OMAHA, Neb. — The No. 21 Creighton Volleyball earned its fourth straight sweep to open BIG EAST play in a Friday night victory over Butler that featured the return of two-time All-American Jaela Zimmerman.
Scores of the match in favor of Creighton (12-3, 4-0 BIG EAST) were 25-15, 25-16, 25-17.
Freshman Ava Martin dominated once again for the Bluejays, hitting .500 and tying her career-high with 14 kills for the second straight match.
Butler (7-8, 1-2 BIG EAST) was paced by 18 digs by 2021 BIG EAST Libero of the Year Jaymeson Kinley, while Amina Shackelford and Mariah Grunze each owned 11 kills.
Creighton never trailed in the first set. The teams exchanged eight straight sideouts before CU broke free from the Bulldogs with a 4-0 run to move ahead 13-9. That ignited a set-ending 14-6 run capped by Martin’s seventh kill in eight swings. Zimmerman checked in for fellow All-American Norah Sis to serve set point, her first action since tearing her ACL in Creighton’s NCAA Tournament victory over Ole Miss last December. The fifth-year senior from Lincoln received a standing ovation upon checking in.
The Bluejays raced to an 11-3 lead in the second set behind a 7-0 serving run by Keeley Davis. CU hit .344 in the second set as seven different Bluejays collected at least one kill, and Ellie Bolton dug six balls.
Butler took its only lead of the match at 2-1 in the third set, only to surrender the next two points and never play from ahead the rest of the night. The margin grew to 11-6 on an ace from Martin and stretched to 18-10 after Sis had an ace and kill on consecutive points. A kill from Jazz Schmidt — her fourth in as many swings on the evening — ended the match in 87 minutes. Creighton hit .294 in the third set and limited the Bulldogs to .029 hitting in 35 swings.
Creighton had 44 kills, three aces, 58 digs and eight blocks on .325 hitting, while Butler finished with 32 kills, one ace, 41 digs and three blocks on .108 hitting.
Creighton has a rare weekend off before hitting the road next Friday for a 5:30 p.m. Central match at UConn.
Creighton sweeps Butler
