Sunday, September 3
Omaha, Neb.
2:30 PM
Creighton University
5-1,0-0Big East
3
vs
1
UNI
3-3,0-0MVC
1
2
3
4
F
Northern Iowa
21
36
20
23
1
#20 Creighton
25
34
25
25
3
Norah Sis earned Touranment MVP honors and contributed 16 kills and 16 digs on Sunday
#20 Volleyball Outlasts UNI to Win Bluejay Invitational
9/3/2023 5:53:00 PM | Volleyball
Norah Sis earns Tournament MVP honors
OMAHA, Neb. -- The No. 20 Creighton Volleyball team won its second tournament in as many weekends with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Northern Iowa to win the Bluejay Invitational on Sunday. The contest featured 44 ties and 20 lead changes.
Scores of the match in Creighton's favor were 25-21, 34-36, 25-20, 25-23 as the Bluejays improved to 5-1. The defending Missouri Valley Conference champions, UNI dropped to 3-3.
Norah Sis was named Tournament MVP after finishing with 16 kills and 16 digs. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Ava Martin (22 kills, 6 digs) and Kendra Wait (42 assists, 22 digs, 7 kills, 5 blocks).
UNI was paced by 18 kills each from Kira Fallert and Emily Holterhaus. Fallert was joined on the All-Tournament Team by libero Erin Powers (24 digs, 8 assists).
The Bluejays broke away in the first set with a 6-0 run on Sydney Breissinger's serve to build a 14-8 lead. Martin had five kills and Breissinger a pair of aces in the opening frame.
The second set was the second-highest game in program history before UNI ultimately emerged 36-34 to even the contest. The battle featured 17 ties and seven lead changes. CU led 24-22 and owned six set point opportunities before UNI ultimately prevailed on its eighth set point chance. Down 34-33, UNI closed out the set on three straight kills by Holterhaus. Holterhaus had seven kills for UNI, which got 12 assists, four digs, three kills and two blocks by setter Tayler Alden alone in the fame. Sis had eight kills and eight digs in the set, Wait added 18 assists and eight digs and Ellie Bolton dug 11 balls in the second set for CU, which hung tough despite 14 attack errors, three service errors and a ball handling miscue.
The third set included 11 ties and seven more lead changes, but Bolton served a 7-0 run to close out CU's 25-20 victory. Ann Marie Remmes had a kill, then four straight blocks, to bring CU to set point before an Ava Martin smash gave Creighton a 2-1 lead. Martin collected six kills in the third set win.
CU led 21-17 late in the fourth set before UNI drew within one at 22-21. The Panthers saved a pair of match points before a swing from Sis proved too much for UNI to keep in play. Powers had eight of UNI's 29 digs in the final set.
Creighton had 65 kills, four aces, 91 digs and a season-best 15.5 blocks while hitting .198. Bolton had a season-high 25 digs to lead all players and added 10 assists for her first career double-double, and Remmes finished with seven kills and a career-high nine rejections.
UNI finished with 61 kills, three aces, 92 digs and eight blocks on .158 hitting. Alden had 43 assists, 19 digs and seven kills.
Creighton is back in action on Wednesday when it visits No. 4 Nebraska in a 7 p.m. match that will air on BTN.
NOTES: Creighton has won 12 of the last 14 match-ups with UNI, including six in a row, but still trails the all-time series 42-15 ... The 57 meetings against UNI are more than any other Bluejay opponent ... Creighton's 12 wins since 2012 are more than any other team against UNI ... Creighton is 9-1 against UNI when ranked ...The daughter of Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Reese Booth, has verbally committed to play volleyball at UNI next fall ... Each of the past 11 Bluejay Invitationals have been won by a team that was ranked or receiving votes ... Creighton improved to 34-17 all-time in 18 editions of the Bluejay Invitational, including five titles (2014, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023) ... Creighton has won at least one tournament in each of the last 12 seasons, and multiple tournaments in six of the past seven years (all but the COVID-19 season in the spring of 2021) ... The match was Creighton's first contest to last exactly four sets in CU's last 28 matches dating to a 3-1 win over Kansas State on Sept. 17, 2022 ... Creighton is 5-0 this year against teams that were in the 2022 NCAA Tournament ... The only other set with more points than the 36-34 second set today was Creighton's 38-36 second set win at Butler on Nov. 12, 2017.
2023 Bluejay Invitational Summary
September 1-3, 2023 – Omaha, Neb.
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Final Standings
1. #20 Creighton                         3-0
2. Northern Iowa                        2-1
3. LSUÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1-2
4. Ball State                               0-3
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Match Scores
Friday, September 1, 2023
Northern Iowa def. LSU, 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-17)
#20 Creighton def. Ball State, 3-2 (25-19, 25-27, 21-25, 25-16, 15-11)
Saturday, September 2, 2023
Northern Iowa def. Ball State, 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-19)
#20 Creighton def. LSU, 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 32-30)
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Sunday, September 3, 2023
LSU def. Ball State, 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-23)
#20 Creighton def. Northern Iowa, 3-1 (25-21, 34-36, 25-20, 25-23)
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All-Tournament Team
Norah Sis, Creighton (MVP)
Ava Martin, Creighton
Kendra Wait, Creighton
Kira Fallert, Northern Iowa
Erin Powers, Northern Iowa
Jurnee Robinson, LSU
Aniya Kennedy, Ball State
Scores of the match in Creighton's favor were 25-21, 34-36, 25-20, 25-23 as the Bluejays improved to 5-1. The defending Missouri Valley Conference champions, UNI dropped to 3-3.
Norah Sis was named Tournament MVP after finishing with 16 kills and 16 digs. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Ava Martin (22 kills, 6 digs) and Kendra Wait (42 assists, 22 digs, 7 kills, 5 blocks).
UNI was paced by 18 kills each from Kira Fallert and Emily Holterhaus. Fallert was joined on the All-Tournament Team by libero Erin Powers (24 digs, 8 assists).
The Bluejays broke away in the first set with a 6-0 run on Sydney Breissinger's serve to build a 14-8 lead. Martin had five kills and Breissinger a pair of aces in the opening frame.
The second set was the second-highest game in program history before UNI ultimately emerged 36-34 to even the contest. The battle featured 17 ties and seven lead changes. CU led 24-22 and owned six set point opportunities before UNI ultimately prevailed on its eighth set point chance. Down 34-33, UNI closed out the set on three straight kills by Holterhaus. Holterhaus had seven kills for UNI, which got 12 assists, four digs, three kills and two blocks by setter Tayler Alden alone in the fame. Sis had eight kills and eight digs in the set, Wait added 18 assists and eight digs and Ellie Bolton dug 11 balls in the second set for CU, which hung tough despite 14 attack errors, three service errors and a ball handling miscue.
The third set included 11 ties and seven more lead changes, but Bolton served a 7-0 run to close out CU's 25-20 victory. Ann Marie Remmes had a kill, then four straight blocks, to bring CU to set point before an Ava Martin smash gave Creighton a 2-1 lead. Martin collected six kills in the third set win.
CU led 21-17 late in the fourth set before UNI drew within one at 22-21. The Panthers saved a pair of match points before a swing from Sis proved too much for UNI to keep in play. Powers had eight of UNI's 29 digs in the final set.
Creighton had 65 kills, four aces, 91 digs and a season-best 15.5 blocks while hitting .198. Bolton had a season-high 25 digs to lead all players and added 10 assists for her first career double-double, and Remmes finished with seven kills and a career-high nine rejections.
UNI finished with 61 kills, three aces, 92 digs and eight blocks on .158 hitting. Alden had 43 assists, 19 digs and seven kills.
Creighton is back in action on Wednesday when it visits No. 4 Nebraska in a 7 p.m. match that will air on BTN.
NOTES: Creighton has won 12 of the last 14 match-ups with UNI, including six in a row, but still trails the all-time series 42-15 ... The 57 meetings against UNI are more than any other Bluejay opponent ... Creighton's 12 wins since 2012 are more than any other team against UNI ... Creighton is 9-1 against UNI when ranked ...The daughter of Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Reese Booth, has verbally committed to play volleyball at UNI next fall ... Each of the past 11 Bluejay Invitationals have been won by a team that was ranked or receiving votes ... Creighton improved to 34-17 all-time in 18 editions of the Bluejay Invitational, including five titles (2014, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023) ... Creighton has won at least one tournament in each of the last 12 seasons, and multiple tournaments in six of the past seven years (all but the COVID-19 season in the spring of 2021) ... The match was Creighton's first contest to last exactly four sets in CU's last 28 matches dating to a 3-1 win over Kansas State on Sept. 17, 2022 ... Creighton is 5-0 this year against teams that were in the 2022 NCAA Tournament ... The only other set with more points than the 36-34 second set today was Creighton's 38-36 second set win at Butler on Nov. 12, 2017.
2023 Bluejay Invitational Summary
September 1-3, 2023 – Omaha, Neb.
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Final Standings
1. #20 Creighton                         3-0
2. Northern Iowa                        2-1
3. LSUÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1-2
4. Ball State                               0-3
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Match Scores
Friday, September 1, 2023
Northern Iowa def. LSU, 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-17)
#20 Creighton def. Ball State, 3-2 (25-19, 25-27, 21-25, 25-16, 15-11)
Saturday, September 2, 2023
Northern Iowa def. Ball State, 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-19)
#20 Creighton def. LSU, 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 32-30)
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Sunday, September 3, 2023
LSU def. Ball State, 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-23)
#20 Creighton def. Northern Iowa, 3-1 (25-21, 34-36, 25-20, 25-23)
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All-Tournament Team
Norah Sis, Creighton (MVP)
Ava Martin, Creighton
Kendra Wait, Creighton
Kira Fallert, Northern Iowa
Erin Powers, Northern Iowa
Jurnee Robinson, LSU
Aniya Kennedy, Ball State
Plenty to be proud of this weekend! ????#GoJays pic.twitter.com/sGx1srPej3
— Creighton Volleyball (@CreightonVB) September 5, 2023
Team Stats
UNI
CU
Kills
61
66
Errors
30
26
Attempts
196
197
Hitting %
.158
.203
Points
72.0
85.5
Assists
57
62
Aces
3
4
Blocks
8.0
15.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
22
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
9
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
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