VOLLEYBALL: No. 12 Creighton Sweeps Seton Hall on Senior Day

OMAHA–(CU Athletics Nov. 13)–Keeley Davis broke the Creighton’s all-time aces record and Jaela Zimmerman reached 1,000 career kills as the No. 12 Bluejay Volleyball team swept Seton Hall on Senior Day on Sunday, Nov. 13.

Creighton improved to 24-3 (16-0 BIG EAST) with a 25-15, 25-17, 25-7 victory, while Seton Hall dropped to 14-14 (5-11 BIG EAST) with the loss.

On an afternoon where Creighton started five seniors and senior Allison Whitten served as libero, the Bluejay seniors were the story in their final regular-season home match. The group combined for 34 kills, six aces, 36 digs and five blocks on .355 hitting.

Davis finished with seven kills, nine digs and four aces to break Molly Moran’s Creighton record for aces in a career. Moran, who played at CU from 1998-2001, finished her career with 145 while Davis had nine aces in her final home weekend and now owns 147. She tied the record on the first point of the third set, then broke it two points later to make it 3-0. She added her third ace of the set and fourth of the day to push the Bluejays to a 6-0 lead in the final frame.

Zimmerman, who has been limited after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee last December, entered the day needing two kills to become the 15th Bluejay with 1,000 in her career. Her first kill of the day gave Creighton a 9-6 lead in the second set, and she earned her 1,000th kill to give Creighton a 17-5 lead in the final frame. She had a season-high 10 digs in her first start of the season, adding an ace.

As if that wasn’t enough, senior Bethany Clapp had a season-high eight kills, four digs and three blocks in her first start of the year, while Whitten led all players with a dozen digs. In addition, senior Jazz Schmidt led all players with 10 kills on .625 hitting. CU’s final senior to appear, Kiana Schmitt, had seven kills and four blocks, though she announced her intent to return earlier in the week.

Creighton had 43 kills, 11 aces, 48 digs, eight blocks and hit .362.

Seton Hall finished with 20 kills, three aces, 31 digs and three blocks on .056 hitting. Lalia Wallace and Jenna Walsh each had five kills to pace the Pirates, and Jennifer Giron topped The Hall with seven digs. After not leading at any point when the teams met on Oct. 28 in South Orange, the Pirates took their lone lead of the day at 2-1 in the first set.

Creighton closes the regular-season next weekend on the road when it visits DePaul (Friday, 7 p.m.) and No. 17 Marquette (Saturday, 6 p.m.) in search of its ninth straight BIG EAST regular-season title.