INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The No. 11 Creighton Volleyball team opened its 11th year in the BIG EAST with a 3-0 victory on Friday night inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Scores in favor of the nine-time defending BIG EAST champion were 25-22, 25-17, 25-20.
Ava Martin had nine kills and Kendra Wait added 21 assists and nine digs for the Bluejays. Sky McCune led the CU defense with 10 digs. Creighton (10-2, 1-0 BIG EAST) hit .196 and had 36 kills, six aces, nine blocks and 48 digs.
Butler (6-7, 0-2 BIG EAST) was led by 10 kills from Elise Ward, while Jaymeson Kinley added a match-leading 22 digs. The Bulldogs finished with 31 kills, 54 digs, four blocks and six aces on .073 hitting.
“I’m always happy to get a road sweep…so that’s good,” said Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “I didn’t think we were as crisp as we need to be, especially offensively. We struggled with their tempo again and lining up our blocks, but I thought we held them to a pretty low clip. It was nice to get some people some experience on the court, too.”
The first set was the closest game of the evening. Tied at 13-all, Ellie Bolton served a 4-0 run to give the Bluejays a cushion it would not relinquish. BU did draw within two at 22-20, 23-21 and 24-22 before a Bulldog attack error helped the Bluejays to a 1-0 lead. Martin led CU with four kills and Wait notched five digs in the opener.
The Bluejays never trailed in the second set, racing to an 8-2 lead that later grew to 19-12. A kill from Kiana Schmitt finished off the second set in CU’s favor, 25-17. Five different Bluejays had multiple kills in the second frame against a Bulldog defense that featured 10 digs by Kinley.
Owning a 14-13 lead in the third set, CU created some separation on a 6-0 service run by Sydney Breissinger. Creighton led 24-15 before Butler saved five match points, with a kill from Ava TeStrake eventually ending the contest. Creighton got solo blocks from Wait and Kiara Reinhardt in the final set, which helped hold BU to -.033 hitting in 30 swings.
Creighton returns to action on Saturday when it visits Xavier at 4 p.m. Central.
