Photo by: Caleb Christensen
#14 Volleyball Earns Statement Win With Sweep at Marquette
10/2/2025 7:35:00 PM | Volleyball
Jays take over first place in BIG EAST
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- No. 14 Creighton Volleyball made an early statement in front of a national television audience on FS1, sweeping Marquette in Milwaukee on Thursday night in a rematch of the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament final. Scores in favor of CU's first sweep in Milwaukee over the Golden Eagles since the 2021 BIG EAST Tournament final were 25-16, 25-19, 25-18.
Creighton is now 10-5 on the year and 3-0 in BIG EAST play, while Marquette fell to 8-5 and suffered its first BIG EAST loss of 2025 in three matches.
Creighton trailed 14-12 midway through a tight first set before Annalea Maeder took over from the service line. The fifth-year senior served a 12-0 run that featured four Bluejay blocks and included three aces by Maeder, as Creighton took a dominant 24-14 lead. A kill by Kiara Reinhardt closed out the 25-16 victory. Ava Martin led CU with four kills, Jaya Johnson had three kills and three blocks and Maeder collected nine assists and four aces in the first frame as CU hit .345 and owned five stuffs.
Creighton had 19 kills and hit .444 in the second set, winning 25-19. Martin had nine kills in 11 swings in the second set and Abbey Hayes had five kills herself. Maeder dished 19 assists in the wire-to-wire win, which saw CU hit .444.
The Bluejays scored the first five points of the third set, but the Golden Eagles used a 6-0 run to take an 8-7 lead and force a timeout from Brian Rosen. CU took a 13-11 lead following kills by Martin and Johnson and never trailed again. With CU leading 19-15, Martin slammed three straight kills to put away CU's biggest league rival over its first dozen years in the BIG EAST. Martin had seven kills, three digs and two assists in the finale while Maeder contributed nine assists, four digs and three kills.
Martin needed just 37 swings to put down her 20 kills on .514 hitting while Johnson notched nine kills on .500 hitting. Reinhardt had six kills and four blocks while also hitting .500, and Maeder finished with 37 assists, 11 digs and four kills on .500 hitting to post her 30th career double-double. The Bluejays had 50 kills and hit .410, adding 46 digs, nine blocks and seven aces. Creighton's .410 hitting percentage was its best mark ever against Marquette, eclipsing the .387 mark in a win over MU on Nov. 5, 2023.
Marquette was paced by Natalie Ring, as the BIG EAST kills leader had 13 kills but needed 42 swings to get there. Hattie Bray hit .400 and had 11 kills for MU, which tallied 34 kills, 35 digs, three blocks and two aces on .200 hitting as a team.
Creighton is back in action on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match at DePaul.
NOTES: Creighton's Pinkout jersey auction began at 6:30 p.m. tonight and runs through the evening of October 12th ... New Marquette head coach Tom Mendoza was a Creighton assistant coach from 2010-15 ... Creighton and Marquette met for the 15th time since Feb. 4, 2021, with Creighton winning 12Â of those battles ... Creighton was the unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST while Marquette was picked to finish second ... Jaya Johnson surpassed 300 career kills while Eloise Brandewie reached 400 career kills ... Creighton has now won 34 straight regular-season BIG EAST matches and 52 matches in a row against unranked foes ... Creighton is now 26-4 against Marquette since 2014, including five straight victories ... Creighton is now 88-13 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST road matches and 191-16 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play ... Since the fall of 2021, Creighton has handed Marquette 10 of its 12 losses in 78 matches the Golden Eagles have played against league foes ... Brian Rosen joined predecessor Kirsten Bernthal Booth as the only coaches in CU Volleyball history to win his/her first three conference matches ... Nora Wurtz's streak of 11 straight matches with an ace was snapped ... Ava Martin had her ninth career match with 20 or more kills, and third this season (also UCSB and Rice) ... Creighton has won 248 straight matches against conference teams when taking a 2-0 lead and 193 consecutive contests when hitting .300 or better ... Creighton has won the second set in 38 matches in a row against league foes ... Creighton has won 16 straight matches in the month of October.
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Creighton is now 10-5 on the year and 3-0 in BIG EAST play, while Marquette fell to 8-5 and suffered its first BIG EAST loss of 2025 in three matches.
Creighton trailed 14-12 midway through a tight first set before Annalea Maeder took over from the service line. The fifth-year senior served a 12-0 run that featured four Bluejay blocks and included three aces by Maeder, as Creighton took a dominant 24-14 lead. A kill by Kiara Reinhardt closed out the 25-16 victory. Ava Martin led CU with four kills, Jaya Johnson had three kills and three blocks and Maeder collected nine assists and four aces in the first frame as CU hit .345 and owned five stuffs.
Creighton had 19 kills and hit .444 in the second set, winning 25-19. Martin had nine kills in 11 swings in the second set and Abbey Hayes had five kills herself. Maeder dished 19 assists in the wire-to-wire win, which saw CU hit .444.
The Bluejays scored the first five points of the third set, but the Golden Eagles used a 6-0 run to take an 8-7 lead and force a timeout from Brian Rosen. CU took a 13-11 lead following kills by Martin and Johnson and never trailed again. With CU leading 19-15, Martin slammed three straight kills to put away CU's biggest league rival over its first dozen years in the BIG EAST. Martin had seven kills, three digs and two assists in the finale while Maeder contributed nine assists, four digs and three kills.
Martin needed just 37 swings to put down her 20 kills on .514 hitting while Johnson notched nine kills on .500 hitting. Reinhardt had six kills and four blocks while also hitting .500, and Maeder finished with 37 assists, 11 digs and four kills on .500 hitting to post her 30th career double-double. The Bluejays had 50 kills and hit .410, adding 46 digs, nine blocks and seven aces. Creighton's .410 hitting percentage was its best mark ever against Marquette, eclipsing the .387 mark in a win over MU on Nov. 5, 2023.
Marquette was paced by Natalie Ring, as the BIG EAST kills leader had 13 kills but needed 42 swings to get there. Hattie Bray hit .400 and had 11 kills for MU, which tallied 34 kills, 35 digs, three blocks and two aces on .200 hitting as a team.
Creighton is back in action on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match at DePaul.
NOTES: Creighton's Pinkout jersey auction began at 6:30 p.m. tonight and runs through the evening of October 12th ... New Marquette head coach Tom Mendoza was a Creighton assistant coach from 2010-15 ... Creighton and Marquette met for the 15th time since Feb. 4, 2021, with Creighton winning 12Â of those battles ... Creighton was the unanimous pick to win the BIG EAST while Marquette was picked to finish second ... Jaya Johnson surpassed 300 career kills while Eloise Brandewie reached 400 career kills ... Creighton has now won 34 straight regular-season BIG EAST matches and 52 matches in a row against unranked foes ... Creighton is now 26-4 against Marquette since 2014, including five straight victories ... Creighton is now 88-13 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST road matches and 191-16 all-time in regular-season BIG EAST play ... Since the fall of 2021, Creighton has handed Marquette 10 of its 12 losses in 78 matches the Golden Eagles have played against league foes ... Brian Rosen joined predecessor Kirsten Bernthal Booth as the only coaches in CU Volleyball history to win his/her first three conference matches ... Nora Wurtz's streak of 11 straight matches with an ace was snapped ... Ava Martin had her ninth career match with 20 or more kills, and third this season (also UCSB and Rice) ... Creighton has won 248 straight matches against conference teams when taking a 2-0 lead and 193 consecutive contests when hitting .300 or better ... Creighton has won the second set in 38 matches in a row against league foes ... Creighton has won 16 straight matches in the month of October.
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Team Stats
CU
Marq
Kills
50
34
Errors
9
13
Attempts
100
105
Hitting %
.410
.200
Points
66.0
39.0
Assists
48
33
Aces
7
2
Blocks
9
3
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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