No. 6 Creighton Volleyball Team Sweeps UConn
OMAHA–(CU Athletics Sept. 29)–Norah Sis and Ava Martin combined for 23 kills on .550 hitting as the No. 6 Creighton Volleyball volleyball swept Connecticut on Sunday afternoon before 2,136 fans inside D.J. Sokol Arena.
Scores of Creighton’s 20th straight home win were 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 as the Bluejays moved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in BIG EAST play. UConn lost its second straight match in league play after going 12-0 in non-conference action.
Creighton hit .471 in the match, the sixth-best mark in program history, and held the Huskies to .071 hitting. UConn owned an 8-6 lead in aces, but the Bluejays dominated the other categories including kills (47-25), digs (34-28), blocks (8-2) and assists (46-24).
Creighton never trailed in the first set, hitting .500 with 18 kills in 32 swings. Maddy Bilinovic had a pair of serving runs in the first set to help CU build a 16-8 advantage. Elise Goetzinger led all players with five kills in the initial frame and Kendra Wait dished 17 assists.
The Bluejays fell behind 6-4 in the second set before a 5-0 run on Alivia Hausmann’s serve gave them a lead they would not surrender the rest of the afternoon. A 6-0 blitz on Sis’ serve moved the Bluejay lead to 22-12 and a Goetzinger kill gave CU the 2-0 lead at intermission. Sis and Martin both had five kills and hit .625 in the set as Creighton hit .448.
CU led wire-to-wire in the third set to close out their 14th consecutive home sweep in BIG EAST play. Sydney Breissinger authored a 5-0 serving run to give Creighton an 18-9 lead and a kill by Abbey Milner closed out the contest. Martin had five kills in the last game and Wait and Goetzinger each registered three blocks.
Martin led all players with 12 kills and hit .440, while Sis hit a career-high .733 and finished with 11 kills in 15 errorless swings as the Bluejays improved to 34-0 all-time when Sis hits .300 or better. Bilinovic notched a team-best 10 digs for CU, Wait distributed 41 assists, and Goetzinger and Reinhardt both had four blocks.
Emma Werkmeister had nine kills and a pair of aces, while Doga Kutlu dished 22 assists. The Huskies hit a season-low .071 in the match.
Creighton hosts Marquette (6-5, 2-0 BIG EAST) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on FS1. The teams have shared the league’s regular-season title each of the past three years, with Creighton winning the BIG EAST Tournament each time.