Norah Sis (2) took over for the Jays on Friday night. (Juszyk / WBR)
Freshman outside hitter Norah Sis recorded her fourth straight double-double and senior libero Abby Bottomley matched her career-high with five aces from the service line to lead Creighton to a 25-14, 25-17, 25-16 sweep of last-placed Georgetown on Friday night at D.J. Sokol Arena.
The Jays (19-3 overall, 7-2 Big East) hosted the Hoyas (5-15 overall, 1-8 Big East) for their 14th annual Pink Out match to raise awareness for early detection and treatment of breast cancer and made it a clean sweep on the court for the fifth consecutive season. Creighton out-blocked Georgetown 12-0, committed just eight attack errors — their second-fewest all season — to outhit the Hoyas .333 to .052 for the match, and finished the night with an 8-3 advantage in service aces.
“Our serving was very aggressive — we got them out of system a lot,” Sis said. “Abby Bottomley went on so many runs and got them out of system a lot. That allowed us to set up our block earlier and play defense around it.”
Georgetown held a 10-9 lead in the first set before a kill by junior outside hitter Keeley Davis sent Bottomley behind the line to serve. That sparked 10-1 run by the Bluejays that broke open game one. Two aces by Bottomley, one by Davis, and one by sophomore defensive specialist Ellie Bolton were key in making the Hoyas, who finished the first set with an .069 attack percentage, more predictable offensively.
Abby Bottomley was great on the defensive side as usual, but her serving was key in this win (Willliam / WBR)
Bottomley’s serving again helped Creighton run away in set two. She followed a Georgetown attack error with her third ace of the match, igniting a run that ended with the Bluejays in complete command at 19-9. From there they cruised into the locker room with a two sets to none advantage.
The third set was back and forth for the first 12 points, but freshman setter Kendra Wait ended that with a 7-1 serving run that gave the Jays a 15-7 lead that Georgetown was never able to cut into the rest of the way.
Sis finished the night with 10 kills, 10 digs, and tied her career-high with five blocks. With senior outside hitter Jaela Zimmerman sidelined for the second straight match, Keeley Davis paired up with the reigning Big East Freshman of the Week on the left side of Creighton’s offense, adding nine kills and eight digs to help make up for on-court absence of CU’s six rotation star.
“I think we all know our roles,” Sis said. “One of Jaela’s big roles is leadership and Keeley really stepped up in that area tonight. She was one of our big leaders on the court and was talking to us all the time. Hitting-wise, Kendra did a really good job distributing the ball tonight so there wasn’t as much pressure on the outsides. We didn’t swing as much as we normally do. Our right sides and middles got involved a lot, so that was really helpful.
“And we could still hear Jaela on the bench, so she still had a huge presence.”
Keeley Davis (6) was the vocal leader on the court Friday night (Juszyk / WBR)
Creighton got their middle/right side hitters regularly involved for the second straight match and the results were encouraging. Against Providence, senior Naomi Hickman and junior Kiana Schmitt combined for 22 kills on 41 swings. In the sweep of the Hoyas, Schmitt and senior Annika Welty terminated 13 of their 26 attacks and added nine blocks to balance out the offensive production. Schmitt and Welty were particularly effective on the slide where they run behind freshman setter Kendra Wait and pound the ball on the right pin.
“We know this because we see it all the time in practice, they are good at that ball,” Creighton head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “They both see the block well. It’s not like either of them are just swinging away, they have purpose with what they’re doing.
“The other thing that they both do is they hit high on the net. Sometimes players hit low and they have to cut around and tool, they hit high. Kiana had one that just sailed into the 5/6 zone and it’s because she hit high … I love their contact point and their vision on that.”
Regardless of Zimmerman’s availability going forward, the Jays will need to alleviate the load carried by their left side pins in order to keep defenses guessing. Wait is hitting .333 when she calls her own number this season. Sis, Zimmerman, and Davis are all hitting .200 or better on left side. The last two matches, the top two options on the right side have combined to hit .433 on 67 swings.
“It definitely puts a lot more pressure on their middles,” Sis said of CU’s more diverse offensive performance the last two outings. “I mean if I were their middles I would jump with Kendra because she has a very aggressive dump, but when she can send the ball back to the right side and their middles are having to guess or overcommit it leaves us with a lot of one on one blocks [on the left and right side].”
The Bluejays wrap up the home stand on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. against Villanova. The Wildcats (12-9, 4-5 Big East) got swept on the road at Providence on Friday night.