OMAHA, Neb. — Redshirt freshman Jaya Johnson had 11 kills on .526 hitting to lead No. 12 Creighton Volleyball to a 3-0 win over visiting NC State in the 2024 regular-season opener on Friday. Scores of the victory were 25-18, 25-20, 25-13. Creighton hit .385 in the victory and never trailed in the first or third set.
Playing in front of the third-largest D.J. Sokol Arena crowd in program history (2,569), the Bluejays raced to a 6-1 start in the opening set and never looked back. Senior Kiara Reinhardt had four kills and a block in the initial 11 points as the Jays lead grew to 9-2, and the margin stretched to 14-6 after a block by seniors Kendra Wait and Elise Goetzinger. Behind Reinhardt’s five kills, and Wait’s 10 assists and six digs, the Jays took the opener 25-18 on Wait’s kill.
Creighton lost the first two points of the second set and did not move ahead until 10-9, but that would be the only time all night the Jays fell behind. Goetzinger had a pair of kills during a 3-0 surge to put CU in front 11-9. CU led 20-15 after a kill from Ava Martin and led by four or more the rest of the set. Johnson had six kills and four digs in the game as Wait dished 14 assists to five different teammates.
Creighton broke free from a 6-5 lead in the finale with a 6-0 run on Martin’s serve. Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Norah Sis authored a 4-0 run behind the service line to expand the advantage to 19-10, and a solo stuff from Goetzinger closed out Creighton’s 11th straight home sweep. Sis had six kills in seven swings during the final frame to pace a Bluejay offense that hit .696 with 16 kills in 23 swings, the sixth-best hitting percentage in a set in program history.
In addition to Johnson’s 11 kills, Goetzinger had 10 kills and five blocks on .471 hitting in her Bluejay debut. Maddy Bilinovic played libero and had a team-high 10 digs in her Bluejay debut to spearhead a defense that held NC State to .134 hitting. Creighton hit .385 and had 49 kills, three aces, 39 digs and 7.0 blocks.
NC State was led by 11 kills from Amanda Rice, and libero Skye Stokes contributed a match-leading 11 digs. The Wolfpack had 32 kills, one ace, 37 digs and three blocks overall.
Creighton continues play in the Bluejay Invitational on Saturday at 5 p.m. when it hosts Missouri. Mizzou swept Drake (25-16, 25-14, 28-26) in the first match of the tournament on Friday.
