It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. No. 12 Creighton volleyball is looking to finish off the season strong. They were able to continue their momentum, beating the Villanova Wildcats in four sets to start their final home weekend in Big East play. This brought the Bluejays to a perfect 13-0 record in Big East play, maintaining their hold on first place in the Big East standings.
“A lot of people had to step up and make some big swings, and I thought we had a really good game trying to get people involved,” head coach Brian Rosen said.
The Bluejays got off to a slow start in the first set, finding themselves trailing 5-1 early in the set. The Bluejays were able to slowly close the gap before a kill from senior Kiara Reinhardt tied the set at 11-11. The set continued to be back and forth with the Wildcats holding a 17-16 lead. However, the Bluejays captured seven points in a row, highlighted by five service aces from redshirt-freshman Nora Wurtz. However, the Wildcats staged a run of their own, bringing their deficit to a single point, trailing 24-23. However, the Bluejays responded and were able to win the set 25-23 on a kill from senior Ava Martin, who ended the night with 23 kills.
“It was incredible [after those five service aces],” Wurtz said. “Kudos to the team always backing me…It’s just incredible, and our crowd is so great, and I’m grateful that we get to play here.”
“We kept saying, let’s do this for each other when things weren’t going our way,” Martin said. “This wasn’t our cleanest game we’ve ever played, so we kept leaning on each other and knowing we had each other’s backs so we could really just go for it.”
The second set saw a very similar start for the Bluejays, finding themselves trailing 5-1 early in the second set. The Bluejays were once again able to narrow the gap, bringing the deficit down to 14-12 on a kill from Martin. However, the Bluejays were still unable to grab the lead, trailing 21-16 later in the set. Villanova was able to take advantage and close out the second with four straight points to win the set 25-21.
“I thought Villanova played really consistently throughout the entire match,” Rosen said. “They did a really nice job working good aggressive swings with lots of shots, which put you in uncomfortable positions…I thought they played really consistently in a good way, and it was working for them. I thought lineup-wise and execution wise, they played pretty consistently, served tough, and put us in some uncomfortable positions.”
The beginning of the third set saw the two teams trading punches and keeping the score incredibly close. Following back-to-back kills from sophomore Jaya Johnson and Martin, the Bluejays found themselves tied with the Wildcats at 7-7. The score continued to stay tight, with the score getting tied at 13-13 before the Wilcats won three straight points to gain a 16-13 lead. However, this marked the turning point of the match as the Bluejays won 9 out of the next 10 points to take a 22-17 lead. This was highlighted by five kills for the Bluejays as well as a pair of service aces. The Bluejays were able to finish the set strong, winning the set 25-19 after a pair of kills.
The trend of closely contested beginnings to sets continued in the fourth set. After the lead exchanged hands several times, the two teams found themselves tied at 10 following a kill from Martin. Neither team was able to gain an advantage in the next few points, with the score being tied at 12-12. However, the Bluejays completely changed the set, winning five straight points on a series of four kills in a row to take a 17-12 lead. After a kill from the Wildcats ended the run, the Bluejays started another run, capturing eight straight points to win 25-13. This was capped off by a service ace from junior Sydney Breissinger to win the match.
“I thought there were a couple of defensive runs that easily could have ended that we kept alive, and I thought that was the difference in the fourth set,” Rosen said. “There was a point in the fourth set where they had the point won four times, but somehow we got it back over and [Jaya Johnson] ended up finishing that point with a tip kill that barely landed in bounds. Those are huge difference makers and momentum stealers. I think you break hearts on defense, not offense, and that changed the tone of the set.”
The Bluejays look to finish off a perfect home record in Big East play on Sunday, hosting the Georgetown Hoyas at 1 p.m. Finishing strong will be important for the 12th-ranked Bluejays as they seek to finish in the top 16 in the country to be able to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.