The Creighton Volleyball team is taking games down to the wire (Juszyk / WBR)
Whatever Kirsten Bernthal Booth and her coaching staff prefer as their drink of choice, they’ll likely need to double up on that order after watching their players go to a fifth and deciding set for the third straight match on Friday night in Omaha. This time, the 19th-ranked Bluejays outlasted No. 25 Marquette, rattling off a 10-2 run to close out a 25-13, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-13 back-and-forth affair at D.J. Sokol Arena to improve to 3-1 on the season.
“That was a dog fight. It could have gone either way,” Creighton’s head coach said to reporters after the match. “In the fourth set I literally said, ‘oh my goodness, we have to do this three more times in a row? I’m exhausted.'”
The first of what is currently set up to be four straight meetings resulted in another instant classic between the two flagship volleyball programs in the Big East Conference. Creighton has emerged victorious in 15 of the last 16 in the series — including eight in a row — since 2014, but two of the last three matchups with the Golden Eagles have needed a fifth set to decide the winner.
“Man, I love the fight of this group,” Booth said of her players, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit for the second straight match after toppling South Dakota under similar circumstances on the road last Sunday.
“I’m really proud of them. It was a fun match that obviously could have gone either way. The first game we were really clean and they were really high error. Total role reversal in game two, and then it was a battle in three, four, and five.”
Jaela Zimmerman went to work in the 1st set (Juszyk / WBR)
Reigning Big East Offensive Player of the Week Jaela Zimmerman was nails for the Jays in set one. The junior pin hitter had six kills on a .750 attack percentage, committing no errors on any of her eight swings. Four of those first-set kills came during a 12-0 run that helped Creighton turn a 5-5 tie into a 25-13 rout. The Bluejays hit .440 as a team, while holding Marquette’s offense to .071 in set one.
The Golden Eagles found their bearings toward the end of game, going point for point with Creighton down the stretch to establish some rhythm for set two. It carried over right away as they opened up a 3-0 lead before a couple more kills by Zimmerman helped CU draw even. With it all square at 5-5, Marquette flipped the script from the first set by ripping off a 10-1 run to take command and head to the locker room at one set apiece.
Kaitlyn Lines had two aces for the Golden Eagles in the second set as the tip of the spear for a serving attack that frustrated Creighton’s receivers and dwindled that .440 attack percentage down to .143 by intermission.
The third set was far and away the most competitive of the whole match. Compared to sets one, two, four, and five which featured a combined 10 ties and two lead changes, set three had 10 ties on its own and five lead changes. Marquette’s serving again made the difference, especially late when senior outside hitter Hope Werch dropped in one of her two aces in the set during a 4-0 serving run late that gave her team a set point and 24-20 lead. Kills by sophomores Keeley Davis and Kiana Schmitt helped Creighton save three set points, but the comeback fell short and Marquette earned the 2-1 lead in the match.
Naomi Hickman spurred the comeback for the Bluejays (Juszyk / WBR)
Senior middle blocker Naomi Hickman, who has made a habit throughout her career of turning in some of her best performances against the Golden Eagles, was the catalyst for the Creighton comeback in this one. Hickman started set four off with a kill and two blocks to help the Bluejays race out to a 4-0 lead. That set the tone for how the rest of the set played out as Creighton, who had combined for eight ace blocks in the first three sets, produced seven in the fourth set alone.
“Our serving made a huge difference,” Hickman said. “When teams are out of system it really makes block setups significantly easier. Huge shoutout to our servers. They did a great job.”
Hickman, who tied her career-high with 11 blocks to go along with eight kills on .412 hitting, started the fifth set off with a kill. But unlike the fourth set, the Bluejays didn’t build off the early production from their lone senior starter. Instead, four unforced errors helped Marquette build a 9-5 lead. The Golden Eagles returned the favor with three unforced errors of their own sandwiched around kills by Jaela Zimmerman and Keeley Davis that allowed Creighton to pull even at 10-10.
Creighton rattled off three of the next four points to take a 13-11 lead before setter Mahina Pua’a, a senior transfer from Arizona, went behind the line and served up her first two aces of the night to cap off their second straight come-from-behind win. They rallied from a 2-0 deficit last Sunday to beat South Dakota in five sets on the road.
“I think what we’re learning is that [the players] move onto the next point,” Kirsten Bernthal Booth said after Friday’s match. “That doesn’t mean when we’re down 9-5 next time in a fifth game that we’re going to win, but it means that they’re not going to give up. And I’ll take that any day of the week. That means they’re going to continue to be aggressive and go for it and play for the next point as compared to getting caught up in the score.
“I think that’s a really important thing for great teams, because if you get kids locked into the score, and that 9-5 [deficit] kind of spooks them, you become a different team.”
Zimmerman tied her career-high with 19 kills on Friday night and exceeded in digs with 15 to lead the Bluejays. For the Golden Eagles, grad transfer Taylor Wolf led the way with a triple-double, finishing with 12 kills, 12 digs, and 16 assists.
Creighton and Marquette will turn right around and play each other again on Saturday night to close out the unconventional non-conference weekend series. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. at D.J Sokol Arena.