OMAHA, Neb. – Led by a combined 27 kills freshman Ava Martin and sophomore Norah Sis, the No. 21 Creighton Volleyball team cruised past Xavier with a 25-9, 25-17, 25-16 victory inside D.J. Sokol Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
With the sweep the Bluejays improved to 11-3 on the year and 3-0 in BIG EAST play, while Xavier falls to 9-4 overall and 2-1 in league play. Creighton is now 22-0 all-time against Xavier, including 14 sweeps.
The reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week, Martin had season-highs in kills (14) and hitting percentage (.684) to power the Bluejays to victory. Keeley Davis tied her career-high with five service aces, moving into a tie for third place in CU history with former teammate Brittany Witt at 122 career aces.
Creighton dominated the first set with ruthless efficiency, hitting .667 and limiting Xavier to just three digs and four kills on -.087 hitting. The Bluejays raced to leads of 8-2 and 17-4 to quickly erase any hopes of an upset by the visitors. Sis had seven kills in nine swings in the first set while Kendra Wait dished 16 assists.
The second set featured five ties and four lead changes. CU fell behind 13-10 and called timeout, after which it went on a 6-1 run to take the lead for good. An ace from Sis moved the Bluejay lead to 18-15 and back-to-back kills by Martin moved the margin to 21-16. Kiara Reinhardt would pound an overpass on set point to help CU take a 2-0 lead into intermission. CU hit .343 in the second set, with five kills from Martin leading the way, and served up four aces without an error.
Four kills from Martin fueled Creighton as it raced to an 8-2 start. Xavier never got within three points the rest of the evening. Martin had six kills in the set and Davis added eight digs and a pair of aces in the final frame. The Bluejays had 27 digs in the third set to limit Xavier to .023 hitting in the finale.
Creighton finished with 48 kills, seven aces, 53 digs and four blocks on .381 hitting.
Xavier had 24 kills, one ace, 30 digs and three blocks while hitting .059 overall. Brooklyn Cink led the Musketeers with seven kills, while Lucia Corsaro owned nine digs.
Creighton returns to action on Friday, Sept. 30 when it hosts Butler at 6:30 p.m.
