LAWRENCE, Kan. — The No. 9 Creighton Volleyball team closed its non-conference gauntlet with a second straight Top 10 win, this time handing No. 10 Kansas its first loss of the season to close out play at the Jayhawk Classic. Scores of Creighton’s 3-0 win over KU inside Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena were 25-17, 25-19, 25-17.
Creighton closes non-conference play with an 9-2 record for the second straight fall while Kansas (9-1) tasted defeat for the first time this fall after entering the match as one of nine remaining unbeaten teams nationally.
Creighton had six blocks in the first set, holding one of the nation’s most efficient teams to .079 hitting. Six different Bluejays had at least one rejection, including three each from senior middle blockers Elise Goetzinger and Kiara Reinhardt. Norah Sis and Ava Martin combined for eight kills in 19 errorless swings to pace a Bluejay offense that hit .378. Kendra Wait registered 13 assists and had six digs in the first frame.
The teams were deadlocked at 11-all in the second set after a powerful back row kill from Martin, but KU answered with four of the next five points to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. CU bounced back with three straight points to tie the score at 15, then took the lead on consecutive kills by Sis. Johnson had a kill to make it 19-17 and prompt a KU timeout and a back-row kill from Martin made it a 5-0 run on Alivia Hausmann’s serve and gave CU a 21-17 lead. A kill from Goetzinger closed out CU’s 25-19 win. Creighton hit .389 in the second set as Wait distributed 15 assists and secured her 61st career double-double before intermission.
Creighton built a 14-10 lead in the third set on Sydney Breissinger’s serve, with 12 kills to earn those first 14 points, and did not trail the rest of the set to close out its second straight sweep over the Jayhawks in Lawrence. A kill from Norah Sis, her 16th of the day, closed out the win.
Sis had 16 kills and hit .516 in 31 swings while adding seven kills and three blocks. Martin owned a dozen kills on .276 hitting while adding eight digs and a pair of blocks. Both Johnson and Goetzinger owned nine kills, with Goetzinger pacing all players with six blocks. Wait contributed 45 assists and 15 digs and both Maddy Bilinovic (11 digs) and Breissinger (10) had double-digit digs. Creighton hit .426 with 53 kills, 56 digs, 11 blocks and two aces.
Kansas was topped by 12 kills from Ayah Elnady, and Caroline Bien contributed nine kills and nine digs. Camryn Turner finished with 28 assists and 10 digs. The Jayhawks had 36 kills, 41 digs, four blocks and one ace but hit a season-low .171.
Creighton returns to action on Friday, Sept. 27, at 6 p.m. vs. Providence inside D.J. Sokol Arena as it begins defense of its back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back BIG EAST Conference regular-season titles.
