Sunday, August 31
Madison, Wis.
3:30 PM
Creighton University
vs
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Kansas
#12 Volleyball Renews Rivalry With #14 Kansas on Sunday
8/30/2025 11:51:00 AM | Volleyball
First of two meetings this season
Opening Spike Classic
Match #3: #14 Kansas vs. #12 Creighton • Madison, Wis. • Sunday, Aug. 31 • 3:30 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
• No. 12 Creighton (0-2) closes play at the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wis., with a 3:30 p.m. match-up vs. No. 14 Kansas (1-2) on Sunday, Aug. 31.
  It's the first of two non-conference match-ups between the Bluejays and Jayhawks, as the teams also close out non-conference play on Sept. 21 in Omaha.
• Sunday's match will be televised on BTN and webcast at http://foxsports.com/live/btn, with Chris Vosters and Mac Podraza on the call.Â
• Kansas owns a 9-4 lead in the all-time series against Creighton, but the teams have never met on a neutral floor. Creighton swept the No. 10 Jayhawks (25-17, 25-19, 25-17) last season in Lawrence to hand KU its first loss of 2024.
  Brian Rosen has never faced Kansas nor Matt Ulmer. Ulmer has never faced Creighton.Â
  Both men are in their first season after replacing a legendary head coach.
With A Win...
With a win on Sunday...
- Creighton would improve to 31-91 all-time against Top 25 teams.
- Creighton would defeat a ranked team for the 11th straight season.
- Brian Rosen would become the first person to have his/her first victory as Creighton head coach come against a Top 25 opponent since Johnny Torres led the men's soccer team to a win over No. 21 Akron on Sept. 6, 2019.
• Creighton head coach Brian Rosen and Kansas head coach Matt Ulmer are both first year head coaches at their schools, but each man has long been respected in volleyball circles. Both were members of the AVCA's prestigious Thirty Under 30 list in 2013.
  At the time, Rosen was the head coach at Charlotte (NC) Country Day School, while Ulmer was the head sand coach and indoor assistant coach with Long Beach State.
  Other prominent names recognized in 2013 included current head coaches Erin Virtue (Michigan) and Christy Pfeffenberger (Xavier).
• Creighton spread out its 37 kills against Texas amongst six players, all of whom had between five and nine kills.
  The Bluejays got 14 kills from their middles, 13 kills from their outsides and a combined 10 kills from its setter (5) and right side hitters (5).
• Sunday's match vs. Kansas is the first of two non-conference meetings against the Jayhawks, who also visit Omaha for the Creighton Classic on September 21st.
  The September 21st contest was already on the docket when another program dropped out of the Opening Spike Classic. Creighton, known for its willingness to play anyone, eagerly accepted that spot when offered, and the rest is history.
  Kansas will be just the fourth non-conference opponent that Creighton has played twice in the same season. CU met Northern Iowa twice in four weeks in 2018, visited Texas A&M in consecutive days in 2011, and played home-and-homes with UMKC in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
• The 10,072 fans on Friday marked the second-largest neutral-site crowd in Creighton history.
  The only larger crowd was the 10,438 fans CU played in front of last Saturday against Penn State at the AVCA First Serve in Lincoln, Neb.
• This year marks the first time that Creighton has lost consecutive matches in the same season since 2019, when the Jays also started 0-2 after losing a pair of matches to nationally-ranked teams (No. 2 Nebraska and No. 20 Baylor).
  That 2019 team won its third match of the season with a Top 15 win over a team wearing blue on a neutral floor (No. 12 Kentucky), then went on to finish 25-6, go 17-1 to win the BIG EAST, and come one point shy of Sweet 16.
• Creighton's 30 all-time wins against Top 25 opponents have come against 13 different schools, including three such wins over Kansas.
  There are only two teams that Creighton has beaten more when the opponent was ranked, Marquette (9) and Kentucky (5).
  CU has also beaten three ranked USC teams, a school the Jays will face next Sunday on BTN.
• Creighton outblocked Texas, 12 - 8, on Friday, yet still lost the match. Dating to last season, the Bluejays had won 24 matches in a row when outblocking its opponent.
• Several of Creighton's most decorated players have direct connections to Kansas.
  Ava Martin (Overland Park), Ava TeStrake (Olathe) and Jaya Johnson (Olathe) are all from the Kansas City-metro area. Martin's father Chris Martin played in 29 games with Kansas basketball from 1997-99.
• Ava Martin finished Friday's contest vs. Texas with seven kills, her 79th match in a row with five or more kills.
  Martin's streak of 19 straight matches with 10 or more kills did get snapped. It had been tied for the third-longest mark in program history.
• Kiara Reinhardt returned to her home state with a team-best nine kills and .529 hitting percentage against Texas.
  It was the fourth time since Oct. 7, 2022 (her last match with 10+ kills) that Reinhardt owned exactly nine kills. One of those matches with nine kills came in last year's NCAA Tournament victory over Texas, when the senior hit .438.
  Creighton had won 18 straight matches when Reinhardt hit .300 or better prior to Friday.
• After leading the BIG EAST with 167 blocks last season, Kiara Reinhardt owns seven rejections through two matches this fall.
  That moves her career total from 419 to 426, pushing her from a tie for ninth in CU history to start the season up to seventh place, and just 11 shy of JoDe Cieloha's 437 for sixth place.
• Abbey Hayes made her first career start in Friday's match vs. Texas, opening the match as a server before Destiny Ndam-Simpson replaced her in the front row.
• Speaking of firsts, Destiny Ndam-Simpson authored her first career ace when she served up a winner early in the third set of Friday's match vs. Texas.
  Ndam-Simpson's ace came in her 36th career service attempt, and after nine career service errors.
• Saige Damrow had 14 digs on Friday vs. Texas after posting 15 digs in her Bluejay debut vs. Penn State.
  Damrow is just the fourth player to open her Creighton career with back-to-back matches of 14 or more digs, joining Lydia Dimke (20 & 14 in 2016), Brittany Witt (21 & 16 in 2016), Nayka Benitez (15 & 17 in 2009).
  Of those aforementioned women, only Witt (with 15 in her third match) had began with three straight matches of 14 digs or more. A two-time BIG EAST Libero of the Year (2017, 2019), Witt remains Creighton's career digs leader with 2,079.
•Annalea Maeder had her first double-double as a Bluejay, finishing Friday's match vs. Texas with 29 assists and 10 digs. It was Maeder's 23rd career double-double, and seventh against a Top 25 foe.
Match #3: #14 Kansas vs. #12 Creighton • Madison, Wis. • Sunday, Aug. 31 • 3:30 p.m.
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |
• No. 12 Creighton (0-2) closes play at the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wis., with a 3:30 p.m. match-up vs. No. 14 Kansas (1-2) on Sunday, Aug. 31.
  It's the first of two non-conference match-ups between the Bluejays and Jayhawks, as the teams also close out non-conference play on Sept. 21 in Omaha.
• Sunday's match will be televised on BTN and webcast at http://foxsports.com/live/btn, with Chris Vosters and Mac Podraza on the call.Â
• Kansas owns a 9-4 lead in the all-time series against Creighton, but the teams have never met on a neutral floor. Creighton swept the No. 10 Jayhawks (25-17, 25-19, 25-17) last season in Lawrence to hand KU its first loss of 2024.
  Brian Rosen has never faced Kansas nor Matt Ulmer. Ulmer has never faced Creighton.Â
  Both men are in their first season after replacing a legendary head coach.
With A Win...
With a win on Sunday...
- Creighton would improve to 31-91 all-time against Top 25 teams.
- Creighton would defeat a ranked team for the 11th straight season.
- Brian Rosen would become the first person to have his/her first victory as Creighton head coach come against a Top 25 opponent since Johnny Torres led the men's soccer team to a win over No. 21 Akron on Sept. 6, 2019.
• Creighton head coach Brian Rosen and Kansas head coach Matt Ulmer are both first year head coaches at their schools, but each man has long been respected in volleyball circles. Both were members of the AVCA's prestigious Thirty Under 30 list in 2013.
  At the time, Rosen was the head coach at Charlotte (NC) Country Day School, while Ulmer was the head sand coach and indoor assistant coach with Long Beach State.
  Other prominent names recognized in 2013 included current head coaches Erin Virtue (Michigan) and Christy Pfeffenberger (Xavier).
• Creighton spread out its 37 kills against Texas amongst six players, all of whom had between five and nine kills.
  The Bluejays got 14 kills from their middles, 13 kills from their outsides and a combined 10 kills from its setter (5) and right side hitters (5).
• Sunday's match vs. Kansas is the first of two non-conference meetings against the Jayhawks, who also visit Omaha for the Creighton Classic on September 21st.
  The September 21st contest was already on the docket when another program dropped out of the Opening Spike Classic. Creighton, known for its willingness to play anyone, eagerly accepted that spot when offered, and the rest is history.
  Kansas will be just the fourth non-conference opponent that Creighton has played twice in the same season. CU met Northern Iowa twice in four weeks in 2018, visited Texas A&M in consecutive days in 2011, and played home-and-homes with UMKC in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
• The 10,072 fans on Friday marked the second-largest neutral-site crowd in Creighton history.
  The only larger crowd was the 10,438 fans CU played in front of last Saturday against Penn State at the AVCA First Serve in Lincoln, Neb.
• This year marks the first time that Creighton has lost consecutive matches in the same season since 2019, when the Jays also started 0-2 after losing a pair of matches to nationally-ranked teams (No. 2 Nebraska and No. 20 Baylor).
  That 2019 team won its third match of the season with a Top 15 win over a team wearing blue on a neutral floor (No. 12 Kentucky), then went on to finish 25-6, go 17-1 to win the BIG EAST, and come one point shy of Sweet 16.
• Creighton's 30 all-time wins against Top 25 opponents have come against 13 different schools, including three such wins over Kansas.
  There are only two teams that Creighton has beaten more when the opponent was ranked, Marquette (9) and Kentucky (5).
  CU has also beaten three ranked USC teams, a school the Jays will face next Sunday on BTN.
• Creighton outblocked Texas, 12 - 8, on Friday, yet still lost the match. Dating to last season, the Bluejays had won 24 matches in a row when outblocking its opponent.
• Several of Creighton's most decorated players have direct connections to Kansas.
  Ava Martin (Overland Park), Ava TeStrake (Olathe) and Jaya Johnson (Olathe) are all from the Kansas City-metro area. Martin's father Chris Martin played in 29 games with Kansas basketball from 1997-99.
• Ava Martin finished Friday's contest vs. Texas with seven kills, her 79th match in a row with five or more kills.
  Martin's streak of 19 straight matches with 10 or more kills did get snapped. It had been tied for the third-longest mark in program history.
• Kiara Reinhardt returned to her home state with a team-best nine kills and .529 hitting percentage against Texas.
  It was the fourth time since Oct. 7, 2022 (her last match with 10+ kills) that Reinhardt owned exactly nine kills. One of those matches with nine kills came in last year's NCAA Tournament victory over Texas, when the senior hit .438.
  Creighton had won 18 straight matches when Reinhardt hit .300 or better prior to Friday.
• After leading the BIG EAST with 167 blocks last season, Kiara Reinhardt owns seven rejections through two matches this fall.
  That moves her career total from 419 to 426, pushing her from a tie for ninth in CU history to start the season up to seventh place, and just 11 shy of JoDe Cieloha's 437 for sixth place.
• Abbey Hayes made her first career start in Friday's match vs. Texas, opening the match as a server before Destiny Ndam-Simpson replaced her in the front row.
• Speaking of firsts, Destiny Ndam-Simpson authored her first career ace when she served up a winner early in the third set of Friday's match vs. Texas.
  Ndam-Simpson's ace came in her 36th career service attempt, and after nine career service errors.
• Saige Damrow had 14 digs on Friday vs. Texas after posting 15 digs in her Bluejay debut vs. Penn State.
  Damrow is just the fourth player to open her Creighton career with back-to-back matches of 14 or more digs, joining Lydia Dimke (20 & 14 in 2016), Brittany Witt (21 & 16 in 2016), Nayka Benitez (15 & 17 in 2009).
  Of those aforementioned women, only Witt (with 15 in her third match) had began with three straight matches of 14 digs or more. A two-time BIG EAST Libero of the Year (2017, 2019), Witt remains Creighton's career digs leader with 2,079.
•Annalea Maeder had her first double-double as a Bluejay, finishing Friday's match vs. Texas with 29 assists and 10 digs. It was Maeder's 23rd career double-double, and seventh against a Top 25 foe.
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Players Mentioned
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