#13 Volleyball Meets #22 USC For Trojan Invitational Title

Trojan Invitational
Match #6: #13 Creighton at #22 USC • Los Angeles, Calif. • Sunday, Sept. 7 • 3 p.m. CST
| LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | CU NOTES |

• No. 13 Creighton Volleyball (3-2) plays its final non-conference road match of the season on Sunday when it closes out play at the Trojan Invitational in a Top 25 showdown against No. 22 USC (4-0).
First serve at Galen Center (10,258) in Los Angeles, Calif., is set for 3 p.m. Central.

• Sunday's match will be televised on BTN and webcast at http://foxsports.com/live/btn, with Paul Sunderland and Holly McPeak on the call.
Live stats from the match can be found at http://creighton.statbroadcast.com.

• With a win on Sunday...
- Creighton would improve to 32-91 all-time against Top 25 teams, and 2-2 this season.
- Creighton would beat multiple Top 25 teams in the same season for the eighth time.
- Creighton would win its fifth straight meeting against USC after losing the first six contests against the Women of Troy. The five wins will have come in four different states (Kentucky, Iowa, Nebraska, California).
- Creighton would win its fourth straight match.
- Creighton would win a tournament for the 14th straight season.
- Creighton would improve to 25-3 in its last 28 matches after a five-set contest.

• Creighton's 31 all-time wins against Top 25 opponents have come against 13 different schools, including three such wins over USC.
There are only three teams that Creighton has beaten more when the opponent was ranked, Marquette (9), Kentucky (5) and Kansas (4).

• Last season Creighton went 32-3, with all three losses coming in true road matches, in five sets, against teams that reached the Final Four.
This year the trend has flipped, as the Bluejays are 2-0 in five-set contests.
After posting 26 different 3-0 wins this year, the Bluejays are still seeking their first sweep of 2025.

• Creighton is 24-3 in its last 27 matches after a five-set contest, a testament to CU's fitness level and grit.

• Creighton has won at least one tournament each of the previous 13 seasons, a streak that dates to 2012. During that span, the Bluejays have won 35 tournament titles, not to mention 12 regular-season league crowns.
Creighton's Tournament Titles Since 2012
Year Titles Won Tourney Hosts
2012 3 USF, UNC, MVC
2013 1 BGSU
2014 1 CU, BIG EAST
2015 1 BIG EAST
2016 1 BIG EAST
2017 4 WASH, CU, KU, BIG EAST
2018 3 SMU, CU, BIG EAST
2019 2 UNI, CU
2020 1 BIG EAST
2021 5 MIZZ, UK, CU, WSU, BIG EAST
2022 3 WYO, UNO, BIG EAST
2023 5 Purdue, CU, UNO, MINN, BIG EAST
2024 4 CU, CU, KU, BIG EAST

• Creighton is 234-50 all-time when playing as a ranked team, and also 26-30 all-time against ranked teams when ranked itself.
Five of those previous "ranked vs. ranked" matches have been against USC, as seen below, with CU going 3-2 against the Trojans:
Date Winner Loser CU Score
09/02/17 #18 USC #7 Creighton 0-3
08/25/18 #10 USC #13 Creighton 2-3
09/07/19 #23 Creighton #15 USC 3-1
09/02/22 #17 Creighton #25 USC 3-1
09/05/24 #11 Creighton #20 USC 3-1
09/07/24 #13 Creighton at #22 USC 3 p.m. CST

• Creighton has won 28 straight matches when owning a better hitting percentage, 53 straight when owning more kills and 23 in a row when owning more digs than its opponent.

• One area Creighton prides itself in is its serving game.
The Bluejays own 16 aces and 20 service errors in two matches this weekend, compared to five aces and 28 service miscues by the opposiiton.
CU's Sydney Breissinger served up four aces on Friday, then teammate Ava Martin had four service winners of her own on Saturday.
Sunday's foe, USC, had five aces and 19 service errors in last night's win vs. San Diego and owns 11 aces and 36 miscues this weekend.

• Among those in the crowd last night was actor Ashton Kutcher, who sat with the parents of Bluejay sophomore Alivia Hausmann. Kutcher is a family friend of the Hausmann's, not to mention a doppelganger for former Creighton All-American Kyle Korver.
Also in the Galen Center last night was former USC standout Ally Batenhorst, who played last season with the Omaha Supernovas.

• Kiara Reinhardt has been an unstoppable force at the Trojan Invitational as the sixth-year senior has averaged 2.67 kills per set on .618 hitting.
Reinhardt tied her career-high with 15 kills on Friday night vs. San Diego while setting a CU record for hitting percentage in a four-set match (.789).
She followed that up with nine kills in 14 swings on Saturday, hitting .429 in a win over UCSB.
Reinhardt is now hitting .453 this season while averaging 2.35 kills per set.

• Kiara Reinhardt has played in 99 victories as a Bluejay and can become the 13th woman to reach the century mark with a win on Sunday vs. USC.
Creighton is 99-19 (.839) all-time in the matches Reinhardt has appeared in (they're 35-4 in matches she doesn't play in, including her redshirt year). Her current .839 win percentage ranks fourth-best in program history among those with 99 or more victories.
Most Wins, Appeared In As A Player
119 Kendra Wait 2021-24
116 Naomi Hickman 2017-21
111 Jaali Winters 2015-18
110 Kiana Schmitt 2019-23
109 Taryn Kloth 2015-18
109 Brittany Witt 2016-19
109 Norah Sis 2021-24
107 Megan Ballenger 2016-19
106 Marysa Wilkinson 2014-17
104 Lauren Smith 2013-16
102 Melanie Jereb 2012-15
101 Ashley Jansen 2012-15
99 Kiara Reinhardt 2020-Pres.
98 Jaela Zimmerman 2018-22

Best Win Pct. in Matches Appeared In As A Player (min. 99 wins)
W-L Pct. Name Years
109-14 .886 Norah Sis 2021-24
119-16 .881 Kendra Wait 2021-24
110-16 .873 Kiana Schmitt 2019-23
99-19 .839 Kiara Reinhardt 2020-Pr.
109-24 .820 Taryn Kloth 2015-18
116-26 .817 Naomi Hickman 2017-21
109-25 .813 Brittany Witt 2016-19
107-25 .811 Megan Ballenger 2016-19
111-28 .799 Jaali Winters 2015-18
106-32 .768 Marysa Wilkinson 2014-17
102-31 .767 Melanie Jereb 2012-15
101-31 .765 Ashley Jansen 2012-15
104-34 .754 Lauren Smith 2013-16

• Annalea Maeder owns 2,948 career assists and is 52 shy of 3,000 for her career. All but 189 of her assists have come at California.
Maeder's season-high is 47 assists and her career-high is 60 helpers.

• Ava Martin had a career-high 24 kills vs. UC Santa Barbara, including three or more all five sets. It was the seventh time in her career that she's had 20 or more kills, and she's done it against some lofty competition.
Ava Martin's 20-Kill Matches
Kills Pct. Opponent Date
24 .286 vs. UC Santa Barbara 09/06/25
22 .333 #14 Marquette 11/26/22
22 .396 Northern Iowa 09/03/23
22 .180 at #9 Minnesota 09/16/23
21 .230 at Xavier 09/23/23
20 .400 at DePaul 11/22/24
20 .405 vs. Duke 08/27/23

• With her career-high 24 kills last night, Ava Martin now owns 1,185 career kills. That puts her two ahead of Marysa Wilkinson's 1,183, moving Martin into 10th-most in program history.

• After Destiny Ndam-Simpson got off to a slow start on Saturday, Creighton head coach Brian Rosen wasn't afraid to give freshman Abbey Hayes a shot, and the move paid big dividends.
Hayes entered the day with seven digs and one aces through the first four matches of her career, then had 14 digs and seven kills against UCSB.

• One other freshman who has shown promise during the Trojan Invitational is middle blocker Nora Wurtz, who has been utilized as a (very tall) serving specialist this season.
Wurtz notched her first career ace on Friday vs. San Diego, then served two more in Saturday's victory vs. UC Santa Barbara.

• Creighton is spending its third straight weekend at a Big Ten arena, and Sunday will mark its fourth Top 25 foe in in six matches to start the season.
The Bluejay schedule doesn't get any easier, either. CU's school-record 32-match home win streak will be put to the test on Friday when the Bluejays host No. 4 Louisville, followed by Rice and UNI.
Next Tuesday (Sept. 16), Creighton will host No. 1 Nebraska at CHI Health Center Omaha. Heading into the weekend approximately 1,100 tickets remained for that, putting the Bluejays in good shape to reclaim the NCAA Volleyball-only regular-season indoor attendance record it once owned that is currently held by Marquette (17,037).

#13 Volleyball Meets #22 USC For Trojan Invitational Title

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Breissinger

Alivia Hausmann

Abbey Hayes

Annalea Maeder

Ava Martin

Destiny Ndam-Simpson

Kiara Reinhardt

Norah Sis

Kendra Wait

Nora Wurtz