No. 18 Creighton volleyball earned their first sweep at home of the 2025 season with a 3-0 win against Rice Saturday evening.
“Two matches in a row, we’ve been really efficient offensively,” Head Coach Brian Rosen said. “Yesterday was all about establishing the middle. Today, we really talked about establishing the go and early.”
Creighton began leading the opening set 7-1. A kill by senior outsider hitter Ava Martin and an assist by senior setter Anna Maeder set the crowd roaring for the secured win of the first set ending 25-16.
The Jays took the lead again to start the second frame, beginging strong with a service ace by Maeder. Rice managed to tie the set at 7-7 and 8-8, but kills from freshman outside hitter Abbey Hayes and Maeder broke the deadlock. Senior middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt closed out the set 25-19 with a kill.
Still finding her footing as a freshman, Hayes reflected on progress, tallying five kills in the first two sets.
“[Sharp cross is] definitely one of my most confident swings I feel like I have and something I’m just going to continue to work on because I feel like it’s effective in really any matchup,” Hayes said.
In a must win set for Rice, the Owls come out strong with a 2-0, until sophomore middle blocker Jaya Johnson put the Jays on the board behind a powerful strike. After dropping the first two sets, Rice presented a stronger fight by hitting .303 and only committing 4 attack errors under 33 swings, forcing the Jays to tighten up. Despite an unsuccessful attempt at match point, Reinhardt closed the match with a kill, ending the final set 25-19.
“We had really good block set ups tonight and I think just talking about the defense and following our scout [helped when Rice hit around the block],” sophomore libero Saige Damrow said.
Martin led Creighton with 20 kills on .472 hitting. Hayes added a career-high of 10 kills, Maeder created a balanced attack with 35 assists and 7 digs, and Damrow set the tone defensively with 19 digs. Creighton out-hit Rice. .349 to .196, with more kills, digs, and blocks. However, Rice’s consistent serving created score runs, challenging the Jays.
“Rice presented different challenges,” Rosen said. “They made almost no errors, they were very clean, [and] they forced us to make plays and I thought we did that, so I love that we had to earn the points and we executed that really well.”
The Jays are bound to finish their invitational weekend against Northern Iowa Sunday afternoon. Martin prepares the team for defense and discipline.
“I love where our offense is right now and I’m hoping we can come in tomorrow and do it,” Martin said. “But tomorrow will not be easy and I know that our team is not looking past them.”