This past weekend, the No. 6 Creighton volleyball team faced off against the Georgetown Hoyas and the Seton Hall Pirates for two important away matchups.
The weekend started off in Washington DC on Friday against the Hoyas. It was a successful showing for the Jays as Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth earned her 600th career win.
The win was led by senior Norah Sis, who had 16 kills, and junior Ava Martin, who grabbed 10 kills of her own. This put the game scores at 25-21, 25-13, and in the third set, the Jays held the Hoyas to just nine points. The Bluejays had a hitting percentage of .417 in that third and stifled the Georgetown offense to –.083 an impressive feat.
“I liked how we responded about midway through game two, we started to get some rhythm, and I think we learned some things,” Coach Booth said in regards changing the flow of the match after the close first set.
The second match brought the Bluejays to New Jersey, facing off against Seton Hall. Set one got off to a close start with a kill by Martin who put the Jays up 6-4. Another dominant performance by both Sis and Martin kept Creighton in the lead with a kill by Sis to increase the margin 13-8.
“They show up every night, they’re resilient. So if something doesn’t go well for them they can battle back on the next,” Coach Booth said, “Ava was on fire for a good portion of the evening.”
An eight–point serving run by Sis brought the game to 21-13 and a combined block by senior transfer Elise Goetzinger and redshirt freshman Jaya Johnson closed out set one 25-14.
“The players really enjoyed playing Seton Hall…we sided out at a ridiculously high rate, but there were some long rallies,” Coach Booth said about Seton Hall sticking with the Bluejays.
Set two brought more success for the Jays as the offense was clean throughout. Goetzinger put Creighton in the lead at 8-7 with a tip kill and another ace by Sis brought the score up to 15-11.
“There’s not a player that we don’t feel comfortable going to, and even if they make an error going back to again,” Coach Booth said.
Martin scored her 10th kill of the night to increase the lead to 18-11.
With a tip kill by senior setter Kendra Wait, the Bluejays won set two 25-13. With this kill Wait earned her 65th double-double, which ties the school record for most all time.
“Kendra just does so much of the game well. I think that’s what makes her a special setter,” Coach Booth said on Wait’s performance.
Creighton got off to a very hot start in set three. An ace by Martin put the Bluejays up 7-0 early.
The younger players started to get some more time on the court here as sophomore Destiny Ndam-Simpson earned a kill increasing the lead to 13-6 and with another kill even more to 17-6.
“One of the things that we think is so great about this team is that we’ve got great depth and we trust all the players…when we get opportunities to play some kids, we definitely want to give them that chance,” Coach Booth said on her strategy for getting the younger players involved.
With a block by freshman Sophia Wendlick, the Bluejays closed out the set 25-11 and the match 3-0.
Creighton remains undefeated in the Big East and will play next at home against St. John’s on Friday. The first serve is set for 6p.m.