QUEENS, N.Y. — Sophomore Norah Sis had 20 kills as No. 15 Creighton Volleyball clinched its 10th 20-win season in the last 11 seasons with a 3-0 victory at third-place St. John’s on Sunday, Oct. 30th.
Scores of the Bluejay sweep were 26-24, 27-25, 25-16.
Creighton improved to 20-3 with the win and is 12-0 in BIG EAST play, while St. John’s dropped to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in conference action.
“Two weekends in a row (on the road) is really hard and for us to come out with four sweeps,” said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth. “I’m really proud of the group. That’s not easy to do. It was a dogfight in (sets) one and two today. We were in control in one and obviously they tied us at 24 and we made a really big comeback to win game two. We need to get back and really dive into some of our film and spend some time on what we have to do to get better.”
Creighton won a 26-24 first set thanks to strong play by Sis and Kiana Schmitt. After CU squandered a 24-19 lead to allow the Red Storm to tie it, Schmitt had a kill and teamed with Sis on a block of Rachele Rastelli to help the Jays take the opening frame. Schmitt had five blocks and Sis added two blocks and seven kills in the opening frame. Allison Whitten dug five balls for CU to help limit the Red Storm to .089 hitting on 45 swings.
Creighton saved three set points to take a 27-25 victory in the second frame. CU fell behind 4-0 early, only to rally to take a 14-10 lead. The Red Storm led 24-22 before Schmitt and Jazz Schmidt teamed to block Lucrezia Lodi and an ace from Keeley Davis pushed the set into extra points. Kendra Wait gave CU a set point opportunity with a kill, then dished a pass to Sis for the 27-25 victory. CU hit .268 in the second set with 18 kills as Wait dished 13 helpers in the frame.
The Bluejays finally created separation in the final set to cruise to their 12th straight victory, hitting .565 in the lopsided win. Creighton used a 10-2 run to move ahead 10-4 and stretched the lead to double-figures at 19-9 on back-to-back kills by Wait. CU won the contest on a serving error by the Johnnies. Five different Bluejays had multiple kills in the finale, including six by Sis and three from Schmitt.
Sis led all players with 20 kills , her seventh match this season with 20 or more putaways. Schmitt hit .600 and had six kills and nine blocks while Wait contributed 33 assists and six digs in addition to tying her career-high with nine kills. Creighton had 46 kills, four aces, 37 digs and 10 blocks on .283 hitting.
Rastelli led St. John’s with 17 kills, while Giorgia Walther and Lodi each added 10 kills. The Red Storm had 42 kills, one ace, 37 digs and nine blocks on .174 hitting.
Creighton returns to the court on Friday at 1 p.m. when it starts a four-match homestand against Providence.
