Volleyball Suffers Rare BIG EAST Loss

Sunday, October 4

Omaha, Neb.

1:00 PM

Creighton University

8-8,3-1Big East

Marquette

8-6,3-1Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Marquette	16	25	17	25	19	3
Creighton	25	22	25	21	17	2

NOTES STATS PHOTOS

Sydney Breissinger surpassed 1,000 career digs on Sunday.

Photo by: Abby Mills

10/4/2026 4:57:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PHOTOS STATS Photo Gallery

By: Rob Anderson

OMAHA, Neb. -- Marquette survived four match points to outlast Creighton Volleyball on Sunday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena, snapping the Bluejays' BIG EAST record-50 match regular-season win streak in league play. Scores of MU's 3-2 victory were 16-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-21, 19-17 as the Golden Eagles created a six-way tie for first place with 3-1 records atop the BIG EAST standings.

Creighton (8-8, 3-1 BIG EAST) was led by career-high kill totals from Ashlyn Paymal (18) and Eloise Brandewie (15), and Sydney Breissinger surpassed 1,000 career digs while tying her season-high with 15. The Bluejays finished with more kills (69-56), more digs (83-70), more blocks (10-6) and a better hitting percentage (.286 to .160), but Marquette had six more aces (11-5) and eight fewer service errors (15-7).

Marquette (8-6, 3-1 BIG EAST) was led by 21 kills and 17 digs by Carson Tyler, while Luanna Markus also posted a double-double with 43 assists and 13 digs.

The fifth set was a back-and-forth battle featuring 12 ties and five lead changes, as would be expected between a pair of programs that have dominated the BIG EAST since its 2013 reconfiguration. The Bluejays scored the first two points before MU coach Tom Mendoza used a quick timeout to settle down the visitors. The Golden Eagles followed with a sideout, then Tyler served three straight aces to return the lead to MU at 4-3. Creighton moved ahead by two at 7-5 and 10-8, only to fall behind 11-10 on a kill from Tyler. CU tied the score at 11 when Katie Dalton and Nora Wurtz blocked Tyler. The teams then traded sideouts on 10 straight points before MU emerged victorious after a 3-0 run gave the visitors a 19-17 fifth set victory. The Golden Eagles survived match points at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16 before prevailing. Tyler had six digs, five kills and three aces in the final frame to offset a Bluejay offense that saw Abbey Hayes put down four kills and Saige Damrow collect six of her match-high 27 digs.

Creighton opened the match with Nora Wurtz behind the service line, and the 6-foot-middle blocker authored three aces as the Jays quickly took a 5-0 lead. Marquette drew within three points on multiple occasions before used a 5-0 run on Ayden Ames' serve to move in front 20-12. The Jays cruised to a 25-16 win as Hayes had six kills in 10 swings and Dalton set the Jays to a .343 hitting percentage.

The Bluejays appeared in control early in the second set with a 7-3 lead before Tyler flipped the momentum. She served back-to-back aces during a 5-0 run as MU took its first lead of the day at 9-8. The Bluejays would regain the lead at 13-9, but MU countered with two more 4-0 runs to build a 20-17 edge. The Jays got within one at 21-20 before Caydence Doolan put down a kill to seal Marquette's 25-22 victory. Damrow had nine digs in the second frame but the Golden Eagles had four players with three or more kills in the game.

Creighton went took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-17 victory in the third set, steadily pulling away behind the right arm of Paymal. The sophomore had six kills in seven swings to pace a Bluejay offense that hit .516 in the third set. The CU middles also got involved, as Wurtz and Brandewie combined for nine kills on 13 swings.

The fourth set was knotted at 10-all before five straight Marquette kills helped the Golden Eagles to a 15-10 lead. Tyler had five kills and two aces in MU's 25-21 triumph to force the fifth five-set match in Omaha between the programs since 2021.

Creighton is back in action on Friday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Butler (9-7, 3-1 BIG EAST).

NOTES: Katie Dalton and Abbey Hayes both had their first double-doubles in four weeks ... Ashlyn Paymal's 18 kills were 10 more than her previous high and double the amount of kills she had her entire freshman season ... Marquette improved to 1-8 all-time in five-set matches against Creighton ... Creighton had won the last 28 meetings against Marquette when winning at least one set ... Katie Dalton surpassed 600 career digs and now owns 603 ... Nora Wurtz tied a season-high with three aces ... Creighton's 50 straight BIG EAST wins came after a Oct. 6, 2023 loss at Marquette ... Creighton's last home loss in the month of October had been in 2011 to Northern Iowa, snapping an incredible 47-match October home win streak ... Other Creighton streaks snapped on Sunday included Creighton's 56 straight home wins against BIG EAST foes (including the postseason), 49 straight regular-season BIG EAST home wins, 25 straight wins in October at any site, 26 consecutive wins when hitting .250 or better and 167 victories in a row when owning a match point ... Creighton had been 105-1 at home against BIG EAST teams since the start of the 2015 season, with the only other loss coming on Feb. 6, 2021 to Marquette.