Sunday, November 23
Milwaukee, Wis.
2:00 PM
Creighton University
vs
Xavier
#12 Volleyball Seeks BIG EAST Tourney Crown Sunday vs. Xavier
11/22/2025 8:20:00 PM | Volleyball
Jays seek 20th straight win
2025 BIG EAST Championship - Presented by JEEP
Match #30: #12 Creighton vs. Xavier • Milwaukee, Wis. • Sunday, Nov. 23 • 2:00 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |Â
• Top-seeded and 12th-ranked Creighton (24-5) seeks its sixth consecutive BIG EAST Tournament title on Sunday at 2 p.m. when it faces second-seeded Xavier (26-3) inside Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, Wis.
  The contest will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed at http://WatchESPN, with Bob Brainerd and Michelle Wenzel on the call.
  Live stats can be found at https://creighton.statbroadcast.com.
  The winner of Sunday's match earns itself an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will start on Thursday or Friday (Dec. 4 or 5) at 16 campus sites nationwide.
• Creighton opened BIG EAST play with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-16 win over Xavier in Omaha on Sept. 26th in the lone meeting between the teams this fall.
  Ava Martin had 10 kills and hit .304 to lead CU, while Annalea Maeder dished 33 assists and led the Jays with 11 digs. CU owned a 5-0 lead in aces over the Musketeers, who hit .061 and were powered by eight kills from Emma Grace.
• Creighton is 27-1 all-time against Xavier, with all the matches having occurred since 2013. CU is 4-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament, going 3-0 in the semi's (2013, 2014, 2022) and 1-0 in the final (2022). Creighton's victory vs. Xavier on Oct. 5, 2013 in Cincinnati was the program's first BIG EAST win in history.
 The lone Xavier win in the series came on Sept. 23rd, 2023 in Cincinnati, a five-set Musketeer victory that was its first top-25 win since 2007. Creighton has swept all four meetings since then.
  The teams have not played a match to last exactly four sets since 2017, as the past 21 encounters have seen 18 sweeps as well as three contests to go the distance.
   Brian Rosen is 1-0 against Xavier and Christy Pfeffenberger. Pfeffenberger is 1-21 in her career against Creighton.
  Both Rosen and Pfeffenberger were both members of the AVCA's prestigious Thirty Under 30 list way back in 2013. At the time, Rosen was the head coach at Charlotte (NC) Country Day School, while Pfeffenberger was an assistant coach at Notre Dame.
• Creighton is 22-2 all-time in 13 BIG EAST Championship appearances, including 10 titles (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). The only team with more than Creighton's 10 tourney titles is Pittsburgh (11), whom the Bluejays can tie on Sunday.
  The Bluejays improved to 12-1 in the semifinals with Saturday's win over Marquette, and are 10-1 all-time in the finals (losing only to Marquette in 2013).
• Creighton is appearing in its 12th BIG EAST Tournament title game in 13 years as a member of the BIG EAST, going 10-1 in the first 11 such contests with 10 consecutive wins. With a win, CU can win its sixth straight tournament title, the longest streak by a BIG EAST team since Pittsburgh won seven in a row from 1988-94.
  Creighton also won the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in its final season in the MVC.
• Creighton is 19-1 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play as the No. 1 seed, and 21-1 in all conference tournaments as a No. 1 seed when you include the 2012 MVC Tourney.
• History could be made if Sunday's final is a sweep.Â
  Since the league's realignment in 2013, the only teams to post back-to-back 3-0 wins in the semifinals and finals of the same tournament are Creighton in 2016, 2021, 2023 and 2024. Both Creighton and Xavier advanced to the 2025 final via a 3-0 semifinal win on Saturday.
  Creighton has swept every BIG EAST team it has played this year, and four squads twice.
• Creighton is 23-1 this season when winning the first set and 20-0 when winning the third set.Â
  Xavier is 22-0 when winning the first set, 18-0 when winning the second set, 20-1 when winning the third set, 14-0 when winning the fourth set and 4-0 in five-set matches this year.
  Or, put another way, Creighton is 24-2 when winning at least one set in a match this year, while Xavier is 26-1.
• Since Nov. 1, 2014, Creighton is 78-4 in the month of November, including a 6-0 record this year, and 27 straight wins.
• Teams to win the first set in the BIG EAST Tournament final have won just four of the previous eight finals, an incredible trend considering that the first set winner won the match every year from 2007-2016 and are 34-9 all-time in the finals. All four times in the previous eight years that a team lost the first set but came back to victory, it was Creighton overcoming a first set win by Marquette (2017, 2018, 2020, 2022).
  Only two teams in league tournament history have lost the first two sets and come back to win, Louisville in 2006 (over Notre Dame) and Pittsburgh in 1993 (over Seton Hall).
  Creighton is 17-0 all-time when winning the first set of a BIG EAST Tournament match, but sitll a healthy 5-2 when losing the opener.
• Not a single player on the Creighton sideline has ever played in a BIG EAST Tournament loss.
  With a win yesterday, Kiara Reinhardt became the first player to appear in nine BIG EAST Tournament victories.Â
  She can become the first person to play in five BIG EAST Tournament title match wins with a win on Sunday. Reinhardt also redshirted in the fall of 2021 when CU won a tourney title that year.
  Ava Martin can become the 10th Bluejay ever to appear in four BIG EAST title match victories, joining Marysa Wilkinson, Jaali Winters, Taryn Kloth, Jaela Zimmerman, Naomi Hickman, Norah Sis, Kendra Wait and Reinhardt.
• Creighton Volleyball is seeking the school's 14th different BIG EAST Tournament title won by the school since joining the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013. All but three of those titles have been won by the volleyball program.
Creighton's BIG EAST Tournament Titles (13)
Baseball (2): 2019, 2025
Men's Soccer (1): 2022
Volleyball (10): 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• Ava Martin has been named to the All-Tournament Team at the BIG EAST Championships each of the previous three seasons, and her 24 kills yesterday puts her in good shape to make the cut again.
  The only Creighton player in program history to be named a four-time All-BIG EAST Tournament honoree is Kendra Wait (2021-24). Wait earned Tournament MVP accolades as a senior last fall.
  Going along with the note above, Martin could join Kendra Wait to be the only Bluejays in any sport to be a four-time first team all-conference pick also named to the conference all-tournament team four times as well.
CU's BIG EAST All-Tournament Team Picks
Maggie Baumert - 2015
Jess Bird - 2015 (MVP)
Kelli Browning - 2013
Lydia Dimke - 2016
Kate Elman - 2015
Naomi Hickman - 2018, '20 (MVP)
Taryn Kloth - 2017 (MVP), '18
Ava Martin - 2022, '23, '24
Leah McNary - 2014
Kiara Reinhardt - 2020
Kiana Schmitt - 2023 (MVP)
Norah Sis - 2021 (MVP), '22 (MVP), '24
Lauren Smith - 2013, '14 (MVP), '16
Kendra Wait - 2021, '22, '23, '24 (MVP)
Annika Welty - 2020
Marysa Wilkinson - 2014, '17
Jaali Winters - 2016 (MVP), '18 (MVP)
Brittany Witt - 2017, '19
Jaela Zimmerman - 2021
• Ava Martin had 24 kills in Saturday's sweep over Marquette, one shy of Leah Ratzlaff's school-record for a three-set match set on Oct. 30, 2004 at Evansville.
  Martin's 24 kills did set a Creighton record for a conference tournament match of any length ,including both CU's MVC and BIG EAST Tournament contests.
• Creighton is the No. 1 seed for a conference tournament for 12th time in the last 14 years, and 11th time in 13 BIG EAST seasons.
  In BIG EAST Tournament action, Creighton has been the No. 1 seed 10 previous times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024), going 18-1 in those contests. CU went 2-0 to win the title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. In 2019, it was upset in the semifinals by St. John's.
  The BIG EAST Championship has been won by the top seed in 10 of the previous 12 years, and the No. 1 seed has also gone 23-2 in its last 25 league tourney contests.
• Yesterday was Creighton's 66th straight win over an unranked team and 52nd consecutive victory over a BIG EAST school. In those 52 wins over BIG EAST schools, the Jays have won 156-of-164 sets.
• Creighton has won one tournament this year (Creighton Classic), and seeks a second on Sunday. CU has won at least one tournament every season since 2012 (14 years in a row), and at least one home tournament each of the last nine seasons.Â
  Since 2012, Creighton has won 36 tournament titles, not to mention 13 regular-season league crowns.
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• Creighton has won 11 league tournament titles since 2012, one more than Western Kentucky for the most nationally. CU's 13 regular-season titles in that span are also tied for the most nationally with WKU in that span.
• With an unofficial RPI of 6 as of Saturday night, it's all but a certainty that Creighton hear its name called on Selection Sunday when the Field of 64 is announced.
  It will be Creighton's 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and 14th consecutive. The only seven schools to appear in each of the last 13 NCAA Tournaments (prior to this year) are BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas.
  If Creighton is selected to host, it would mark the seventh time since 2017 that has happened, and fifth straight season.
• Regardless of Sunday's result, Creighton will host a Selection Show viewing party that is open to fans and media at the Old Mattress Factory Bar & Grill (501 N 13th Street) in Omaha.Â
  The selections will be announced beginning at 5 p.m. Central on Sunday, Nov. 30 on ESPN.
• Creighton's student-athletes and coaches are approaching all sorts of milestones.
  Sydney Breissinger owns 798 career digs and is two away from 800.
  Ava Martin owns 435 kills this season, three away from moving into CU's single-season top 10.
  Nora Wurtz has 55 aces, four shy of tying the single-season school record.Â
  Brian Rosen can win his 25th match as head coach at Creighton.
  Brian Rosen is looking to become the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title in their first season as head coach at a school since Georgetown's Li Liu in 1999.
  Brian Rosen is looking to become the first male head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title since Marquette's Bond Shymansky in 2013.
Match #30: #12 Creighton vs. Xavier • Milwaukee, Wis. • Sunday, Nov. 23 • 2:00 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |Â
• Top-seeded and 12th-ranked Creighton (24-5) seeks its sixth consecutive BIG EAST Tournament title on Sunday at 2 p.m. when it faces second-seeded Xavier (26-3) inside Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, Wis.
  The contest will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed at http://WatchESPN, with Bob Brainerd and Michelle Wenzel on the call.
  Live stats can be found at https://creighton.statbroadcast.com.
  The winner of Sunday's match earns itself an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will start on Thursday or Friday (Dec. 4 or 5) at 16 campus sites nationwide.
• Creighton opened BIG EAST play with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-16 win over Xavier in Omaha on Sept. 26th in the lone meeting between the teams this fall.
  Ava Martin had 10 kills and hit .304 to lead CU, while Annalea Maeder dished 33 assists and led the Jays with 11 digs. CU owned a 5-0 lead in aces over the Musketeers, who hit .061 and were powered by eight kills from Emma Grace.
• Creighton is 27-1 all-time against Xavier, with all the matches having occurred since 2013. CU is 4-0 in the BIG EAST Tournament, going 3-0 in the semi's (2013, 2014, 2022) and 1-0 in the final (2022). Creighton's victory vs. Xavier on Oct. 5, 2013 in Cincinnati was the program's first BIG EAST win in history.
 The lone Xavier win in the series came on Sept. 23rd, 2023 in Cincinnati, a five-set Musketeer victory that was its first top-25 win since 2007. Creighton has swept all four meetings since then.
  The teams have not played a match to last exactly four sets since 2017, as the past 21 encounters have seen 18 sweeps as well as three contests to go the distance.
   Brian Rosen is 1-0 against Xavier and Christy Pfeffenberger. Pfeffenberger is 1-21 in her career against Creighton.
  Both Rosen and Pfeffenberger were both members of the AVCA's prestigious Thirty Under 30 list way back in 2013. At the time, Rosen was the head coach at Charlotte (NC) Country Day School, while Pfeffenberger was an assistant coach at Notre Dame.
• Creighton is 22-2 all-time in 13 BIG EAST Championship appearances, including 10 titles (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). The only team with more than Creighton's 10 tourney titles is Pittsburgh (11), whom the Bluejays can tie on Sunday.
  The Bluejays improved to 12-1 in the semifinals with Saturday's win over Marquette, and are 10-1 all-time in the finals (losing only to Marquette in 2013).
• Creighton is appearing in its 12th BIG EAST Tournament title game in 13 years as a member of the BIG EAST, going 10-1 in the first 11 such contests with 10 consecutive wins. With a win, CU can win its sixth straight tournament title, the longest streak by a BIG EAST team since Pittsburgh won seven in a row from 1988-94.
  Creighton also won the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in its final season in the MVC.
• Creighton is 19-1 all-time in BIG EAST Tournament play as the No. 1 seed, and 21-1 in all conference tournaments as a No. 1 seed when you include the 2012 MVC Tourney.
• History could be made if Sunday's final is a sweep.Â
  Since the league's realignment in 2013, the only teams to post back-to-back 3-0 wins in the semifinals and finals of the same tournament are Creighton in 2016, 2021, 2023 and 2024. Both Creighton and Xavier advanced to the 2025 final via a 3-0 semifinal win on Saturday.
  Creighton has swept every BIG EAST team it has played this year, and four squads twice.
• Creighton is 23-1 this season when winning the first set and 20-0 when winning the third set.Â
  Xavier is 22-0 when winning the first set, 18-0 when winning the second set, 20-1 when winning the third set, 14-0 when winning the fourth set and 4-0 in five-set matches this year.
  Or, put another way, Creighton is 24-2 when winning at least one set in a match this year, while Xavier is 26-1.
• Since Nov. 1, 2014, Creighton is 78-4 in the month of November, including a 6-0 record this year, and 27 straight wins.
• Teams to win the first set in the BIG EAST Tournament final have won just four of the previous eight finals, an incredible trend considering that the first set winner won the match every year from 2007-2016 and are 34-9 all-time in the finals. All four times in the previous eight years that a team lost the first set but came back to victory, it was Creighton overcoming a first set win by Marquette (2017, 2018, 2020, 2022).
  Only two teams in league tournament history have lost the first two sets and come back to win, Louisville in 2006 (over Notre Dame) and Pittsburgh in 1993 (over Seton Hall).
  Creighton is 17-0 all-time when winning the first set of a BIG EAST Tournament match, but sitll a healthy 5-2 when losing the opener.
• Not a single player on the Creighton sideline has ever played in a BIG EAST Tournament loss.
  With a win yesterday, Kiara Reinhardt became the first player to appear in nine BIG EAST Tournament victories.Â
  She can become the first person to play in five BIG EAST Tournament title match wins with a win on Sunday. Reinhardt also redshirted in the fall of 2021 when CU won a tourney title that year.
  Ava Martin can become the 10th Bluejay ever to appear in four BIG EAST title match victories, joining Marysa Wilkinson, Jaali Winters, Taryn Kloth, Jaela Zimmerman, Naomi Hickman, Norah Sis, Kendra Wait and Reinhardt.
• Creighton Volleyball is seeking the school's 14th different BIG EAST Tournament title won by the school since joining the BIG EAST in the summer of 2013. All but three of those titles have been won by the volleyball program.
Creighton's BIG EAST Tournament Titles (13)
Baseball (2): 2019, 2025
Men's Soccer (1): 2022
Volleyball (10): 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• Ava Martin has been named to the All-Tournament Team at the BIG EAST Championships each of the previous three seasons, and her 24 kills yesterday puts her in good shape to make the cut again.
  The only Creighton player in program history to be named a four-time All-BIG EAST Tournament honoree is Kendra Wait (2021-24). Wait earned Tournament MVP accolades as a senior last fall.
  Going along with the note above, Martin could join Kendra Wait to be the only Bluejays in any sport to be a four-time first team all-conference pick also named to the conference all-tournament team four times as well.
CU's BIG EAST All-Tournament Team Picks
Maggie Baumert - 2015
Jess Bird - 2015 (MVP)
Kelli Browning - 2013
Lydia Dimke - 2016
Kate Elman - 2015
Naomi Hickman - 2018, '20 (MVP)
Taryn Kloth - 2017 (MVP), '18
Ava Martin - 2022, '23, '24
Leah McNary - 2014
Kiara Reinhardt - 2020
Kiana Schmitt - 2023 (MVP)
Norah Sis - 2021 (MVP), '22 (MVP), '24
Lauren Smith - 2013, '14 (MVP), '16
Kendra Wait - 2021, '22, '23, '24 (MVP)
Annika Welty - 2020
Marysa Wilkinson - 2014, '17
Jaali Winters - 2016 (MVP), '18 (MVP)
Brittany Witt - 2017, '19
Jaela Zimmerman - 2021
• Ava Martin had 24 kills in Saturday's sweep over Marquette, one shy of Leah Ratzlaff's school-record for a three-set match set on Oct. 30, 2004 at Evansville.
  Martin's 24 kills did set a Creighton record for a conference tournament match of any length ,including both CU's MVC and BIG EAST Tournament contests.
• Creighton is the No. 1 seed for a conference tournament for 12th time in the last 14 years, and 11th time in 13 BIG EAST seasons.
  In BIG EAST Tournament action, Creighton has been the No. 1 seed 10 previous times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024), going 18-1 in those contests. CU went 2-0 to win the title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. In 2019, it was upset in the semifinals by St. John's.
  The BIG EAST Championship has been won by the top seed in 10 of the previous 12 years, and the No. 1 seed has also gone 23-2 in its last 25 league tourney contests.
• Yesterday was Creighton's 66th straight win over an unranked team and 52nd consecutive victory over a BIG EAST school. In those 52 wins over BIG EAST schools, the Jays have won 156-of-164 sets.
• Creighton has won one tournament this year (Creighton Classic), and seeks a second on Sunday. CU has won at least one tournament every season since 2012 (14 years in a row), and at least one home tournament each of the last nine seasons.Â
  Since 2012, Creighton has won 36 tournament titles, not to mention 13 regular-season league crowns.
  Â
• Creighton has won 11 league tournament titles since 2012, one more than Western Kentucky for the most nationally. CU's 13 regular-season titles in that span are also tied for the most nationally with WKU in that span.
• With an unofficial RPI of 6 as of Saturday night, it's all but a certainty that Creighton hear its name called on Selection Sunday when the Field of 64 is announced.
  It will be Creighton's 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, and 14th consecutive. The only seven schools to appear in each of the last 13 NCAA Tournaments (prior to this year) are BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas.
  If Creighton is selected to host, it would mark the seventh time since 2017 that has happened, and fifth straight season.
• Regardless of Sunday's result, Creighton will host a Selection Show viewing party that is open to fans and media at the Old Mattress Factory Bar & Grill (501 N 13th Street) in Omaha.Â
  The selections will be announced beginning at 5 p.m. Central on Sunday, Nov. 30 on ESPN.
• Creighton's student-athletes and coaches are approaching all sorts of milestones.
  Sydney Breissinger owns 798 career digs and is two away from 800.
  Ava Martin owns 435 kills this season, three away from moving into CU's single-season top 10.
  Nora Wurtz has 55 aces, four shy of tying the single-season school record.Â
  Brian Rosen can win his 25th match as head coach at Creighton.
  Brian Rosen is looking to become the first volleyball head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title in their first season as head coach at a school since Georgetown's Li Liu in 1999.
  Brian Rosen is looking to become the first male head coach to win a BIG EAST Tournament title since Marquette's Bond Shymansky in 2013.
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Volleyball
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/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
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/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballCreighton Volleyball's Brian Rosen Postgame Interview vs. Marquette - 11/22/25
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Saturday, November 22
Creighton Volleyball Media Availability - 11/18/25
Tuesday, November 18
