#10 Volleyball Bears Down; Takes Home Opener Over Arizona

Friday, September 4

Omaha, Neb.

6:00 PM

Creighton University

3-1,0-0Big East

Arizona

2-2,0-0Big 12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Arizona	24	25	25	18	12	2
Creighton	26	19	19	25	15	3

Photo by: Nick Barajas

#10 Volleyball Bears Down; Takes Home Opener Over Arizona

9/4/2026 9:15:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Creighton-Arizona Stats Pepperdine-Tulsa stats PHOTOS Photo Gallery

By: Rob Anderson

OMAHA, Neb. -- Trinity Shadd-Ceres had 17 of her career-high 29 kills in the final two sets as No. 10 Creighton Volleyball won the final two sets to defeat Arizona, 3-2, on Friday evening inside D.J. Sokol Arena.

Shadd-Ceres, who also had a career-high 10 digs to notch her first career-double, wasn't the only Bluejay with a big night. Jaya Johnson (15), Ayden Ames (12) and Ava TeStrake (5) also had career-highs in kills, and Bluejay setter Katie Dalton (42 assists, 21 digs) also notched a career-high in digs while surprassing 1,000 career assists.

Destiny Ndam-Simpson, who graduated from Creighton in May, led Arizona with career-highs in kills (16), blocks (6) and aces (4).

Creighton (3-1) led 21-12 in the first set, but Arizona battled back to tie the score at 24-all thanks to four kills by Ndam-Simpson. The Jays earned set point on a kill from Shadd-Ceres and took the opener when Kristen Dear had a hitting error. Ndam-Simpson had six kills for Arizona, but Shadd-Ceres had five kills in a glimpse of what was to come. Creighton also served six aces in the first set, including two each from setters Dalton and Rayna Christianson.

Arizona (2-2) overcame a 10-6 deficit in the second set to even the match with a 25-19 win. Ndam-Simpson had two aces in a 6-0 serving blitz, then later closed out the set with a kill. The Wildcats had four blocks in the second set and hit .429 with 12 kills on 28 errorless swings.

Arizona controlled the third set, using a 7-1 run to build a 12-6 advantage and never looked back. TeStrake came off the bench to provide a spark with three kills in five swings, but hte Jays never got closer than three down the stretch. Both teams had 14 kills in the set, but CU had six more attack errors than their visitors from the Big 12.

The fourth set featured 13 ties and four lead changes before CU prevailed, 25-18. Creighton had 22 kills in 26 swings in the fourth set, as its .739 hitting percentage ranks third-best for any set in program history. Shadd-Ceres dominated the set with 11 kills in12 swings as Dalton dished 20 assists after abandoning its 6-2 offense that it had used to great success in its first the matches of the fall. Ames (4) and Johnson (3) were perfect in seven attack attempts, and Dalton and Eloise Brandewie combined for a block on set point.

Creighton never trailed in the fifth set as Nora Wurtz served the Jays to a 4-0 lead. The margin grew to 7-3 and 11-6, which led to Arizona using its final timeout. The Wildcats did draw within two points at 11-9 before the Jays got back-to-back kills by Shadd-Ceres and Ames to earn five match points. Arizona held off the Jays the first three times before Shadd-Ceres buried her career-high 29th kill on match point. Shadd-Ceres had six kills in the fifth set as Creighton hit .435 in the final frame.

Creighton improved to 22-5 all-time in the fifth set inside D.J. Sokol Arena, and now own a pair of fifth-set wins this fall after beating Purdue in Sioux Falls last Friday. The Bluejays finished with 72 kills, 77 digs, seven aces, six blocks and hit .289, while Arizona had 53 kills, 52 digs, 12 blocks and 12 aces on .268 hitting.

Creighton continues action in the Bluejay Invitational on Saturday at 3 p.m. with a match against Pepperdine (3-1). The Waves lost the first match on Friday to Tulsa (26-24, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20).

NOTES: Trinity Shadd-Ceres' 29 kills were one shy of the D.J. Sokol Arena done three times previously, and exceeded her career total of 22 in her first two years at the University of Wisconsin, and her career-high of 13 done twice last weekend ... Jaya Johnson's 15 kills were two more than her previous high, Ayden Ames' 12 kills were one more than her previous best, and Ava TeStrake's five kills were one more than her previous high ... Katie Dalton's 21 digs were three more than her previous high ... Brian Rosen improved to 76-24 as a college head coach (31-7 at Creighton) ... Tonight was Creighton's first meeting ever against Arizona ... Creighton has now won 13 straight home matches, tied for its third-longest home win streak in program history. The Jays have trailed 2-1 in three of those matches before rallying to win ... Creighton's 13-match home win streak is tied for the nation's sixth-longest active win streak ... Creighton has won 70 straight matches against unranked teams and is 26-0 under Brian Rosen ... Creighton has won 58 straight non-televised matches ... Katie Dalton surpassed 1,000 career assists in the match ... Creighton surpassed 50,000 career kills as a program since its 1994 reinstatement and now owns 50,055 ... Creighton is now 14-0 all-time when Jaya Johnson has 10 kills or more ... Katie Dalton's first kill of the season came in the fifth set ... Creighton improved to 15-3 all-time in its first home match of the season inside D.J. Sokol Arena.