OMAHA, Neb. — Freshmen Norah Sis and Kendra Wait delivered double-doubles in No. 24 Creighton Volleyball’s 3-1 win vs. Butler on Sunday that clinched a spot in the 2021 BIG EAST Championships, presented by JEEP, for the Bluejays. The win was the 500th for the Creighton program since its 1994 reinstatement.
Scores of the match in favor of CU were 25-22, 25-12, 22-25, 25-17 as the Bluejays improved to 24-3 overall and 12-2 in BIG EAST play to share with Marquette a spot atop the standings. Butler fell to 14-13 and is 8-6 in league action, good for a tie for fourth place with DePaul.
Sis led Creighton offensively with 14 kills and added 14 digs, while Wait contributed 40 assists and 13 digs. Creighton’s defense shined on Sunday, limiting Butler to .085 hitting in 177 swings. The Bluejays got 26 digs from Abby Bottomley and 22 digs by Jaela Zimmerman, while Annika Welty had seven blocks and Zimmerman, Kiana Schmitt and Keeley Davis had five of CU’s 13 overall blocks. The Bluejays hit .183 and also served up nine aces, with Davis owning a team-best three service winners.
Butler was led by 12 kills and 12 digs by Mariah Grunze, while Jaymeson Kinley led all players with 30 digs. The Bulldogs owned 45 kills, two aces, 83 digs and nine blocks overall.
Butler opened the match with a service error before Davis dealt back-to-back aces to stake the hosts to an early 3-0 lead in the first set. The teams traded the lead twice before Creighton pulled ahead 18-17 when Schmitt and Zimmerman teamed up to stuff Destiny Cherry. That started a 4-0 run that included an ace by Bottomley, and CU closed out the set a short time later on a thunderous kill from Sis.
The Bluejays played a clean second set en route to a dominant 25-12 win, as Davis, Sis, Bottomley and Zimmerman all served up runs of 4-0 or longer. Wait and Welty rejected All-BIG EAST performer Melody Davidson on set point to stake the Bluejays to a 2-0 lead at intermission. Welty and Davis had three of CU’s four blocks in the game as Butler hit .000 in 34 swings.
CU fell behind 8-3 early in the third set, which would feature eight ties and four lead changes. CU led 20-18 before Caroline Cleveland served four straight points to put Butler in front for good, and Grunze finished the set with her 10th kill to that point. The teams combined for 75 digs in the third set, with Bottomley owning 12 of CU’s 38 and Kinley contributing 13 of Butler’s 37.
Three straight blocks by Butler put the visitors ahead 7-6 in the fourth set before Creighton regrouped. An ace by Wait moved the Bluejay advantage to 10-8 before Sis served a 5-0 run that featured CU countering with three straight blocks of its own to move the lead to 15-9. Ally Van Eekeren’s ace at 23-17 moved the Jays to match point, and CU won it on Butler’s 30th attack error of the afternoon. Creighton had five blocks and four aces in the fourth set and limited Butler to .044 hitting in 45 swings.
Creighton returns to the court on Friday for a 1 p.m. Central match at Georgetown.
