#11 Creighton Volleyball Heads to Regional Semi's After Beating UNI
OMAHA, Neb. -- Tenth-seeded and 11th-ranked Creighton Volleyball is headed back to the Regional Semifinals for the third straight season, and fifth time overall, after a hard-fought 3-1 win over former Missouri Valley Conference rival Northern Iowa on Friday, Dec. 5th. Scores of the CU victory were 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21.
Creighton never trailed in the first set, turning an 8-7 lead into a 13-8 advantage. CU continued to pull away, taking an 18-11 lead as Abbey Hayes provided an early boost with four kills. CU poured it on, taking the first set 25-18 on Hayes' fifth kill. Creighton hit .441 en route to winning the first set for its 22nd straight match. BIG EAST Setter of the Year Annalea Maeder dished a dozen assists and added four digs, two kills and added a block.
UNI didn't waste any time fighting back, taking a 9-4 lead to open the second set. Creighton's slow comeback was aided by five UNI serving errors in the set. CU drew within one point on eight occasions before finally tying the score on an ace by Hayes to make it 20-20. CU also tied it at 21-all, but both times sent their next serve into the net as UNI regained the lead. The Panthers went up 23-21 and 24-22 on Cassidy Hartman's 10th and 11th kills, and won it 25-23 after Lily Dykstra's kill withstood a CU challenge to even the match. Dykstra had eight kills and Hartman six in the second frame to pace a Panther attack that had 18 kills in 40 swings.
The third set featured the first lead change of the match when UNI took a 4-3 lead, part of a 12-5 run that saw CU call both of its timeouts and the Panthers take a 14-8 lead. CU used the right arm of All-American Ava Martin to take a 16-15 lead after four straight kills from the BIG EAST Player of the Year. The set would feature nine ties and four lead changes before CU ultimately prevailed, 25-22. Back-to-back blocks by Eloise Brandewie and Jaya Johnson gave CU a 24-21 lead and a Panther service error handed the Jays a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set saw Creighton race out to an early 3-0 lead and did not release it, taking the match 25-21. While Creighton did not trail in the decisive fourth stanza, Northern Iowa pulled even and 5-5 with four of five points. Holding an 11-9 edge, the Bluejays seemed to take complete control with six straight points by forcing the Panthers into four attack errors during the run. Down 17-9 UNI responded with eight of the next nine points to make it a one-point contest at 18-17. Moments later the Bluejays put things away with four straight points, courtesy of consecutive blocks, an ace from Nora Wurtz and a kill from Martin.
Four Bluejays closed the match with double-digit kills, led by 16 from Martin. Joining the double-digit party were Hayes (12), Johnson (11) and Kiara Reinhardt (10). Maeder guided the Creighton offense with 47 assists and 14 digs, while Sydney Breissinger owned a match-best 19 digs and also served up a pair of aces. CU had 55 kills, 66 digs, 13 blocks and five aces on .265 hitting.
Northern Iowa got a match-high 21 kills from Hartman, to go along with 15 kills from Dykstra and 10 from Isabelle Elliott. The guiding force for the Panthers brought a familiar name back to D.J. Sokol Arena as Reese Booth (the daughter of former Bluejay head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth) finished with a double-double of 22 assists and 16 digs. UNI had 62 kills, 70 digs, five blocks and three aces on .241 hitting. The unbeaten regular-season and tournament champion out of the Missouri Valley Conference, Northern Iowa finishes its season with a 26-6 record.
With the win, Creighton will play Arizona State in the Regional Semifinal. A date, time, location and broadcast plans will be announced later this weekend.