Creighton Volleyball Team Earns Win Over Wichita State

LARAMIE, Wyo. — The No. 18 Creighton Volleyball team completed its second win of the day with a 3-1 of longtime Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State on Friday evening at the Rumble in the Rockies inside the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Creighton beat the Shockers to the tune of 25-14, 26-24, 16-25, 25-13.

Sophomore Norah Sis paced Creighton’s attack for the second straight match, finishing with 15 kills and adding 10 kills for her second double-double of the day. Senior Jazz Schmidt had 11 kills while Kiana Schmitt had 10 kills and hit .353. Keeley Davis topped the Bluejay defense with 16 kills while notching her 100th career ace and Kiara Reinhardt dominated the middle with a team-leading six blocks. Running the Creighton offense was Kendra Wait, who had 51 assists, nine digs and five kills on .714 hitting. CU closed the evening with 57 kills, two aces, 65 digs and 11 blocks on .267 hitting.

WSU was paced by 14 kills on .407 hitting from Sophia Rohling. The Shockers hit .121 and finished with 41 kills, three aces, 48 digs and six blocks.

“I think it was a great first day,” said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “Both Iowa State and Wichita are going to win a lot of matches this year. I liked that we had a lot of people contribute. I thought our passing was outstanding today and there’s still a whole list of things that we can get better at, so that’s a good thing. It was good to notch the W’s.”

A first set that was tied at 11-11 was broken open when Ellie Bolton uncorked a 7-0 serving spurt to push the margin to 18-11. Kiara Reinhardt had a solo stuff of Brylee Kelly on set point of the 25-14 victory. Creighton outdug WSU 21-10 and limited the Shockers to -.027 hitting in the opener.

The second set featured 16 ties and four lead changes. The Bluejays looked in control with a 24-20 advantage before the Shockers saved four set points to even the score. CU earned itself another set point chance after a Schmidt kill preceded a bad set from the Shockers. Schmidt led CU with six kills in the frame while Wait dished 16 assists and helped CU hit .279.

The third set was a reversal of the first frame. The score was even at 11-all before Wichita State embarked on a 9-2 run to take control The Shockers hit .379 in the game with Rohling authoring six kills in eight swings.

Freshman Sky McCune served an ace during a 5-0 run as the Bluejays moved ahead 14-6 in the fourth set, and Davis’ milestone 100th ace advanced the lead to 17-7. Newcomers Bethany Clapp and Ann Marie Remmes teamed up for their first blocks of the season on match point, one of five blocks in the finale for CU.

Creighton closes out its opening weekend on Saturday at 7 p.m. Central when it meets host Wyoming (0-1) in a match that will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network. The Cowgirls opened their season on Friday afternoon with a 3-2 loss against Wichita State.