This past weekend, No. 12 Creighton volleyball opened its season at the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wis. taking on No. 5 Texas and No. 14 Kansas.
In their first match, the Bluejays battled hard against Texas but ultimately fell in straight sets, 25-21, 25-19, 26-24.
Texas’ size and strength at the net proved difficult to overcome, as the Longhorns’ blocking presence made it tough for Creighton to score consistently.
“We talked as a team and we need to work on being more consistent from point one to point 25 … we have to control what we can control, and if they get a good swing and we roll it right back, we say, ‘Hey we can get the next one,’” senior middle Kiara Reinhardt said.
The matchup carried extra weight for the Jays, as Creighton dethroned the reigning back-to-back national champions in four sets in last year’s Sweet 16. But this year, Creighton’s squad looks different, and the focus is now on proving the new roster can compete at the same level.
The Jays graduated seven seniors last spring, including star players in outside hitter Norah Sis and setter Kendra Wait. Creighton also lost longtime head coach, Kirsten Bernthal-Booth, who accepted a position with the LOVB professional volleyball program.
With new leadership under Head Coach Brian Rosen, Creighton has no plans of backing down.
That resilience showed in the Bluejays’ second match of the weekend, when they bounced back with a statement win against Kansas.
“I think overall they bounced back to be aggressive today. It could’ve been easy for them after Friday and [the] consecutive sweeps to kind of ho-hum into this weekend, especially against a team as good as Kansas … I think they trust how good they are, we know how good we can be,” Rosen said.
Creighton began to separate midway through the first set. A kill from sophomore Jaya Johnson extended the lead to 11-7, forcing Kansas to call timeout. The Jays pulled away from there, with Reinhardt adding another kill to make it 21-16. She finished the match with 11 kills and two blocks.
“I thought Kiara offensively gave us so many points in big moments. We knew they were going to commit to our pins so we wanted to take advantage of the one-on-one in the middle,” Rosen said.
An attacking error by Kansas sealed the first set for Creighton 25-17 — their first set win of the season after back-to-back sweeps.
“Getting swept twice is not a good feeling so we were obviously frustrated, but I think in the locker room yesterday we were like, ‘We need to come together as a team’ … and I think we did that today. We focused on one point at a time,” junior Eloise Brandewie said.
The second set started similarly, with sophomore libero Saige Damrow sparking the Jays with her serving and defense to put them up 10-9.
“I have a lot of confidence, but it’s coming from my teammates. We’re in such good positions all around the court it’s making my job so easy,” Damrow said.
Creighton pulled away late, and senior Ava Martin’s kill set up set point at 24-20. A Kansas service error handed the Jays a 2-0 lead.
The Jayhawks responded in the third, staying even until an ace from Damrow gave Creighton an 11-10 edge. But Kansas fought back and ultimately closed out the set 25-21.
“Grit is our word, and I thought she [Damrow] showed a lot of that to make plays and continue to give our team a chance,” Rosen said.
The fourth set played out much the same way. Kansas led for most of the frame, but Creighton clawed back to tie it at 19-19 after a long rally ended with a kill by junior Destiny Ndam-Simpson.
“I honestly think we’re such a scrappy team … and it comes from our blocking. We are getting such good touches and we’re able to run down balls that not many teams would,” Damrow said.
Despite the late push, Kansas held on 27-25, forcing a decisive fifth set.
Creighton started slowly, trailing 0-3, but quickly regrouped to take the lead. Junior defensive specialist Sydney Breissinger entered the game and served a 9-0 run to pull the Bluejays out ahead in the winner-takes-all fifth set.
“I thought we did a better job today letting a point go and moving to the next one,” Rosen said.
From there, Brandewie took over at the net, combining blocking and hitting to extend Creighton’s lead to 11-7.
“I think Jaya [Johnson] did a great job of setting up that block, and it was pretty easy for me just to close, so I owe it all to my pins,” Brandewie said.
The Jays closed out the set — and the match — on a Ndam-Simpson kill, sealing a 15-12 win in the fifth and Creighton’s first victory of the season. It also marked Rosen’s first win as head coach.
Creighton now heads west for the Trojan Invitational in California. They’ll face San Diego today before taking on UC Santa Barbara and USC. The first serve is set for Friday at 6:00 p.m. CT.