Friday, October 11
Villanova, Pa.
5 PM
Creighton University
14-2,5-0Big East
3
at
0
Villanova
11-5,4-1Big East
1
2
3
F
Creighton
25
25
25
3
Villanova
23
14
14
0
Ava Martin
Photo by: Quadir Wallace/Lolita’s Lens Photography
#6 Volleyball Sweeps Villanova To Move Atop BIG EAST Standings
10/11/2024 6:29:00 PM | Volleyball
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- No. 6 Creighton Volleyball moved into sole possession of first place in the BIG EAST with a 3-0 road win over Villanova on Friday evening inside Jake Nevin Field House. Scores of the contest in favor of the victorious Bluejays were 25-23, 25-14, 25-14 as Creighton tied its best 16-match record in program history.
Creighton (14-2, 5-0 BIG EAST) hit .398 in the match with 2023 BIG EAST Player of the Year Kendra Wait finishing with 33 assists, eight digs, seven blocks and five kills while hitting .500 herself. Ava Martin had 13 kills on .480 hitting and served a career-high four aces, and Elise Goetzinger finished with nine kills and five blocks on .533 hitting. The Jays finished won nearly all the stat categories, including kills (43-31), hitting percentage (.398 to .149), aces (9-1), and blocks (10-1) and lost in digs by just one (32-31).
"Nova's a great team but I thought we played a pretty strong match other than the huge run we gave up in game one to make it really tight," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "We disrupted them some with our serving but I think the big thing was that we got better as the match progressed."
Creighton never trailed in the opening set, but it wasn't easy. The Bluejays appeared in control 24-17 before the Wildcats reeled off six points in a row to claw within one. A historic kill from Norah Sis closed out the opening frame, as it also saw Sis pass Olympian Taryn Kloth for fourth in Creighton history with 1,428 career kills. Creighton had 16 kills and served four aces in the opener to outlast a Nova team that hit .361. Goetzinger led CU with five kills and Wait had 13 assists and five digs in the lid-lifter. Abby Harrell led Nova with six kills in the opener, but needed 14 swings to get there.
The Bluejays served up four aces, including three in a row by Martin, during a 25-14 second set win. The Bluejays hit .478 with 12 kills in 23 swings while Nova hit just .036 in 28 swings. Wait served up an ace on set point to give CU a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room for intermission. In addition to her serving prowess, Martin had six kills in eight swings.
The Bluejays broke free from a tight third set midway through, only to pull away for their eighth straight sweep over the Wildcats. After falling behind 11-10, CU answered with a 9-0 run on Sydney Breissinger's serve to seize control. Kiara Reinhardt and Jaya Johnson combined for a block on match point to close out the contest and hand Villanova (11-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) its first league loss. The Bluejays hit .556 with 15 kills on 27 errorless swings in the finale, as Wait had 11 assists, five blocks and three kills.
Harrell led Villanova with nine kills but hit .000 on 28 swings.
Creighton returns to the court on Saturday at 4 p.m. Central with a road contest at St. John's in Queens, N.Y., that will be broadcast on ESPN+. It'll be a rematch of the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament final contested in Milwaukee and won by Creighton in three sets.
NOTES: Creighton's Pink Out Jersey Auction ends on Sunday evening ... Tickets for the 2024 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship -- hosted by Creighton -- went on sale on Friday ... Villanova setter Taylor Jakubowski is the sister of former Creighton soccer standout Taryn Jakubowski. She had 12 assists tonight ... Each of the last 11 meetings had ended in three sets. ... Creighton improved to 21-3 all-time against Villanova ... Among the streaks that Creighton extended were 27 straight wins against unranked teams, 20 straight wins against BIG EAST teams, 18 straight regular-season BIG EAST matches, nine straight BIG EAST road wins and a season-high seventh straight victory ... Creighton improved to 175-16 all-time in BIG EAST regular-season matches ... Creighton's 14-2 start matches its best mark ever after 16 matches, as the 2021 team also did it ... Creighton is 5-0 in BIG EAST play for the seventh time in its 12 years as a member of the conference ... Creighton improved to 76-6 in the month of October since Oct. 1, 2016 ...Villanova's eight-match win streak, its longest since 2015, was snapped ... Villanova's last previous 4-0 start in league play came in 2011.
Creighton (14-2, 5-0 BIG EAST) hit .398 in the match with 2023 BIG EAST Player of the Year Kendra Wait finishing with 33 assists, eight digs, seven blocks and five kills while hitting .500 herself. Ava Martin had 13 kills on .480 hitting and served a career-high four aces, and Elise Goetzinger finished with nine kills and five blocks on .533 hitting. The Jays finished won nearly all the stat categories, including kills (43-31), hitting percentage (.398 to .149), aces (9-1), and blocks (10-1) and lost in digs by just one (32-31).
"Nova's a great team but I thought we played a pretty strong match other than the huge run we gave up in game one to make it really tight," said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. "We disrupted them some with our serving but I think the big thing was that we got better as the match progressed."
Creighton never trailed in the opening set, but it wasn't easy. The Bluejays appeared in control 24-17 before the Wildcats reeled off six points in a row to claw within one. A historic kill from Norah Sis closed out the opening frame, as it also saw Sis pass Olympian Taryn Kloth for fourth in Creighton history with 1,428 career kills. Creighton had 16 kills and served four aces in the opener to outlast a Nova team that hit .361. Goetzinger led CU with five kills and Wait had 13 assists and five digs in the lid-lifter. Abby Harrell led Nova with six kills in the opener, but needed 14 swings to get there.
The Bluejays served up four aces, including three in a row by Martin, during a 25-14 second set win. The Bluejays hit .478 with 12 kills in 23 swings while Nova hit just .036 in 28 swings. Wait served up an ace on set point to give CU a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room for intermission. In addition to her serving prowess, Martin had six kills in eight swings.
The Bluejays broke free from a tight third set midway through, only to pull away for their eighth straight sweep over the Wildcats. After falling behind 11-10, CU answered with a 9-0 run on Sydney Breissinger's serve to seize control. Kiara Reinhardt and Jaya Johnson combined for a block on match point to close out the contest and hand Villanova (11-5, 4-1 BIG EAST) its first league loss. The Bluejays hit .556 with 15 kills on 27 errorless swings in the finale, as Wait had 11 assists, five blocks and three kills.
Harrell led Villanova with nine kills but hit .000 on 28 swings.
Creighton returns to the court on Saturday at 4 p.m. Central with a road contest at St. John's in Queens, N.Y., that will be broadcast on ESPN+. It'll be a rematch of the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament final contested in Milwaukee and won by Creighton in three sets.
NOTES: Creighton's Pink Out Jersey Auction ends on Sunday evening ... Tickets for the 2024 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship -- hosted by Creighton -- went on sale on Friday ... Villanova setter Taylor Jakubowski is the sister of former Creighton soccer standout Taryn Jakubowski. She had 12 assists tonight ... Each of the last 11 meetings had ended in three sets. ... Creighton improved to 21-3 all-time against Villanova ... Among the streaks that Creighton extended were 27 straight wins against unranked teams, 20 straight wins against BIG EAST teams, 18 straight regular-season BIG EAST matches, nine straight BIG EAST road wins and a season-high seventh straight victory ... Creighton improved to 175-16 all-time in BIG EAST regular-season matches ... Creighton's 14-2 start matches its best mark ever after 16 matches, as the 2021 team also did it ... Creighton is 5-0 in BIG EAST play for the seventh time in its 12 years as a member of the conference ... Creighton improved to 76-6 in the month of October since Oct. 1, 2016 ...Villanova's eight-match win streak, its longest since 2015, was snapped ... Villanova's last previous 4-0 start in league play came in 2011.
Team Stats
CU
VU
Kills
43
31
Errors
6
17
Attempts
93
94
Hitting %
.398
.149
Points
62.0
33.0
Assists
38
31
Aces
9
1
Blocks
10.0
1.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
13
Aces
4
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
5
Aces
1
Blocks
7
Players Mentioned
DS
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballS
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