The Creighton Bluejays volleyball team (20-5, 13-1 Big East) increased its winning streak to nine after sweeping the weekend against Marquette (18-8, 12-3 Big East) on Saturday and DePaul (8-19, 2-13 Big East) on Sunday, which was also Senior Day. With the win against DePaul, the Jays now have six straight 20-win seasons.
In the Bluejays’ first match, they avenged their loss to the Golden Eagles from October, when Creighton was swept in Milwaukee. The Jays returned the favor, 25-12, 26-24, 25-15.
Junior Jaali Winters and senior Lydia Dimke each had a double-double to lead the Jays with 13 kills and 11 digs and 32 assists and 10 digs, respectively. Senior Marysa Wilkinson had eight kills on a .375 hitting percentage, sophomore Brittany Witt added 14 digs and five assists and junior Taryn Kloth racked up 10 kills.
The first set was close at 11-9 before the Jays went on a 14-3 run to close it out. Set two was the closest of the match, featuring six lead changes and 16 ties before Creighton won on an attacking error by Marquette.
Winters had eight kills in set two and Dimke recorded 14 assists, seven digs and two kills. The final set was tight to start at 10-9 but the Jays went on a 15-6 run like in the first set to finish off the Golden Eagles for good.
“I thought it was a great match for us. I saw a lot of transfer from things we’ve been working on in the gym and good to see us do it consistently for an entire match against a really good team,” Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “I thought our serving was the best I’ve seen in a while, and I thought it really disrupted Marquette and took them out of system.”
Creighton’s second match against DePaul on Sunday was much easier, as the Jays won in dominating fashion, 25-11, 25-14, 25-16.
Winters and Kloth paced the Jays with 12 kills. Dimke continued to set up teammates with 29 assists and Witt added a double-double with 17 digs and 10 assists.
In the first set Creighton never trailed, going on runs of 7-1, 8-0 and 7-2 to make quick work of the Blue Demons.
The second set saw DePaul jump out to a 2-0 lead before the Jays responded with a 6-1 run and never gave back the lead in the game. The third and final set of the match was the closest of all but Creighton took the lead at 2-1 and once again never relinquished it.
The Blue Demons traded points with the Jays but could never get in striking distance, as Creighton maintained a three to five-point edge before closing out the game on a 5-1 run.
“I thought it was a good effort today,” Booth said. “It was really about what we were trying to do on our side of the net. It wasn’t perfect play but it was awesome to have that atmosphere.
We had a great crowd to celebrate four remarkable young women both on and off the court. It’s nice to have a match that’s not too high-stressed, that you can really celebrate them.”
These seniors have gone 101-30 overall and 64-4 in the Big East over the past four years, those 101 wins rank 11th nationally and hold the Creighton volleyball record with 23-match winning streak from last year.
The Jays can become the first team in 15 years to win four straight regular-season and conference tournament titles. They can also be the first program for Creighton women’s athletics to make the NCAA Tournament six straight seasons. Lastly, they won the first Big East title for any sport at Creighton and have made a Sweet 16 and Elite 8.
With the win against Marquette, the Bluejays now have a two-game lead over the Golden Eagles with four games to go in regular-season play.
Creighton will be traveling to Cincinnati to play Xavier (5-9, 10-18 Big East) on Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. and then to Indianapolis on Nov. 12 for their toughest remaining match of the regular season against Butler (20-6, 10-4 Big East) at 12 p.m.