Saturday, September 23
Cincinnati, Ohio
4 PM
Creighton University
10-3,1-1Big East
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Xavier
9-4,2-0Big East
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#11 Creighton
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Xavier
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Photo by: Curtiss Shore
Xavier Upsets #11 Volleyball
9/23/2023 7:19:00 PM | Volleyball
Bluejays lose for first time in 24 meetings against the Musketeers
CINCINNATI, Ohio --Â The No. 11 Creighton Volleyball team suffered its first BIG EAST loss of the season with a 3-2 setback at Xavier on Saturday, Sept. 23rd. The result snapped CU's five-match win streak this season and was Xavier's first triumph in 24 meetings all-time against the Bluejays.
Scores of the match in favor of Xavier were 21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 15-10.
"I thought Xavier played very well and they worked harder than us and were more gritty than we were tonight," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I think we had flashes of playing good volleyball but didn't sustain it and then at times got passive. We've got to stay aggressive and play our game."
Creighton (10-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) got 21 kills from Ava Martin, who added a career-high 16 digs. Kendra Wait stuffed the stat sheet with 45 assists, 26 digs, five kills and three blocks on .500 hitting, while Kiana Schmitt recorded 14 kills on .375 hitting. The Bluejays closed the match with 61 kills, four aces, 95 digs and six blocks on .178 hitting.
Xavier (9-4, 2-0 BIG EAST) was led by 15 kills, nine digs and five aces by Emma Grace. All-BIG EAST choice Carrigan O'Reilly picked up a double-double with 48 assists and 12 digs, while Delaney Hogan notched 11 kills and a team-leading six blocks. Stevie Wolf led XU with 25 digs, four more than teammate Lucia Corsaro's 21. The Musketeers finished with 59 kills, nine aces, 87 digs and 11 blocks on .188 hitting.
The Bluejays scored the first three points of the afternoon and never trailed in its opening set 25-21 victory. A 6-0 serving run by Ellie Bolton extended the CU lead to 12-4. The Bluejays held off a late surge by Xavier to take the first frame 25-21 on a kill from Destiny Ndam-Simpson.
The first big momentum swing of the match occurred in the second set when the Musketeers overcame a 17-11 Bluejay lead to win the second set, 25-21. Grace had three aces in the second game, including back-to-back service winners to end the set.
Creighton trailed 10-6 in the third set, only to flip the script and take a 25-17 victory. Sky McCune authored a 5-0 service run that put CU in front 22-15 and a combo block by Schmitt and Wait gave CU a 2-1 lead in the contest. The Jays hit .262 in the third set while holding the Muskies to .079 hitting.
McCune served CU to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set but Xavier would rally to knot the score at 7-all. A 5-0 run on Wolf's serve gave XU a 13-8 lead that proved to be too much for CU to overcome. Once again, an ace from Grace ended the Xavier set win. Grace had seven kills for Xavier in the fourth frame, offsetting five kills in 10 swings by CU's Schmitt.
Martin slammed a kill to open the fifth set but Xavier answered with the next three points and would not trail again. With the score deadlocked at 4-all CU made three straight errors to give the Musketeers the advantage. The Jays drew within one at 8-7 before again making back-to-back miscues as Xavier closed out the match by scoring seven of the final 10 points. Martin had six of CU's seven kills in the final set while Wait dug seven balls, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Musketeers from making history.
"I think we've got to realize that we're going to have a target on our back every game and we have to emotionally be able to respond to that and go win it, as compared to get passive," noted Booth. "We can't play in a state of stress."
The Bluejays are back in action on when they host St. John's (10-4, 2-0 BIG EAST) at 6 p.m. inside D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: Creighton's 23-match win streak over Xavier was its longest ever against any team, two victories ahead of an active streak against DePaul ... Creighton fell to 5-2 in seven matches this season without 2022 BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis ... Creighton had won 45 straight matches when holding foes to .200 hitting or less and had won 33 straight matches against league teams when winning at least one set ... Ellie Bolton extended her streak of matches with an ace to 12, tied for second-longest mark in program history ... Creighton fell to 70-38 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in five-set matches, and 2-2 this year ... Ellie Bichelmeyer tied a season-high with seven kills ... Kendra Wait's 26 digs were a season-best ... Cincinnati native Sydney Breissinger had nine digs and an ace in her return to Ohio ... Creighton is now 182-43 all-time as a ranked team.
Scores of the match in favor of Xavier were 21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, 15-10.
"I thought Xavier played very well and they worked harder than us and were more gritty than we were tonight," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "I think we had flashes of playing good volleyball but didn't sustain it and then at times got passive. We've got to stay aggressive and play our game."
Creighton (10-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) got 21 kills from Ava Martin, who added a career-high 16 digs. Kendra Wait stuffed the stat sheet with 45 assists, 26 digs, five kills and three blocks on .500 hitting, while Kiana Schmitt recorded 14 kills on .375 hitting. The Bluejays closed the match with 61 kills, four aces, 95 digs and six blocks on .178 hitting.
Xavier (9-4, 2-0 BIG EAST) was led by 15 kills, nine digs and five aces by Emma Grace. All-BIG EAST choice Carrigan O'Reilly picked up a double-double with 48 assists and 12 digs, while Delaney Hogan notched 11 kills and a team-leading six blocks. Stevie Wolf led XU with 25 digs, four more than teammate Lucia Corsaro's 21. The Musketeers finished with 59 kills, nine aces, 87 digs and 11 blocks on .188 hitting.
The Bluejays scored the first three points of the afternoon and never trailed in its opening set 25-21 victory. A 6-0 serving run by Ellie Bolton extended the CU lead to 12-4. The Bluejays held off a late surge by Xavier to take the first frame 25-21 on a kill from Destiny Ndam-Simpson.
The first big momentum swing of the match occurred in the second set when the Musketeers overcame a 17-11 Bluejay lead to win the second set, 25-21. Grace had three aces in the second game, including back-to-back service winners to end the set.
Creighton trailed 10-6 in the third set, only to flip the script and take a 25-17 victory. Sky McCune authored a 5-0 service run that put CU in front 22-15 and a combo block by Schmitt and Wait gave CU a 2-1 lead in the contest. The Jays hit .262 in the third set while holding the Muskies to .079 hitting.
McCune served CU to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set but Xavier would rally to knot the score at 7-all. A 5-0 run on Wolf's serve gave XU a 13-8 lead that proved to be too much for CU to overcome. Once again, an ace from Grace ended the Xavier set win. Grace had seven kills for Xavier in the fourth frame, offsetting five kills in 10 swings by CU's Schmitt.
Martin slammed a kill to open the fifth set but Xavier answered with the next three points and would not trail again. With the score deadlocked at 4-all CU made three straight errors to give the Musketeers the advantage. The Jays drew within one at 8-7 before again making back-to-back miscues as Xavier closed out the match by scoring seven of the final 10 points. Martin had six of CU's seven kills in the final set while Wait dug seven balls, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Musketeers from making history.
"I think we've got to realize that we're going to have a target on our back every game and we have to emotionally be able to respond to that and go win it, as compared to get passive," noted Booth. "We can't play in a state of stress."
The Bluejays are back in action on when they host St. John's (10-4, 2-0 BIG EAST) at 6 p.m. inside D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: Creighton's 23-match win streak over Xavier was its longest ever against any team, two victories ahead of an active streak against DePaul ... Creighton fell to 5-2 in seven matches this season without 2022 BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis ... Creighton had won 45 straight matches when holding foes to .200 hitting or less and had won 33 straight matches against league teams when winning at least one set ... Ellie Bolton extended her streak of matches with an ace to 12, tied for second-longest mark in program history ... Creighton fell to 70-38 under Kirsten Bernthal Booth in five-set matches, and 2-2 this year ... Ellie Bichelmeyer tied a season-high with seven kills ... Kendra Wait's 26 digs were a season-best ... Cincinnati native Sydney Breissinger had nine digs and an ace in her return to Ohio ... Creighton is now 182-43 all-time as a ranked team.
Team Stats
CU
XU
Kills
61
59
Errors
28
24
Attempts
185
186
Hitting %
.178
.188
Points
71.0
80.0
Assists
59
55
Aces
4
9
Blocks
6.0
12.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
21
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
RS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
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