On Sunday, No. 13 Creighton took on the Seton Hall Pirates for the annual Pink Out game in support of breast cancer survivors. The Bluejays were looking to stay perfect in the Big East and hoped for another successful match against the Pirates who had yet to win a conference match.
Sporting new jerseys and playing with a sea of fans wearing pink, the team felt the love and wanted to show their support for this special match.
“I think today specifically playing for something bigger and something that has impacted members of our team…I just love how many people here were in pink and what an environment,” Head Coach Brian Rosen said.
Creighton got off to slow start in set one with Seton Hall playing scrappy and returning almost every ball the Bluejays hit. The first lead came with a kill by junior Eloise Brandewie to put the Jays up 5-4.
It was back and forth from there, but an ace by senior Ava Martin changed the momentum, and the Bluejays were able to find their groove.
“We talk all the time, it’s not wanting to go on one 10 point run. It’s wanting to go on a lot of two and three point runs, and I thought we were able to do that really well late in the first set,” Rosen said.
Another ace came from sophomore Nora Wurtz, whose strong serve left the Pirates scrambling, putting the Bluejays up 18-17.
Seton Hall was not going down without a fight, but with a combined block by senior Kiara Reinhardt and freshman Abbey Hayes, Creighton was able to finish off the set by four at 25-21.
“I thought defensively we weren’t very clean in that first set, again credit to them for putting us in some uncomfortable positions,” Rosen said. “But those are the teams and the plays that we have to be more balanced, more under control to at least keep those balls alive and allow us to play defense again.”
The Bluejays were able to come out stronger in the second set, a kill from Hayes gave the Jays the lead at 9-8 and it was all CU from here. Hayes tied her career high kills in this match, ending the day with ten.
“I think my main thing I’ve been focusing on is confidence,” Hayes said. “I really give a lot of credit to my coaches and my team because they’ve just continued to build me up the whole season so far. So really just believing in myself and taking more risks.”
With another ace by Wurtz, the Bluejays went up by six at 18-12 and looked to finish off the set with minimal errors. The Jays continues their point streak and with a kill by sophomore Jaya Johnson were able to take set two 25-15.
Wurtz got off to a hot start again in the third set, as Creighton tried to close out the match with a sweep. Her kill put the Bluejays up 4-3 early, and Wurtz hit 1.000 going six for six on her hitting attempts.
“Our middles are really good and I think…we’re three deep in that position and so I love that over the last couple matches people have been able to see how good is,” Rosen said.
Her kill put the Bluejays up 4-3 early, and Wurtz hit 1.000 going six for six on her hitting attempts.
“What you saw from Nora is what we see in our gym everyday. I mean with Nora it’s that same percentage in the gym too. She blocks that way, she serves that way, all the things you see are the same things she does in the gym,” Rosen said.
The Bluejays had a strong showing for the rest of the set, and with a kill by setter Annalea Maeder went up 22-16 and Seton Hall was left defenseless due to Maeder’s great reads of the defense.
The match ended with another ace from Wurtz and a set three win of 25-16 for a sweep. While the Bluejays were excited about the win, they were so grateful to play for such an important cause.
“Yes sweeps are good, but I just love for that an hour and a half we were able to provide joy for a lot of people in there that are impacted and to really think about perspective because there’s lots of times as coaches and as players we can think today is the worst day ever and understanding that life is so much bigger,” Coach Rosen said.
The Bluejays will take on Providence for their next match on tonight on ESPN+. First serve is set for 4 p.m.
