Saturday, September 20:
No. 18 Creighton sweeps South Florida (25-19, 25-15, 25-23)
Brian Rosen’s club hosted the sixth edition of the Creighton Classic at D.J. Sokol Arena this weekend. CU kicked off their final two matches of non-conference play with a sweep of South Florida on Saturday afternoon.
The Bluejays never trailed into the twenties in any of the three sets as they improved their record to 6-5 with a fairly one-sided sweep of the Bulls. In the first set, Creighton got three kills apiece from freshman outside hitter Abbey Hayes and senior middle blocker Kiara Reinhardt, four kills from sophomore opposite hitter Jaya Johnson, and five kills from senior outside hitter Ava Martin. They hit .379 as a team and led wire to wire en route to a 25-19 win.
Creighton fell behind 9-7 in the second set before rattling off an 18-6 run to win it in even more convincing fashion than set one. The Jays held USF to a .000 attack percentage in game while getting multiple kills from Hayes, Johnson, Martin and Reinhardt once again in addition to junior middle blocker Eloise Brandewie.
The third and final set was a tighter affair from beginning to end. USF outhit Creighton .273 to .242 for the set and even held a three-point cushion as late as 18-15. The Bluejays, however, then proceeded to win six points in the span of seven rallies to take the lead for good before Johnson and Reinhardt ended the match with a combo block.
Martin led the Jays with a match-high 13 kills on .480 hitting. The eye-opener, though, was Johnson. The redshirt freshman played all six rotations in this one in place of injured outside hitter Destiny Ndam-Simpson. She rose to the challenge, too, by producing nine kills on .312 hitting to go along a pair of blocks and a career-high seven digs. Johnson also nailed a handful of tough serves at the end of the third set to help the Bluejays complete the comeback.
“This week brought a lot of changes with [Jaya] going six rotations,” senior setter Annalea Maeder said. “I really appreciate how she embraced the change and embraced the new opportunity. There was never a moment of hesitation from her, and never a moment of uncertainty if she could do this. She went in and we practiced the rotations, and she was actually super-efficient from the back row. And she outdug me today, so she’s obviously also really good in defense. We were joking in the third set that she got her first career ace, right? So, I feel like they were a bunch of milestones that make me excited for what’s yet to come. It’s a testament to how deep our team is and how much talent each one of us has to completely switch roles or extend our roles.”
Creighton-South Florida Final Box Score
Highlights:
Press Conference:
Sunday, September 21:
No. 18 Creighton sweeps No. 17 Kansas (25-19, 25-18, 25-22)
The title bout of this year’s Creighton Classic featured a rare non-conference rematch between a pair of Top 20 programs in Creighton and Kansas. The Bluejays won the first meeting in five sets back on August 31 at the Opening Spike Classic in Madison, Wisconsin.
The rematch was more competitive, but the Bluejays didn’t let it go the distance this time as they polished off the weekend with a 26-24, 25-18, 25-22 sweep of the 17th-ranked Jayhawks. There were 33 ties and 16 lead changes between the two teams in the first matchup, but only 16 of the ties and eight of the lead changes came in the first three sets. Sunday’s rematch featured 27 ties and 10 lead changes over the course of the three sets.
The theme of the day was Creighton senior outside hitter Ava Martin — a native of Overland Park, Kansas — coming through time and time again when the Bluejays needed a kill. She ended the night leading all players with 18 kills on .302 hitting. And of those 18 kills, 13 of them came at points when Creighton was either trailing or tied.
This was especially true in the third set clincher. Martin got kills when the Bluejays were tied at 18-18, trailing 21-20, and again when they were tied at 22-22. After her final kill of the day, she walked back behind the service line and promptly dropped in an ace to set up match point. Freshman outside hitter Abbey Hayes punctuated the sweep with a block on the next rally.
In addition to Martin’s big night against her home state school, fellow Kansas native Jaya Johnson added nine kills, four blocks, and a career-high 11 digs. Junior middle blocker Eloise Brandewie was efficient offensively with six kills on .312 hitting along with being an effective presence at the net with five blocks. Junior defensive specialist Sydney Breissinger drew the libero assignment for this match and in the process, she produced a season-high 17 digs to anchor down the back row court coverage.
After the match, Ava Martin was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2025 Creighton Classic. Jaya Johnson joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
Creighton-Kansas Final Box Score