#12 Creighton Volleyball Drops Top-25 Opener vs. #2 Penn State

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The No. 12 Creighton Volleyball team opened its 2025 season with a 3-0 loss against defending national champion and second-ranked Penn State on Saturday afternoon inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. The match, Creighton's first under new head coach Brian Rosen, was part of the AVCA First Serve and nationally-televised on FS1, and played before a pro-Bluejay crowd of 10,438.
Scores of the match in favor of Penn State (1-0) were 25-18, 25-22, 27-25.
Creighton (0-1) was led by National Player of the Year candidate Ava Martin, as the Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year produced 19 kills and nine digs on .357 hitting. The Jays hit .167 for the match and finished with 39 kills, 49 digs, five blocks and five aces.
The first set was much closer than the 25-18 score would indicate, as the teams traded 10 straight sideouts to open the match and featured nine ties overall. The Nittany Lions proved too much to tame, closing the first frame on a 9-2 run, for the 25-18 victory. Ava Martin had six kills and five digs for the Bluejays, while Florida transfer Kennedy Martin made her PSU debut with six kills of her own in the opener.
Seniors Kiara Reinhardt and Annalea Maeder teamed up for a block to open the second set, but Penn State scored the next four points and the Jays would get no closer than two the remainder of the set. PSU created some breathing room with another 4-0 run to move in front 12-6. CU trailed by as much as 20-12 before the insertion of Abbey Hayes provided a spark and a 8-0 run that featured the freshman's first two career aces. The Nittany Lions ultimately prevailed in the second set, 25-22, hitting .302 in the second. Eloise Brandewie and Martin both had five kills in the game.
An undaunted Creighton squad raced to a 6-2 lead in the third set, only to have Penn State serve consecutive aces to take an 8-7 advantage. The set would feature nine ties and three lead changes, with a 6-2 run capped by a solo stuff from Brandewie giving the Jays a 16-13 advantage. CU was still in front 22-18 before Penn State answered with the next four points to tie it up. Creighton had set point chances at 24-22, 24-23 and 25-24, only to be turned back each time by PSU. A block by Penn State earned the defending champs a match point opportunity, and a kill by former Nebraska redshirt Caroline Jurevicius clinched PSU's victory. Ava Martin owned eight kills in the final set, while libero Saige Damrow had eight of her match-best 15 digs in her Bluejay debut.
Penn State tallied 47 kills, 52 digs, eight blocks and seven service aces. Kennedy Martin finished with 14 kills and nine digs on .344 hitting, while Jordan Hopp tallied 10 kills in 16 swings on .562 hitting.
Creighton is back in action next Friday at 8:30 p.m. when it takes on No. 5 Texas in Madison, Wis., as part of the Opening Spike Classic. That contest will be televised on BTN.
NOTES: Brian Rosen became Creighton's first head coach in any sport to make his debut against a top-five opponent ... The contest was a rematch of last year's Elite Eight battle won in five sets by Penn State in University Park, Pa. The Nittany Lions went on to win their eighth national championship ... This year marks the first time that Creighton opened its season against the same opponent it ended the previous year against ... Creighton and Penn State are two of the seven teams nationally that have appeared in each of the last 13 NCAA Tournaments ... Creighton started transfers Eloise Brandewie and Annalea Maeder, while fellow transfer Saige Damrow opened the match as the Bluejay libero ... Kiara Reinhardt made her fourth career Opening Day start ... Ava Martin had her 19th straight match with 10 or more kills, tied with JoDe Cieloha (in 1997) for the third-longest streak in program history ... Martin's 19 kills were the most by a Bluejay in a season-opener since Jaali Winters had 25 kills vs. No. 5 Kentucky on Aug. 24, 2018 in Los Angeles ... Creighton had not been swept in a season-opener since losing to No. 16 Minnesota in 2008 ... Creighton fell to 21-11 in season-opening matches after winning its previous five lid-lifters ... Creighton is now 0-9 all-time against teams ranked first or second in the AVCA poll ... Creighton had won 49 straight matches that were three or four sets long and hadn't been swept since Oct. 6, 2023 at Marquette ... Creighton had its 17-match win streak snapped in the contest after a five-set loss ... The Aug. 23 date marked the earliest regular-season opener in program history.