue (2,415), Tennessee (2,304), Kentucky (2,180), Florida (2,102) and Kansas (1,662).
   Creighton is now averaging 2,127 fans per home match this season, its largest mark ever in a season that hasn't featured a home match inside the spacious CHI Health Center Omaha. The 2023 average ranks 31st-most in the NCAA this fall.
   With 2,533 fans or more on Saturday, Creighton will finish with its third-best average home attendance ever.

• Last night's win was Creighton's 200th all-time as a ranked team, improving to 200-44.

• Creighton improved to 20-1 this season when two-time All-American Norah Sis plays this year, winning 62-of-69 sets. CU has won 18 straight matches this year with Sis in the line-up.

• Creighton enters Saturday night having won 29 consecutive sets at home. CU is 36-3 in sets at home this year, and one of the sets it lost was 36-34 (vs. Northern Iowa).
   At all sites, Creighton has won 18 straight sets since a first set loss to St. John's that snapped its program-record 30-set win streak. Only six teams in CU history have had a set win streak of 19 or more.

• At least 10 of the top 16 national seeds have reached the Sweet 16 in each of the previous 22 seasons, with an average year featuring 12.91 seeds per year.
   So far this year, two national top 16 seeds have been eliminated (Kansas and Florida), while six have advanced to the Sweet 16. Eight national seeds are in action on Saturday night.

• Creighton has lost just 19 sets this season. The only three schools with fewer (Nebraska, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin, all with 18) are all No. 1 seeds in their Region. Dayton has also lost 19 sets this year.

• Creighton is 102-3 in its last 105 home matches against unranked teams heading into Saturday's contest vs. unranked Minnesota.
   Speaking of unranked teams, Creighton is 170-4 in its last 174 matches against unranked teams when winning the first set.

• Kiana Schmitt owned four blocks on Friday vs. Colgate as Creighton improved to 38-0 all-time when the Waunakee, Wisconsin product has four or more rejections.

• Creighton and Minnesota are two of the 13 schools that have appeared in 13 of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments, a group that includes Creighton, Florida State, Hawai'i, Minnesota, Purdue, San Diego, Stanford and Washington. Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State, and Texas have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since at least 2010.
   Creighton and Minnesota are two of 11 teams nationally who have been national seeds at least six of the last nine seasons.

• Saturday will be the second meeting of the season between Minnesota and Creighton, as the teams also played on Sept. 16 in Minneapolis. In that contest, Creighton's Ava Martin tied her career-high with 22 kills and was named MVP of the Diet Coke Classic as the then-No. 14 Creighton Volleyball team closed non-conference play with a 3-2 win (25-15, 16-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-9) over then-No. 9 Minnesota.
   Minnesota scored the first point of the fifth set before an 9-0 run on Sydney Bressinger's serve put the Jays in command. Minnesota got as close as 13-8 late in the set before CU closed out its second top-20 road win of the year over a Big Ten team, having also defeated then-No. 16 Purdue on August 26th. Breissinger finished the match with five aces.
   Creighton played the the match without Norah Sis, while Minnesota setter Melani Shaffmaster battled injury throughout much of the contest.

• A lot has changed on the Creighton side since it last met Minnesota three months ago. The first time around Ann Marie Remmes (6 kills, 3 blocks in the first meeting), Destiny Ndam-Simpson (12 kills, 2 blocks) and Ellie Bolton (20 digs) helped CU capture the top-10 road win. Last night, Remmes did not play while Ndam-Simpson and Bolton didn't appear until late in the third set and combined for two kills and one dig.
   Kiara Reinhardt (0 kill in 2 sets) and Ellie Bichelmeyer (6 kills) have seen an increased role, while Norah Sis (DNP, injured) has returned to make CU's offense one of the nation's most prolific.

• Minnesota coach Keegan Cook is in his first year leading Minnesota after a highly-successful run at Washington. Cook led Washington's 2018 squad that snapped Creighton's 21-match win streak in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament with a 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 win. That CU team entered the contest with a 29-4 mark.

• Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth is the current President-Elect of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Minnesota head coach Keegan Cook is the current AVCA President.
   Booth began her service on January 1, 2023 then will become AVCA President in 2024. She is part of the 17-member AVCA Board of Directors, which includes elected representatives, appointed voting members for Diversity Development and Legislation, and non-voting members for Education and Awards.
   She will finish out her term as Past President in 2026.

• Saturday will be Creighton's fourth NCAA Tournament meeting all-time against Minnesota, its most against any other school. The teams played in 2010, 2012 and 2019, all in Minneapolis, with the Golden Gophers winning each time.
   The 2019 meeting saw Minnesota survive a pair of Bluejay match points in the fourth set before rallying to win the fifth set. Current CU fifth-year senior Kiana Schmitt was a member on that Creighton team, but did not appear in the contest

• Minnesota is 5-1 all-time against Creighton, with five of those matches taking place in Minneapolis, and Creighton getting closer and closer each time.
   Creighton was swept in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In 2012 Creighton won a set over the Gophers for the first time. In 2019 Creighton owned a pair of match points in the fourth set before eventually falling in five sets.
   Most recently Creighton won at Minnesota in five sets on Sept. 16, 2023.
   Kirsten Bernthal Booth is 1-5 against the Gophers and 2-2 against Keegan Cook. Both wins against Cook came when he was leading a top-10 squad.

• Minnesota's Elise Mcghie was a high school teammate of Creighton's Ellie Bichelmeyer at St. Teresa's Academy in Kansas City, Mo.
   Creighton's Norah Sis played alongside Minnesota's Mckenna Wucherer while winning a Gold Medal at the U21 Women's NORCECA Pan American Cup in both the summer of 2022 and 2023.

• Friday marked the fifth time that Creighton has won its First Round match by a 3-0 count. Creighton has never won multiple matches by a 3-0 count in the same NCAA Tournament.

• Saturday will be Creighton's fourth NCAA Tournament meeting ever vs. Minnesota. That's more than any other squad, one more than the number of matches it has faced against Kansas.

• The Minnesota/Creighton victor will play No. 7 Louisville on Thursday. Dec. 7, at a time and site to be determined
   Creighton is 0-1 all-time against Louisville, losing to the Cardinals in five sets on Aug. 29, 2015 at the Illini Classic in Champaign, Ill.

#17 Volleyball Seeks Sweet 16 Berth With Match vs. Minnesota

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Players Mentioned

Ellie Bichelmeyer

Ellie Bolton

Ava Martin

Destiny Ndam-Simpson

Kiara Reinhardt

Ann Marie Remmes

Kiana Schmitt

Norah Sis

Kendra Wait